Assessing Comptence Essay

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Assessing Competence How can competency be assessed? If we accept that competency has two components; (i) knowledge and skill, and (ii) the ability to use that knowledge and skill, then any assessment of competency should encompass both of these. It is therefore clear that competency is more than having attended a training session. It is the ability to use the knowledge gained to improve skills and to apply those skills consciously to the tasks involved in the undertaking of the role. A competency assessment should therefore cover both of these aspects and any staff development programme should be designed with this in mind. A competency assessment framework should also be designed from the perspective of the task to be performed rather than from the perspective of the knowledge base. For example, a manual handling competency assessment should have as its core objective the ability of the person to perform a range of manual handling techniques. This ability should be underpinned by a thorough understanding of the knowledge of physiology and manual handling theory. In many cases, manual handling training consists solely of training in underpinning knowledge followed by a practical demonstration of techniques. Records of such training are merely evidence that staff attended a training session, they do not evidence competency. Competency should be evidenced by a workplace-based assessment of knowledge base, the ability to apply that knowledge in a range of scenarios and an assessment of the demonstration of the application of skills in the workplace. It is essential that the person carrying out the competency assessment is also competent. In order to be competent to carry out a competency assessment the assessor must have subject knowledge of both the task and of the assessment process. They must also have the ability to carry out the task correctly and to
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