Assessment case study

3 Hairdressing Industry Training Organisation

2759 Perform hairdressing services in a commercial salon (Level 5)

Case studies of assessment and moderation
Commentary
Background
Issues encountered
Quality systems
Support documents

Commentary

This is a Common Assessment Task (CAT) that assesses an industry based unit standard that, unusually, has a single element. Key points to note in the submission are:

• Observation of normal workplace practice by an industry assessor is the assessment technique supported by a reporting sheet verifying that the candidate has met the client service requirements (25 services per week for 4 weeks with no less than 15% receiving a chemical service).
• Commercial viability is a key criteria in the industry and the unit standard is very specific as to what this constitutes. This is outlined in an evidence guide.
• The documentation, which is clear and simple to understand, consists of evidence guidelines, a reporting sheet for the candidate to record evidence over a 4-week period, and an assessment summary sheet. It gives excellent guidance to candidates and assessors about the standard required.

Background

This is an in-salon workplace assessment activity that is used for the second to last standard required to achieve the National Certificate in Hairdressing Practice. It is assessed by industry assessors and candidates must have completed all other 42 standards before attempting this assessment. Candidates are expected to be working in salons, generally full time, and to have built up a commercial clientele. Specifications for this are contained in the one element unit standard.

The needs addressed by the development of this activity were to:

• create an assessment activity that represented an accepted standard in a commercial salon
• produce a common assessment task that was easily interpreted by a large number of industry assessors who were not assessing regularly
• develop an assessment activity that introduced evidence guides and judgement statements that defined the industry standards.

This assessment activity has been used since 1998 with an average of 250 assessments per year used by approximately 70 industry assessors over the last 4 years. Before its implementation, a trial was undertaken to determine its acceptability to industry and feedback was positive. Since its implementation few amendments have been made and any questions about its use are discussed during annual assessor training but few amendments have been requested or made.

Issues encountered

As this assessment is a reflection of a normal salon day and the candidates are required to be working on clients, the possibility of clients not arriving can affect the outcome of the assessment. Assessors have to manage these situations and allow evidence to be cross-referenced so that as far as possible the candidate is not disadvantaged. Moreover, in checking the authenticity of the information on the recording sheet, assessors must avoid encroaching on the privacy of the salon.

Quality systems

HITO has two different groups of assessors - those based in providers who assess the first 42 unit standards of the National Certificate in Hairdressing Service Level 4 and a group of industry assessors who assess the final two performance based unit standards. The following quality assurance processes are in place:

• All assessors are required to have unit standards 4098 and 11552
• The ITO has a full-time National Moderator.
• Industry assessors must attend annual assessor training and are moderated bi-annually.
• Provider based assessors meet their institution's training requirements and are moderated annually.
• A Qualifications Advisory Committee is appointed by the HITO Board to advise the ITO on matters relating to content and structure of unit standards and qualifications. Qualifications Advisory Committee meetings are held twice a year. The committee is required to submit all recommendations and policy changes for ratification by the Board.

  The Committee consists of representatives from:

  • Industry (three - one of whom is also an HITO Board Member)
  • Polytechnics (one)
  • Private Training Establishments (one)
  • HITO National Moderator
  • An employee representative may be co-opted where necessary.

  Each Committee member is required to establish a network of contacts and to seek input from those contacts on a regular basis to ensure that decisions are representative of wider industry needs. In particular the Committee provides advice regarding:

  • unit standard and qualification reviews
  • the level and credit values of unit standards and qualifications
  • the content of unit standards
  • the need for new unit standards/qualifications
  • any other matters requested by the HITO Board or National Executive Officer.

Support documents

The following documents are provided here as examples of assessment in practice but are not intended as definitive guides. They are available to view in PDF

Page updated: 17 December 2002