Types of evidence

There are no final end of year exams in the SVQs, but that doesn’t mean your work will be judged without warning. How your work is assessed is based on the following steps:

• Arrange assessment – you(the candidate) and the assessor will agree on what is being assessed and when.
• Gather evidence – the candidate and the assessor will use the evidence gathering techniques on the next few slides to collect the proof of the candidate’s skills and knowledge.
• Review evidence – the assessor will look at the evidence and see if it meets the required standards.
• Give feedback – the assessor will explain to the candidate the outcome of the review and the next steps.

The evidence can be any of the following:

Observation

Observation is simply the assessor watching you carry out a task in the work place. It can be for either naturally occurring activities or a specific pre-arranged activity.

During observation, you might be asked questions related to the current task that you are carrying out.

Product evidence

During your work placement you will produce work for your colleagues and the company. This can be assessed as evidence of your understanding of the unit. Examples of this include:

• A report for management
• A piece of software
• A database
• A design plan for a new system

Any personal or other sensitive data would need to be anonymised before submitting the evidence. Even if you know the assessor is authorised to see this data, you don’t know who else might see this piece of evidence.

Questioning

Questioning can be done to check your knowledge about specific parts of the work role that might not be clearly covered during observation or in written evidence. Questioning can be done in a variety of methods:

• Oral questions
• Short answer written questions
• Multiple choice questions

Professional discussion

Professional discussion is simply a structured and recorded talk between you and the assessor. It allows you to explain their knowledge in a more open nature than with questioning. Good for complex topics that might cover multiple SVQ units. But there is the risk that you can easily get off topic.

Personal statement

A personal statement, or ‘reflective account’, is an account of what you did to carry out a task or achieve a work goal. You would explain what you were asked to do, how you did it and why you chose to do it that way.

Witness testimony

A witness testimony is when a member of staff at the work place, who is knowledgeable about the task that you are doing, provides a statement explaining what you did and how well you did it.

Simulation

There might be times when it is impractical to gather evidence in a real life work setting. This might be where part of a role is only performed during emergencies, or where the information present during the task is of a sensitive nature that can’t be shared with another party such as the assessor.

In these situations it might be practical to arrange a simulation of the event to which the candidate can apply their knowledge and skills.

Recognising prior learning

There might be times where you can supplement your evidence with proof that you have covered the required criteria in the past. This could be previous work experience, assignments or case studies.

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V.A.R.C.S.

Make sure your evidence keeps the VARCS method in mind.

• Valid – The work is relevant to the task. If writing a reflective account, stay focussed on the task being judged rather than explaining unnecessary details about the workplace.
• Authentic – The work is your own. Don’t try and claim a colleague’s work as your own, don’t plagiarise, don’t copy and paste code from the internet.
• Reliable – The work is consistent. If you were asked to do a similar task, would you be able to do it to the same standard.
• Current – The work is still relevant at the time of assessment. Did you use current methods and principles to achieve your task? Is prior evidence still relevant?
• Sufficient – The work covers all the requirements and outcomes. You have gone into enough details to cover the task being assessed. This might not be all the outcomes of the unit, but should explain all the outcomes used in the task being evidenced.

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Example of reflective writing

At SCQF level 6 you are expected to carry out reflective writing to the following standard:

Criteria	Expectation of reflection and evidence
CONTEXT	Apprentices will be able to make judgement statements about their meta-skill development, demonstrating a sound theoretical understanding of the skills they have developed without support from their assessor.
EVIDENCE	Supporting evidence will link clearly to sometimes quite complex work situations that may involve e.g. team problem solving and research/investigation.
LANGUAGE	Reflective statements should relate clearly to a variety of work-related situations both routine and new/novel using evaluative language (e.g. effective, efficient, could be enhanced). Apprentices should, with or without limited coaching support, be able to provide work task evidence for their reflective statements and be clear about the impact it has on their own professional development as well as others around them.(e.g. as a consequence of X, this meant that we didn’t get Y done and so this meant Z for my colleagues and me) They should be able to demonstrate what they need to do to develop their meta-skills to work more effectively and efficiently in that workplace and relate the changes in their skills development to their own career journey.
FURTHER ASSESSOR GUIDANCE	Apprentices will engage in the self-assessment process autonomously and verified through a coaching discussion with the assessor.

Below is an example reflective account at this level. It is for a Horticulture course rather than IT but shows the level of detail you should be looking to achieve.

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Meta-skills developed:
Focussing
Communicating
Collaborating
Leading
Sense-making

Summary of Work Situations:
My main role at work over the last few months has been to lead on a project to design and implement a new summer bedding area within the local park. I was responsible for the design aspect of the project and was in charge of a small team of 2 for the implementation of the design. Instructions were given from the area manager for the local authority who had also given me a budget for the work. The project timeline was planned on a simple spreadsheet. The first stage was to meet with representatives of the local neighbourhood who use the park and listen to their views on what design, plants and colours they would like. I had to discuss what parts of their requests were possible and explain why some were not and then come to an agreement in principle. I then had to draw a design for the new bed and source the plants, ensuring I could get the varieties I wanted at the appropriate time and within budget. A final design and planting scheme was then developed. During the next few months I worked with the team to prepare the new bed and kept in contact with the grower to ensure all plants would be delivered on the correct date for planting. A few weeks after the planting was complete the neighbourhood group visited together with the area and all were very pleased with the result and the area manager said the project was successful.

I identified a number of opportunities to developed meta-skills during this work. My self-assessment had identified communicating as one of the skills I was aware of but did not have the confidence to demonstrate it in my work and this project would involve me communicating with the area manager, the local community group and the team of labourers who were helping me implement the project. This should also help enhance my leading skills as it is the first opportunity I have had to lead and manage a project and team and I am still not confident in this skill. I also see an opportunity to use and enhance my focussing skills which I already feel confident in using and use on a regular basis.

While overall the result of the project was good and the new bed looks very good and has been admired by many the end result is quite a bit different from my original thoughts and plan. The number and range of variables that came up was much more than I expected e.g. my original plant order had to be changed 4 times due to changes in plant availability weeks after my order had been submitted. Weather also caused a delay in the project as the ground was too wet to prepare the bed at the planned time and we then struggle to get the bed ready in time for the plant delivery.

There are many things I would do differently if I was doing a similar project again. I didn’t appreciate how many changes there would be to plant availability after the order has been made. In any future designs I will make sure I have a back-up plan in place as to what changes will be made if the chosen plants are not available. Timing – my initial progress plan had very small windows for each activity to be carried out. In reality everything took longer than expected so more time needs to be allocated for each task. In future projects my timescales need to be more realistic. When working in public areas such as parks and gardens I will need to be more aware of the feelings of the general public who use the areas. This would be particularly important if I was carrying out a task that was more sensitive such as removing trees or bushes.

During the project I did increase my confidence in communicating and leading. I learned the importance of clear and timeous communication and how to get the best out of the team I was leading. I also enhanced some other meta-skills that I had not been confident in e.g. Adjusting. All through the project I was having to make changes based on new information, from plant availability changes to delivery time and weather I was constantly having to update and make changes to my plan. I now feel I am confident in using this skill in many other situations. Another skill I developed which I was not aware of in my self-assessment was feelings. During the project I was surprised by how much the local neighbourhood group cared about the project and how invested in the project they were. When changes had to be made e.g. in plant choice I always made sure I explained why the change had to be made. This is the first time I have had to take account of the feelings of others in carrying out my work.

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