Rewriting the Rules: Ep2 Rethinking the Future of Assessment

How assessment needs to evolve to reflect real skills and competence was the focus of the second episode in FE News’ live series with NCFE, Rewriting the Rules: The future of qualifications, which streamed on Wednesday 13 May.

The series explores how the qualifications and skills system can better support opportunity, progression and employment, and what reform should mean in practice for learners, providers and employers. Episode two, Rethinking the future of assessment, examined how assessment shapes teaching, learning and employability outcomes across the system, and whether current approaches are keeping pace with the skills employers actually need.

Gavin O’Meara, CEO of FE News, opened the conversation with Rebecca Conway, Director of Research and Innovation at NCFE, on why assessment has become such a critical focus in conversations about qualification reform, and how the way we assess influences what providers teach and how learners experience their qualifications. They were then joined by Anthony Painter, Director of Strategic Engagement at Ufi VocTech Trust, and Julie Kaye, Vice Principal (Education Programmes for Young People) at DN Colleges Group, for a panel discussion.

The panel explored where current assessments work well and where it falls short in reflecting real competence, how assessments can move beyond traditional exams to better capture practical skills, behaviours and essential employability skills, and what opportunities and risks technologies such as AI present for assessment design, delivery and assurance. The discussion also examined how assessment innovation can support inclusion, progression and confidence for young people rather than acting as a barrier.

The session closed with each speaker sharing the single most important principle they believe assessment should be built around if we were designing it from scratch … to support learners, employers and the wider skills system.

Watch the recording below:

Check out Episode 1 of Rewriting the Rules (What V Levels can learn from T Levels)