ABSTRACT
Capability is a holistic concept which, in a climate in which curricula are progressively being unitized, presents particular challenges to those concerned with assessment. Yorke outlines a number of difficulties with the assessment of capability and points to some developments which have the potential to contribute to the assessment of capability in its fullest sense. Assessment, he argues, is too important to be left to a relatively unconsidered end of the validation/approval process: instead, it probably needs to be given more time than most curricula currently allow, with implications for the distribution of staff time. Further, there is a need, in higher education, for the general level of expertise in assessment to be raised, implying considerable future staff development activity in this direction.
