Assessing the Assessors: Authentic Online Assessment of Students of School Counselling
The principles of assessment in higher education mirror those in all levels of education in that assessment is informed by learning and teaching theories or paradigms. However, in higher education, assessment affects how learners learn even more than in other levels of education (Atkins et al., 1993; McMahon, 1999). Assessment paradigms are often discussed in terms of traditional assessment versus alternative assessment (Anderson, 1998). Traditional assessment views the purpose of evaluation as documenting student learning. This in turn is based on viewing students as passive recipients of knowledge who often adopt a surface approach to learning. The role of teaching is thus to deliver this knowledge (Speck, 2002). On the other hand, alternative assessment views students as inquirers into knowledge, who are active, deep learners, collaborating and using higher level thinking skills (Gulikers et al., 2004).
One of the most important of the assessment principles for enhancing learning is the concept of alignment. That is, the alignment of objectives, teaching practices, learning activities and assessment (Biggs, 2003). Teaching, learning and assessment must be tightly integrated, because as Ramsden (1992) emphasizes, "from our students' point of view, the assessment always defines the actual curriculum" (p.187).
Another principle is that assessment needs to be authentic to enhance learning, especially when preparing students for professional roles. The assessment should integrate the learning from various parts of the unit in order that students can demonstrate the interplay of knowledge, process and skills required in their future professional life. There also needs to be a strong integration of formative and summative evaluation.
We explore the assessment for school counsellors, based on constructivist theories, which shifts the focus from a 'testing' culture to an 'assessment' culture where there is an integration of assessment, teaching and learning, involving students in authentic tasks.
