Communities and Local Government

Further to circulars 10/2003 and 11/2003, the attached guidance explains the purpose of workplace assessment and how performance in the workplace should be assessed. It includes a checklist to help you determine your state of readiness to implement workplace assessment. You are encouraged to give urgent consideration to this guidance and its implications.

You may wish to note the following further guidance is likely to be issued within two weeks:

Development Programmes based on the development objectives database

Development Activities and

Personal Development Records

Initial guidance on the Assessment Development Centre process will follow a little later.

This document explains what Workplace Assessment is, what it will mean to people and the contribution they will make to it. It also shows the relationship between personal and team performance and organisational objectives and how these are linked to the Integrated Personal Development System (IPDS).

Workplace Assessment is a process for assessing people against role maps and National Occupational Standards (NOS) in the course of normal, day-to-day workplace activity (for more information on role maps and NOS see page 4). It is an essential part of the process that helps people to maintain skills, knowledge and understanding and thus to demonstrate competence.

Through assessment of a person's performance, it is possible to identify areas where competence has been demonstrated or where improvement may be required and then to assist them to meet any identified development needs. Personal development should be focused on specific areas of activity through practical workplace experience aligned to role.

The key elements of this approach are to:

• look at what people do by identifying the job roles and defining what they are expected to do;
• explain how well they should do it by making it clear what should be achieved, rather than how it is achieved;
• support learning and development to help people by identifying development needs, and designing development opportunities to meet those needs;
• review what people have actually achieved by checking that attitudes, behaviours, skills, knowledge and understanding have actually changed, following involvement in training/development activity.

• create realistic and transparent performance expectations;
• identify and recognise personal strengths and areas for improvement;
• consider how to build on, and extend, strengths and successes from both the personal and organisational point of view;
• share good ideas and exemplar practice within organisations;
• consistently measure progress towards individual and organisational objectives;
• achieve a common sense of purpose and direction, based on a shared view of what needs to be done;
• link development needs to development opportunities.

One of the basic principles of the IPDS is that people must take personal responsibility for maintaining standards and improving their own performance at work. While this personal responsibility is of paramount importance, the IPDS is designed to provide the support needed to assist peoples development. This will be beneficial to individuals, teams and organisations.

Reflecting on workplace activity is an important way of developing both people and the teams they work in. One of the best ways of reflecting on performance is structured debriefing sessions. Any workplace activity can (and should) be debriefed. Debriefs can take place on a one-to-one basis or within a group of the people involved in an activity. As part of the process of debriefing, it will be necessary to consider:

• what did a person do - what tasks, actions or activities has the person been involved in?
• how well was it done - was the task achieved in the best way?
• how can people show improved performance - did they perform to the best of their ability?
• what additional skills, knowledge or understanding do people need - is there the need to practice a skill, learn a new one, or reinforce knowledge and understanding?
• when/how can people receive this development - can they do it now or do they need to plan for a future development session?
• how can the information from the debrief be fed back into the organisation - will this help to develop the 'organisational knowledge' which can then help other teams and individuals?

Role Maps are based on NOS and contain the units of competence relevant to each role. Role maps describe the functions of an individual's role and include the standard to which that role should be performed, and the knowledge and understanding needed to underpin that role. Fire and rescue services can therefore use the role maps to assist in the process of linking individual performance to team, function and organisational objectives.

In other words, role maps describe what an individual does in their routine work, how well they should do it and what they should know to be able to perform effectively and safely. They were derived from functional and task analyses of jobs. In order to make it easier to understand, each function is described as a "Unit" of the role map; in turn, the Units are themselves broken down into bite-sized chunks called "Elements".

Fire and rescue services should also use the role maps to assist in the process of linking individual performance to team, functional and organisational objectives.

National Occupational Standards (NOS) are nationally agreed standards of competence, which also form the basis of Vocational Qualifications (VQs). Like the role maps and the NOS, each VQ contains a number of units of competence. The different functions that make up the role Units are the same as the Units of the NOS - however the combination of Units in a role map may not be the same as the combination of units within the NOS/VQ.

For example, the NOS for Watch Management contain the Units and Elements of both the Watch and Crew Management role maps. This is because role maps and VQs serve two different purposes. The former provide a framework for progression within an organisation; the latter provides a framework for achievement of an externally recognised, nationally benchmarked qualification.

It is important to remember that the emphasis of the IPDS lies not on the award of S/NVQs but in establishing the competence of people in their roles by assessing their performance against the Units and Elements of the role maps and NOS. Once competence has been demonstrated, people then have a responsibility to maintain it. The process does not stop with the award of an S/NVQ but will continue throughout the working life of a person. It is for this reason that the importance of "lifelong learning" is recognised by all.

This having been said, by linking development specifications, role maps and VQs through the use of the same standards, internal progression and achievement can be directly linked to achievement of a Fire Service S/NVQ and a generic Management S/NVQ. By linking development specifications, role maps and VQs within nationally accredited criteria a 'common language' for all aspects of personal and organisational development is established.

A key aspect of IPDS is the management of performance, which encompasses the need to assess performance, measure effectiveness and identify development needs. This requires suitable systems to be put in place to allow the assessment of individual people against the rolemaps/NOS. This, in turn, will help organisations to achieve their business objectives.

Workplace assessment should be a shared and positive experience, carried out to support the future development of people. It should be a two way process with open, honest and transparent communication between those being assessed and the assessors, who will normally be their line managers.

People should be able to discuss their performance and agree a plan for development in a constructive and positive way. Because it uses the requirements of the NOS, the key/core skills and personal attributes, qualities and behaviours as the benchmarks that identify and support competence in the workplace, it then becomes a supportive process that assists people to develop and maintain competence in their role.

To ensure that the assessment process is effective, it is important to ensure that:

It is a basic principle of vocational competence that it can only be demonstrated against the rolemaps/NOS over a period of time, on several occasions and in various conditions and contexts. It therefore follows that the evidence which is gathered to support the demonstration of competence must also be gathered in accordance with these principles.

Evidence will fall into one of the following categories:

Workplace assessment should be carried out on a continuous basis; every time that a person engages in workplace activity, there is the potential for the outcome of that activity to be assessed in terms of the performance of people against the relevant part of the rolemap/NOS.

There should be agreement as to how the evidence accruing from development opportunities can be collected and recorded. This should include:

• how and when the assessments are to be carried out;
• how evidence is to be gathered;
• how and when feedback is to be given;
• what decisions were made;
• what is the agreed action plan.

In most instances it will be line managers who will carry out workplace assessments, although they may also be completed by:

• trainers at a training/development centre;
• other service assessors (e.g. observers at exercises);
• other independent assessors (e.g. external organisations);
• people with specialist skills who are qualified assessors and possess relevant personal skills (e.g. station-based operators, first aid trainers).

Regardless of who carries out the assessment, all assessors must be familiar with the relevant occupational standards against which they are assessing and be suitably trained and competent to do so. Competence to assess may be achieved by compliance with the existing EFS management Units (assessment being an integral part of line management responsibility at every level, adopting an existing, formal award (e.g. S/NVQ) or via a valid process specific to a particular organisation.

If the assessment is carried out for the purpose of awarding S/NVQ's, specific assessment competencies (A1 and A2) which provide a best practice framework for workplace assessment will be needed.

The list below illustrates the evidence collection process and the relationship between people and their assessors.

1. Assessment Plan - Individual and assessor
2. Collect Evidence - Individual and assessor if observation/questioning is required
3. Present Evidence - Individual and assessor
4. Reference acceptable evidence - Assessor will judge evidence and provide feedback
5. Record and maintain evidence - Individual and Assessor

Each organisation must put an appeals procedure in place in order to deal with disagreements between assessors and individuals over matters of competence. Any appeals procedure must be capable of resolving the disagreement, with a binding decision.

Normally such a procedure would take account of disagreements regarding:

• the actual assessment decision;
• whether or not conditions allowed a fair assessment to take place;
• occupational standards being used incorrectly for the assessment (eg. where an assessor introduces activities or questions subjects that are not relevant to the assessment).

The appeals procedure must be designed to ensure disagreements are dealt with as quickly and effectively as possible.

All fire and rescue services must have a robust quality assurance system to ensure a fair and consistent approach is adopted to workplace assessment.

Effective quality assurance systems should contain the following components:

• appropriate procedures for appointing, developing, deploying and monitoring assessors and verifiers;
• appropriate guidance, support and continuous development for assessors and verifiers;
• arrangements for effective monitoring (this includes verification of assessments and assessment practice);
• arrangements for the effective maintenance and monitoring of records relating to assessments and supporting arrangements concerning the verification process;
• systems to ensure that trends and developments identified will be fed back to the assessment network and brigade planning process.
• assurance through a third party has many advantages and further advice will be issued about the possibilities of achieving this.

The Scottish/National Vocational Qualification process provides a formal framework for quality assurance. They also provide a means by which people, having demonstrated competence against the relevant NOS, can be awarded a formal qualification i.e. S/NVQ.

Further information regarding the IPDS and its implications may be obtained from the IPDS Hub, members of IPDWG and its sub-groups or from the IPDWG website at the Fire Pod Website

Edexcel and SQA can provide further guidance on:

National Occupational Standards

Awarding S/NVQs

Establishing and maintaining an Approved Centre

APL/APEL

Further information on workplace assessment is also available from the QCA Website

The following checklist is provided to assist fire and rescue services to determine their state of readiness to implement workplace assessments:

Please see downloadable file "Checklist for Fire and Rescue Services".