ABSTRACT
Over the past 15 years, assessment has come to play a central role in teaching and learning and in formally recognizing learners’ achievements. Changes to the way assessment is used have had profound effects on the way that the vocational curriculum is organized and on teaching and learning methods in schools, colleges and universities. National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs), introduced in 1986, and General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs), introduced in 1992, have fundamentally altered our thinking about what assessment should be used for, how we should carry it out and who should benefit from it. This change is particularly evident in the vocational curriculum offered by schools, further education and sixth form colleges and universities, but it is also apparent in other parts of the further and higher education curriculum and in the school National Curriculum.
