I too am very concerned about the numbers of assessments that an assessor
will have to do to maintain a licence. From an institutional point of view,
this could well be a nightmare. Here at Manchester, we have six very
experienced assessors, five of whom are disability advisers, and myself.
Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of 'cherry-picking' the 'easy'
dyslexic assessments - the truth is more likely that we end up assessing the
students with complicated needs, where things are rarely straightforward.
Ok - so all we have to do is 25 assessments a year to keep our licence -
not too many. Except, when you consider that the vast majority of students
need assessing all at the same time - which co-incidentally also happens to
be the same time of year when we are absolutely run off our feet organising
support within the institutions. Not to mention, the admin associated with
organising assessments, liaising with LEAs, delivering staff development
sessions etc etc, suddenly, where has all our time gone? Given a 31 week
year for undergraduates, 25 assessments is almost one a week for a busy
disability adviser at the busiest times of the year. At the moment, we can
shift workloads, ask colleagues to step in and help out, send more students
to Access Centres - if we only manage 15 or 20, then there is nothing lost.
But if suddenly we know that we will lose our assessor licences then the
pressures in an already very pressured job will just increase.
Some of our disability advisers are working part time - for them, this will
add to the pressures and difficulties of juggling everything - has anybody
considered this? What about those who work part-time because their own
disabilities prevent them from doing more?
As Simon points out, being a full time assessor does not equate to producing
the best assessments. My own opinion is that it is absolutely vital to
maintain regular contact with learning and teaching and support issues
within institutions, all the more so with the obligations we have with
SENDA.
If we do end up going down this route, then it can surely only be a matter
of time before valuable experienced assessors are lost from the system, and
we will be the poorer for it.
Sorry to go on so much - but I do feel better for getting this off my chest!
Elaine Shillcock
Head, Disability Support Office
email [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Simon Bloor
Sent: 29 April 2003 13:13
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: New guidelines...
Dear all
While my calculator confirms that it is possible to undertake 120
assessments averaging 9 hours per assessment (presumably on the premise
that some assessments take significantly less time, others taking
significantly more or requiring the expertise of other professionals)-
giving a total of 36 hours assessment related activity per week for one
person ...also leaving 52 - 30 weeks = 22 weeks of no direct assessment
related activity - presumably training, admin and general recuperation
in a retreat I shouldn't wonder!...I wonder about how effective such a
person could be as an assessor, how appropriate the recommendations are
and indeed how attractive a job it would be, even whaen colleagues are
involved in sharing some of the administration work related to the
assessment....
I'm surprised the model arrived at by DfES SEN Division / BECTA to
respond to the project brief of The Communication Aids Project (CAP) has
not been looked at in detail to see what parallels there may be between
assessment related service delivery practice in these two sectors. This
too is public money intended to benefit pupils with expressive
communication difficulties who may benefit from assistive technology
resources to assist with written and spoken communication in relation to
accessing curricula e.g. groups such as pupils with dyslexia, pupils
with hearing impairments, pupils with visual impairments, pupils with
mild recording difficulties and pupils with severe and complex
difficulties ...and involves the development of local expertise
(assessment and implementation services)under the guidance of "centres
of expertise" who also have responsibility for quality assurance
processes and procedures.
Common sense suggests to me that there must be similar issues faced by
assessment centres and assessors working in the statutory sector (CAP)
and the HEI/post 16 sector (DSA)and that we might learn something useful
from a closer examination of the way in which BECTA / DfES / CAP has
chosen to address them.
Simon Bloor
Access SUMMIT
St Peter's House
Precinct Centre
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9GH
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel: 01 61 275 0990
Fax: 0161 275 0991
Text: 0161 275 0992
> The figures suggested to maintain registration as an assessor are a
> minimum of 25 per year or 40 over 2 years but 40 to 60 a year is not a
> lot for full time assessors. (35 hours per week, billing 9 hours per
> assessment gives 3 to 4 assessments per week (or 120 + per year) and
> allows time for training, updating skills, admin etc.
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