ABSTRACT
Field educators and educational institution staff report that the most frequently occurring reasons for concern about student performance are associated with criteria to do with 'use of self'. The task, however, is to identify and comment on instances of the student's actual practice in terms of the agreed standards and criteria such as performance indicators provided by the educational institution. Continuous assessment requires a sound teaching/learning relationship between student and field educator. In summative assessment, on the hand, the educational institution usually sets assessment ‘events’. Topics for discussion include the rationale for assessment, differing conceptions of assessment, the processes and tools that may be used in carrying it out, and some of the debates and dilemmas associated with assessment of student performance during fieldwork. The increasing legalisation of assessment has seen it become increasingly common for educational institutions to require field educators to undertake summative assessment in some prescribed fashion.
