ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the concepts of assessing and linking core content to assessment, the benefits and the burdens. Assessment, regardless of the format, has a central role in health professional education given that the ultimate role of a vocational course is to enable candidates to become safe practitioners on graduation. The notion that assessment drives learning is rarely contested, although for students, how to approach assessment and concerns about what has to be learnt and to what depth cause considerable anxiety. The challenge may be to ensure that health promotion is valued enough that assessments count, that there should be consistency, and that students feel confident when applying health promotion in clinical context and able to critique evidence. Students have been keen to concern themselves with curricula, and regulatory bodies also indicate what learning outcomes are essential. These essential learning outcomes have to be more than rhetoric, but they need to be achievable, measurable and demonstrable.
