Self-Assessment for Learning in Vocational Education and Training

Abstract

Self-assessment is a crucial skill that students need to develop during their educational years, especially at those educational levels where the curriculum leads to future jobs. By being able to assess their own performance, students can become self-regulated learners and continue their professional development throughout their careers. This chapter will explore what is known about self-assessment through an updated version of the state-of-the-art. Firstly, it will be defined what self-assessment is, the different forms it can take, and which of those forms are most conducive to enhancing students’ learning. Secondly, it will be explored what is the relationship between self-assessment and academic achievement and between self-regulated learning strategies and self-efficacy. That section will also present an overview of the learning and psychological effects of self-assessment to conceptualize the internal cognitive, motivational, and emotional processes that are involved. Thirdly, extracted from the research literature, it will be explored what are the best instructional methods to train students to develop their self-assessment skills. In that section, both recommendations on how to help students develop the requisite skills and recommendations for teachers’ training will be presented. Lastly, we will build from best-research examples on vocational education and training to consider how self-assessment can best be implemented and extract practical implications and recommendations.