Assessing competence
Information on assessing competence
How to assess your level of competence
Established frameworks, either externally provided or within your organisation, will normally have a formal scale or grading system and guidance on how to approach assessment.This might include able-to-do statements, levels of responsibility and indicators based on formal learning undertaken. However, if you have created your own competence statements or are using a framework without guidance, assessment will be difficult without some indicators to help you, so you will need to set your own.
When using competences purely for your own development, to provide a means to measure improvements in your performance, there is no need to worry about defining absolute scales. Instead, try to set measures and definitions that help you to focus your development.
Defining a scale
The scale you adopt is entirely up to you, but we would suggest you keep it simple. Try to think of the possible extremes for a competence statement – with little or no understanding at one end and complete mastery at the other – then set some ‘milestones’ along the way. Some examples of common scales are given here:
Category A: Fully competent in area.
Category B: Can demonstrate competence in most elements associated with area.
Category C: Can demonstrate competence in some elements associated with area.
Category D: Unable to offer any evidence of competence in area.
Another method is to relate your competence level to the amount of responsibility you have when performing a given task. For example:
Trainee: You are learning how to do a task.
Supervised practitioner: You can perform the task, but require some supervision.
Practitioner: You can take full responsibility for, and are completely competent in, performing the task. You can supervise and train others.
Expert: You have superior and in-depth understanding of the task, and the function in general, to take overall responsibility. You will keep abreast of developments and be able to work in diverse situations. You are the person all others turn to for advice.
A five-point scale might look like:
Level 1:
- Performs the activity with significant supervision and guidance.
- Performs basic routines and predictable tasks.
- Little or no responsibility or autonomy.
Level 2:
- Performs the activity in a range of contexts.
- Supervision is only required in more complex circumstances.
- Some individual responsibility or autonomy.
Level 3:
- Performs the activity in some complex and non-routine contexts.
- Significant responsibility and autonomy.
- Can oversee the work of others.
Level 4:
- Performs the activity in a wide range of complex and non-routine contexts.
- Substantial personal autonomy.
- Can develop others in the activity.
Level 5:
- Can take a strategic view.
- Applies a significant range of fundamental principles and complex techniques across a wide and often unpredictable variety of contexts.
- Wide scope of personal autonomy.
Recording your assessment
Use some form of chart or graph to show your current attainment level(s) and monitor the improvement in your competences over time. Career Manager is a good example of an on-line system, which will help you collect and present your assessments and the evidence to support them. Examples of paper-based forms and systems can be found in the PD-How2 Guide.
Verifying your assessment
In general, providing you are as honest with yourself as possible, you should feel comfortable with assessing your own levels of competence. However, you may find it valuable to seek help from someone to challenge your perspectives and give an independent view. People who you could ask to assess you include:
- Your manager.
- Your mentor.
- Your colleagues.
- Your clients.
If you are seeking verification of your assessment for a formal purpose, you should seek someone who is likely to be deemed competent to make such a judgement, eg a senior engineer.
Creating Context
Giving your assessment a ‘context’ will help anyone else who sees it to understand the circumstances in which you operate. A statement of context should include the sector and role in which you work, the level of responsibility/autonomy you have, and any specific technologies or equipment that you use (such as software or types of plant). This is important if competence is being considered as transferable across industries – as the aptitudes that make you competent in one context may not be the same or as relevant in another.
Assessment over time
When using competences to plan and monitor your development, it will be necessary to re-assess yourself at regular intervals. You can choose how often, but once a year is usual. If you can persuade someone to act as your mentor this should be extremely useful. Having a long-term supporter of this type will allow regular calibration of your self-assessment as well as a sounding board for ideas about your development. It may also be handy to have more than one mentor as a wider source of ideas.
A mentor does not have to work in the same place, or even in the same field. An outsider’s view, more questioning and less likely to have the same mind-set, may be particularly valuable at times. For example, another member of your Institution, an ex-colleague or an old college tutor. It may even be possible to work this as a two-way activity, providing mutual support and advice.
