SRA Assessment Approaches 

How can an SRA assessor confirm that an applicant has the required skills and knowledge? There are 3 main ways of doing this:

• the assessor observes the applicant in their workplace
• the assessor sights evidence documenting the existing skills and knowledge of the applicant
• the assessor questions the applicant on their skills and knowledge during an interaction
• the assessor assigns a written assessment to determine the applicants underpinning knowledge
  

Any combination of the methods is acceptable to establish an applicant's competence in a particular unit. The William Angliss SRA process encompasses the following assessment approaches:-

Workplace observation

This is the most direct way of confirming competence and has many advantages including:

• an applicant may feel more relaxed when assessed in a familiar environment
• an assessor can observe how an applicant responds to 'real' workplace situations and problems which arise on the job.

Documentary evidence

An SRA applicant may gather and provide two kinds of documentary evidence to their assessor:

• Samples of workplace documents produced by the applicant eg incident report, logbook etc.
• Paper-based evidence from a range of other sources eg qualifications, resumes, references etc.

Such evidence would generally be provided to the assessor before an SRA Training and Assessment Plan is designed for the applicant and agreed on at the initial assessor meeting.

Questions

Questions can be used by the assessor either during a workplace observation or in a separate meeting to assist in establishing an applicant's competency in the skills and knowledge required for a particular unit.

Having examined the evidence provided by the applicant and carried out a workplace observation, in a meeting with the applicant, the assessor can focus on filling any gaps and on clarifying the evidence.

The assessor may:

• leave out questions where sufficient evidence has already been provided
• ask additional questions as appropriate eg. to prompt an applicant for a fuller answer
• alter the questions to suit the circumstances of a particular applicant.

For some units, scenarios have been suggested as a way for the assessor to check applicants' knowledge and skills. This is a useful way of assessing skills and knowledge not easily assessed through workplace observation or documentary evidence eg. responding to a critical incident.

Written Assessment

An assessor may use a written assessment or case study to draw out the applicants underpinning knowledge about a specific element of competency or performance criteria. This is particularly relevant where a theoretical understanding is required.

Third Party Report

It can be convenient and reliable to have a third party who is familiar with the applicant and who has the vocational competencies being assessed, to vouch for their competence.  Supervisors, employers or peer members of staff can fulfill this function.