The implications of using skills tests as basis for a national evaluation system in Finland

Vocational qualifications in future will incorporate a skills test based assessment as proof of the student’s attainment of the goals set in occupational studies. In parallel, a national system of evaluating learning results along with a set of student assessment practices to be used by the education providers are being developed. The pilot evaluation presented here tested a model, where the national evaluation of learning results was integrated with student assessment based on skills tests and where the evaluation data was gathered directly from the skills tests arranged by the institutions. The skills test based assessment to be included in future vocational qualifications contains novel challenges to be met and novel questions to be answered relative to the evaluation of learning results. The present report is an account of the underlying work for development and the concepts of evaluation, the challenges brought out by the pilot evaluation, and the ultimate outcome. Based on the evaluation pilot, the model for evaluating learning results will be developed further and a plan drawn up for extracting the national evaluation data from the data provided by the skills tests. This report is meant for Finnish professionals and every one else who is interested in the Finnish VET and evaluation. We hope for and welcome all your comments.

Authors:
Mari Räkköläinen and Kathryn Ecclestone

Year:
2006

ISBN:
952-13-2367-1

Publication is available in these languages:
English

Publication:
The implications of using skills tests as basis for a national evaluation system in Finland (pdf)