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Assessing learners´ skills and competences

Assessment at the beginning of a course or training unit

Contents

In this module part, you will learn about why to use assessment at the beginning of the FIL training course from participants’ and teachers’ point of view and three assessment tools commonly used for pre-assessment. It also highlights „Training Needs Assessment” as a consistent methodology to use throughout the FIL course design and delivery.

Finding out about the training needs in a FIL pre-course assessment,

  • participants will be able to figure out their already existing knowledge and competence in dealing with finances in everyday life,
  • participants will understand where the focus in following training activities should be put on to improve their related skills and knowledges,
  • teachers will be able to define the training needs and plan next steps,
  • where a smart learning environment is used – the system can use the results to suggest prepared learning contents/ pathways.

In order to define participants’ training needs and the teaching approaches of the trainings course or unit, formative assessment activities can be chosen from a variety of tools and methods presented with this unit. For teachers, they would help to adapt the assessment methods accordingly and undergo the following consistent methodology:

Source: BEST Institut für berufsbezogene Weiterbildung und Personaltraining GmbH

A Training Needs Assessment is a systematic process of collecting and analyzing information on what a target group needs to learn. A need implies a discrepancy or gap between the current or perceived condition in knowledge, skills and attitudes and the desired condition. Learning needs are generally divided into two categories, perceived needs and unperceived needs. Perceived needs are what learners have identified as what they need to learn. Unperceived needs are discrepancies not perceived by the learners. Training programs are designed to close the gap between what is there already and what is desired.

 

A training needs assessment for use with FIL adult learners is a tool that examines, from the perspective of the learner, what kinds of financial (and related digital knowledge) and/ or skills and competences participants already believe to have; the financial literacy contexts in which they live and work; what they want and need to know to function in their financial context; what participants expect to gain from the FIL training.

It helps find out:

  • How big is any gap,
  • Is the gap known or unknown to the target audience,
  • What current practices are pressing on this issue for the target audience,
  • Is there motivation to learn something new and if not what would provide it?

For the collection of data in a training needs assessment, a variety of methods exists. Depending on the approach, one specific method or a combination can be used. It is recommended to use a combination of methods in FIL in order to have a comprehensive view/variety of perspectives on specific needs.