When conducting any assessments for individual learners over the age of 16 in a business administration environment, there are a number of risks that may be involved with assessment. They may be risks to the learners in that unnecessary stress has been placed on them in a busy work environment where they have to perform their own work, plus any work given by the assessor. Any work produced may not be to a level of standard that is normally expected.
Assessors may be stressed, and under pressure to get learners through qualifications in a timely manner, thereby not covering the assessment criteria to any level of detail that has been set out by the examination body. Competency of any learner in the assessment process does run the risk of being an actual credible way of assessing in a work-based scenario, especially where observation is involved, as this may, as mentioned above, cause stress to the individual in that they might feel under pressure for a specific range of assessment situations set-up. Health and Safety risks may not be in place in a business administration environment as there are compliance officers in place who would be checking that any requirements for assessment are risked assessed for compliance to Health and Safety standards. Any issues that are found would be taken away from a responsibility perspective, from the assessor, and dealt with by the compliance team.
This however does raise organisational risks involved with there being appropriate opportunities for assessment e.g. work disruption or availability of staff to complete the assessment. These organisational risks must be managed in an acceptable timescale to support assessment deadlines in a timely manner for submission. Due to the diverse nature of the workforce, any assessment does have the additional risk of being appropriate for the learner in terms of understanding and capability from an equality perspective.
Data Protection risks will be in place as all documentation and material from a learner and assessor perspective must comply with the principles of the Data Protection Act (1998). Compliance officers are there to understand whether internal processes and procedures are being followed and adhered to, but the risk is placed upon us individually to comply with all aspects of current legislation.Evidence authenticity is a risk that is minimised by having individual work-place email checks in place.
Any ‘signed’ statements from third-parties can be checked for validity with additional processes that can be adopted. This minimises any risks.
