#FutureOfAssessment: Adaptations for 21-22 and beyond | Episode 3

Hosted by Gavin O’Meara and Zac Aldridge (Director of Qualifications and Assessments, NCFE), we invited Chris Tubbrit (Product and Content Development Manager, NCFE) and Mike Saunders (Head of Quality Improvement, York College) to discuss how the pandemic changed the way we assess and award qualifications – and what this means for the future. At NCFE, four principles shaped the changes they made to their approach – supporting learning progress, maintaining rigour and robustness, streamlining and supporting centres, and working in partnership for the benefit of learners. After seeing hundreds of thousands of learners succeed in an exceptional year, this show explored what new and innovative methods of assessment emerged as a result of Covid-19.

The discussion also looked at the challenges and barriers still being faced by learners and institutions (including the well documented impact of learning loss), the successes that we saw, and how we can better collaborate as a sector to drive learner success. Ultimately, the sector (and the world!) was not ready for the seismic change that it experienced – how we can build systematic resilience into the education eco-system so we are future proofed for whatever comes out way?