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Chapter Highlights
This chapter raises the importance of assessment expertise and self-awareness among quality assurance (QA) assessors and highlights approaches to assessing quality against accreditation standards.
Assessing quality against accreditation standards can be challenging as accepted practice may not be best practice.
The complex nature of QA processes emphasizes the importance of multiple perspectives among QA assessors
Constructive and timely feedback that is couched positively and details strengths and weaknesses in relation to specific standards can foster “buy-in” and shared understanding between QA assessors and the education provider.
Being a QA assessor can contribute substantially to personal professional development as an educator and education manager.
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ORIENTATION TO THE CHAPTER
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This chapter provides a general overview of the function of the QA assessor in facilitating self-evaluation and evidence-based improvement of assessment practices by education providers. The context is primarily that of medical programs, because they are often the most stringently applied by regulation authorities, but many other health professions have similar processes. Similarly, although framed mostly in the context of external QA, internal QA processes often require similar approaches, and experience here may boost confidence for newer external QA assessors. The chapter raises the importance of assessment expertise and self-awareness among QA assessors and highlights approaches to assessing quality against accreditation standards. Issues to consider in QA decision-making and the importance and delivery of constructive feedback are also discussed. Getting this balance right can be challenging as accepted practice might not be best practice. Feedback about how to approach best practice may inspire faculty in the relevant education provider, whereas criticism for not exceeding accepted practice may not be well received. QA processes work best when all participants share a common understanding of both the process and the work that is likely to be required. The chapter concludes by emphasizing the valuable and most important feature of the role of QA assessors. Case examples throughout the chapter serve as examples to illustrate key points about the roles and responsibilities of QA assessors.
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Because assessment plays such a large role in learning, it is often the focus of external review. Almost regardless of what the curriculum and learning schedules include, or who teaches what, when and where, learners will focus on the what, how, when, and where of assessment because progressing through educational programs depends on passing whatever assessment hurdles are present. This learner behavior therefore makes assessment extremely important in any QA process. An external review usually happens in one of two ways. First, the education provider may appoint external examiners to contribute their views to routine internal QA processes, a practice that is common in the United Kingdom [1]. In this case, the benchmark is based on the experience of the external examiners in their own or other education providers. Second, external accreditation processes periodically review whole medical programs ...