What Is an Initial and Diagnostic Assessment?

Initial and diagnostic assessment begins the process of getting to know learners and building a relationship with them. Initial assessment happens at the time of a learner transition into a new learning programme. It is a holistic process, during which you and the learner start to build up a picture of their achievements, skills, interests, previous learning experiences and goals, and the learning needs associated with those goals. This information is used as a basis for negotiating a course or programme.

Diagnostic assessment helps to identify specific learning strengths and needs. It determines learning targets and appropriate teaching and learning strategies to achieve them. This is important because many learners have higher-level skills in some areas than in others. Diagnostic assessment happens initially at the beginning of a learning programme and subsequently when the need arises. It is related to specific skills needed for tasks.

The two processes are closely linked: diagnostic assessment adds to the information gathered from initial assessment.

Together they help you and the learners to use this information in order to:

• personalise learning;
• develop individual learning plans;
•  begin the process of assessment for learning that will continue throughout the learners programme;
•  make links to progression routes and prepare for the next steps.

Initial and diagnostic assessment can be among learners first experiences of your organisation and will influence their early impressions. If the experience is positive, active and involving, this will help to create a climate in which learners are able to negotiate and take responsibility for their learning.

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You can help make the experience positive for learners by:

• involving them do the assessment with them not to them,
• helping learners to take an active part will encourage motivation and independence;
• building their self-esteem and sense of self-worth;
• recognising their strengths and achievements, not just their weaknesses;
• linking initial and diagnostic assessment to their own aspirations, such as their career choices or aspects of their everyday lives;
• taking the opportunity to discuss issues such as cultural perceptions, learning difficulties or disabilities that might form barriers to success and lead to career stereotyping,
• using active listening skills to foster an atmosphere of mutual respect, build relationships with learners and make each learner feel valued;
• encouraging and establishing a level of trust so that issues for learning can be discussed openly, in context, and dealt with constructively;
• making the assessment relevant to their specific context for learning, which will enhance their confidence and self-esteem.

Initial and diagnostic assessment should involve a range of methods and approaches, none of which is sufficient on its own. It is important to evaluate the quality of information obtained from particular methods. Once you have begun to get to know the learners and their learning preferences, you will be better able to select the appropriate assessment methods. The diagram below shows a range of possible methods. Adapted from The initial assessment toolkit (Key Skills Support Programme, 2007).

Documents and records give evidence of achievements and include qualifications, records of achievement, references, non-academic certificates and awards.
Self-assessment gives learners some idea of where their strengths and weaknesses lie. It is vital to take learners own views into account and to make the most of this knowledge.

Discussions and interviews allow teachers and learners to get to know each other. They also provide an excellent opportunity to feed back the results of other assessment methods and to probe more deeply. Assessment tools can play an important role in objective initial and diagnostic assessment of functional skills. Tools are also sometimes used to assess occupational skills and learning difficulties and/or disabilities.

Structured group or individual activities during induction and early parts of the programme allow learners to apply specific skills. A free writing task, for example, gives a rounded picture of how someone actually writes. Such a task also helps to put learners at the centre of the assessment process because they can write about themselves and their interests. Observation gives a broader picture of the whole person and how they perform in a range of contexts. This will give insights into learners strengths, how they work with others, how they think, how confident they are and how willing they are to ask for help.

Try this:

1. Make the assessment relevant to learners context and interests. This may mean planning activities or using assessment tools related to learners vocational areas or everyday interests. Providing a context for the assessment helps the learners to see how skills can be transferred.
2. Gather information from activities that learners carry out in other parts of their programme. For example, you can: observe them on a work placement, use examples of their writing to assess their skills.
3. Select a blend of assessment methods to suit individual learners and their circumstances.