Why do we assess

As an assessor, you will need to observe and assess workers to establish competence.

Can you describe what assessment means?

How does your answer compare?

Assessment is obtaining evidence through observation of practice and measurement of knowledge and skills, against a set of standards, such as those required for the Care Certificate.

As an assessor you may carry out an observation of a health and social care worker carrying out specific tasks, or elements of care for an individual. You may also carry out an assessment by talking with the worker to check their knowledge.

The purpose of assessment

Workers are assessed against required standards of knowledge and skills for their role, to ensure that they are safe to practice without direct supervision.

1/4 What the Care Certificate provides

The Care Certificate provides core standards, shared by health and social care, for support workers. These must be completed and assessed before workers can practice without direct supervision.

2/4 Delivering safe practice

Training alone doesn't guarantee that a worker has understood what they have been taught or that they are applying standards of care that is needed to deliver safe practice.

3/4 What an assessment demonstrates

An assessment demonstrates that the worker can apply the skills, knowledge and behaviours to ensure they are able to provide compassionate, high quality care and person-centred support.

It also provides evidence for individuals that receive care, and other staff and employers, that a health or social care support worker has been assessed against a specific set of standards and can apply this knowledge in practice.

4/4 Indirect or remote supervision

Assessment may be done as a phased approach; as a worker meets an individual standard, their supervisor may allow them to practice with indirect/remote supervision against that standard.

The assessment focus

What do you think an assessment of a worker is based on?

Choose one or more options and check your answer.

A worker's credibility with other team members
How the worker applies their knowledge and skills to their own practice
A worker's punctuality and the attendance record
How quickly a worker can complete a task in the workplace
What a worker knows
What the worker can do

2, 5 and 6

Assessment is based on:

what a worker can do
what the worker knows
how the worker applies their knowledge and skills to their own practice

That’s why it's important that the assessment should only take place when the new worker is ready. They should have had time to learn the underpinning knowledge behind the required standards, and the chance to practice in a classroom or similar setting before being assessed.

Is the worker ready to be assessed?

As an assessor, you will need to identify whether the worker has obtained enough learning and is ready to have their competence assessed.

Let's look at the different stages of a typical worker’s learning and development cycle and see how you evaluate whether they have met the required standards set out in the Care Certificate.

Identify the need

What is the worker able to do in their role?
What does the worker need to know?
Can you confirm they have the minimum knowledge and skills set out in the Care Certificate standards?

Plan the learning

What does the worker need to learn?
How can we provide the required level of knowledge and skills?

Facilitate the learning

How can we facilitate the delivery of this knowledge and skills?

Assess the learning

How do you carry out an assessment of the knowledge and skills the worker has gained?

Evaluate the learning

Does the worker know what they need to know?
Can they apply their knowledge and perform safely?
Is the worker now competent?

You may decide that the worker must re-visit the cycle of learning and assessment. This could be because they need to update their knowledge and/or skills or need additional learning to support them to become competent

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