When students have extreme stress

Some students get extremely stressed about assessment. Imagine what happens from the student’s viewpoint. The RTO gives you an official-looking piece of paper describing the difficult things you have to do, the deadlines, the exam with the secret questions, and how you could ask for help after you fail. In fairness, the RTO meant well; it tried to inform students what's happening: how they'll be assessed, the times of the assessment, and how to appeal. But this kind of communication can simply build up students' dread of what might happen.

Students are considered "educationally wounded" when their bad memories of school negatively affect their ability to learn and to be assessed. They are averse to formal education and anything that looks like "school," and generally believe that it sets them up to fail. Consequently, they see assessment as very daunting.

But many of these students are quite able to learn effectively. Some just don't like exams. Many fear failure and feel that the assessment system sets them up to fail. Some have unpleasant memories of school.

As an assessor, students' assessment stress affects what you do in various stages:

• How you plan your lessons to integrate with assessment
• How you inform students about assessment
• How you write assessment tools
• How you do the assessments.

Here are several tips to minimize student assessment stress.

When you inform students in writing how they will be assessed, make your written statement simple and easy to understand. Give it out early so it doesn't build fear. It might even help if they lose it. And talk them through it to allay their fears.

When you teach, help students them keep focussed on the goals. Verbally let them know what they have to be able to do and how well they have to do it. Most students are trying to get it right.

Integrate training and assessment seamlessly. You create lots of stress when you mark the assessment time as "The Big Exam." Try training by stealth. In many cases, students will pick up a variety of skills through one learning activity. But they'd be terrified if we started by telling them that they'd have to learn all those things. They'd give up before we started. So we give them a learning activity that they think is quite achievable. Then after they've done it and we've assessed it, we say, "Lo and behold! You've learned all these other things as well. You'll just have to get the extra credit for them!"
With thanks to Alison Wright of ASRITC.

Just being "competent" isn't always enough. Students might not be ready for assessment even if they can actually perform the competencies. Give them time to build up some confidence and workplace experience. Wait until they are ready for assessment and you are fairly sure that they will pass comfortably.

The ways in which you assess required knowledge will vary according to the actual item to be assessed:

1. Most preferred: Depending on the knowledge to be assessed, students might be able to demonstrate it by doing the assessment task. This doesn’t even require a separate assessment activity.
2. When students have done the assessment task, get them to explain what they have done and why they did it that way.
3. Use interviews. Start with the easy questions, and keep it practical. If a student doesn’t quite get it right, talk them around and give them another go.
4. Try to avoid written tests.

Another note on required knowledge. It can mean either 'What someone needs to know to do their job in their organization' or 'An industry-wide body of knowledge that is found in standard textbooks.' When you write questions for assessing required knowledge, phrase your questions to address the first as much as possible. It is usually less stressful for students to describe the familiar things they need every day.

Make the assessment part of what they will do in their workplaces anyway:

1. Interview the workplace supervisor to report on work done in the workplace. You can sometimes even use the workplace supervisor as a co-assessor. The student doesn't need to attend the meeting.
2. Use workplace documents they've already done as assessment evidence.
3. Use a logbook to report what students have done.

Get the student to give you the walkaround tour of their workplace and explain what they do. They'll feel much safer on their own turf explaining something familiar. You might be surprised how much of the assessment can be done quite quickly.

At the end, you get the upside. First, everybody enjoys the assessment much more. Second, when you tell easily stressed students that they did well and have passed , they say "Is that all? It was easy." And you can honestly tell them they earned it. You win too. You get an excellent graduate who couldn't have succeeded at your competitor RTOs.