There are many methods of assessing learners and many reasons for doing so, which a shall go into

more detail later on. I shall also be examining ways to include the learner in the assessment process both as an individual and as a collective. In addition I will briefly discuss some of the records that will need to be kept and the reasons for keeping them. There are four main types of assessment these are initial, diagnostic, formative and summative. The initial assessment is used to determine if the learner is suable for the course and if the course is suable for them, in relation to my practice this will mean that the learner has no (or very few) qualifications and that they can commit to the course of study as the course will often be short but intensive. iagnostic assessments are used at the beginning to ascertain any additional needs the learners have such as being unable to use a computer or their preferred learning styles, this type of assessment is used to plan lessons in more detail and with the learners abilities in mind. !ormative assessments are used throughout the course to gauge how much learning has taken place, to provide feedback to the learners and also to prepare them foe any summative assessment required. "ummative assessments are preformed at the end of the course to determine if the learner has met the criteria of the course and to #ustify the award of a qualification. The afore mentioned types of assessment can be preformed using various methods, the method used need to take into account not only the needs of those being assessed but also whoever is doing the assessing, among other things. $ethods of assessment include portfolio work, written exams and having an examiner witness the work to be examined. %ortfolios are used to assess a learner over a period of time and can include many different elements such as problem solving and written work. "ince it is usually preformed over a length of time this type of assessment allows for greater depth of the work to be assessed, also since it is done over a period of time it is possible to give feedback throughout the portfolios construction. &owever, since typically most of the work will be done off' site there is a risk of plagiarism. (ritten exams allow for the use of standard questions which allow for all the learners to be assessed equally and allow for speedy marking to provide feedback in a timely manner. There are problems with this, one being that I will need to be mindful about is that some learners might have disabilities that need to be taken into account, also that in order for this assessment to be practical it might be necessary to not assess some of the course content. (itness testimony is using the #udgement of the assessor to determine the performance of the learner. This has the advantage of being flexible in relation to the learners needs and it is possible to talk to the learner about the sub#ect to gauge their understanding. %roblems can arise with relation to impartiality and that it can be difficult to prove your #udgement to award a qualification using only this method. )earners can be involved in the assessment process in a number of ways, one of them is for the learner to be familiar with the criteria to which they will be assessed. This can help the learner to understand what is being asked of them and also will familiarise the learner with the same process when the criteria is not available (such as for a closed book written exam). *ther ways to involve the learner is to have the learners asses each other. This has various advantages and disadvantages, namely that the learners will have a sense of ownership over the work and that in groups it can help to alleviate problems with some of the group not contributing as much, given that the assesses know how much has been contributed by each member. %roblems can arise if the learners are not fully briefed on how to assess the work and there can be problems with peer pressure which can result in the group receiving the same result despite large variances in individual effort. +ecords of one form or another will need to be kept for various reasons in life long learning, among those are details of learner attendance. These will need to be kept not only for health and safety information in case there is a fire as a resister will need to be taken once the evacuation is complete, but also for government funding. *ther records that need to be retained include risk assessments as some of my learners could have mental health issues which I need to be aware of but also have in case of other professionals that work with the learner require this information. +ecords regarding

assessment will need to be kept for many reasons, for example if a learner requires a reference for a #ob, details of their performance would help to construct an accurate description. ,lso these records might be needed for standardisation to ensure that the learners are being assessed fairly not only for that period but for future and past learners are held to the same standard.