EAL CPD Modules for Assessors Questioning Skills

1. EAL CPD Modulesfor Assessors Questioning Skills

2. Questioning SkillsThis self led programme is designed for:AssessorsThis programme may also be delivered to a group of Assessors by a trainer. At the end of the programme and satisfactorily completing the quiz, print both the quiz and certificate and keep them as evidence of CPD activities

3. How to use this Programme • This programme contains hyperlinks to other sections in the programme (the link to other sections is available from the contents page). Hyperlinks are available only when in ‘Slide Show’. Click on the link to take you to the section then click on ‘back to contents page’ to return. • The programme contains references to documents that are used in the programme. These documents are also hyperlinked. When finished with a document, CLOSE the document to bring you back to the presentation screen.

4. Contents 1. Aim & Objectives F 2. Knowledge Requirements in qualifications F 3. Questions - set and not pre-set F 4. Questioning Styles & their uses F Activity 2 F 5. Questioning in competence based qualifications F Activity 3 F 6. Summary F 7. Quiz F 8. Certificate F It is suggested that you go through this programme in the following order, however, if you want to quickly jump to a particular section click on the hyperlink below. This programme covers:

5. 1.Aim and ObjectivesBack to Contents Page Aim The aim of this programme is to explore ways that an Assessor can improve their questioning technique when carrying out assessments at their Centre. Objectives At the end of the programme Assessors will be able to identify and appropriately use a set of questioning techniques to efficiently extract learner/candidates’ knowledge and understanding within assessments.

6. 2. Knowledge Requirements in qualifications Back to Contents Page The Assessment of Knowledge can be: • Inferred from observed performance or • By the examination of product evidence and • By the Candidates’ responses to questions.

7. 2. Knowledge Requirements in qualifications Back to Contents Page To confirm that the candidate is competent, we need to question the candidate to ensure that they understand what they are doing and why they are doing it. So.. let’s focus on exploring how to develop ways of getting the Candidates to give us the responses that we need in order to determine their competency.

8. 2. Knowledge Requirements in qualificationsBack to Contents Page The Knowledge Requirements in qualifications can be presented as : Statements or Questions.

9. 2. Knowledge Requirements in N/SVQs Back to Contents Page Whether they are statements or questions the depth of knowledge required of learners/candidates will relate to the knowledge and understanding needed in order to undertake the activity that they are required to do in the Performance Criteria/Statements (PC/S)/Learning outcomes. E.G. If the Knowledge Requirements refer to legislation, the candidate does not need to know the legislation chapter and verse …. they only need to know the part of that legislation that relates to the activity in the PC/S.

10. 2. Knowledge Requirements in N/SVQs Back to Contents Page Let’s look at Statements and Questions Statements • For the parts that cannot be inferred, the statements will need to be converted into questions that we can ask the learner/candidate. Questions • The Questions in the Knowledge Requirements will be: • Set questions. • However, as Assessors we will probably want to ask further questions to check understanding. These questions are: • Not set (flexible). Let’s take each of these in turn……

11. 3. Questions - set and not set Let’s look at the type of Set Questions. Set questions may be: Back to Contents Page • devised by the Awarding Body (i.e. phrased and printed in assessment materials for use by all assessors in all Centres. This gives greater consistency across all centres) or • devised by the Centre (i.e. developed by Centres and printed in their own assessment materials/workbooks for use by a group of Assessors) or • devised by the Assessor (i.e. developed by an individual assessor for his own use with learners/candidates)

12. 3. Questions - set and not set Back to Contents Page . Let’s look at the type of Not set Questions Not set (or flexible) questions will be: Devised ‘on the spot’. They may be used: • To clarify or check something (perhaps as a result of witnessing something during an observation) or • To probe more deeply for understanding (perhaps following another question) or • To ensure the learner/candidate knows why they are doing something

13. 3. Questions - set and not set Back to Contents Page Questions (both set and not set) may be: Written or oral In the main written questions are normally set. Whereas oral questions may be set or not set (flexible) Whether they are written or oral they need to be carefully thought through with the appropriate question style being used. Let’s look at question styles....

14. 4. Question Styles Back to Contents Page By selecting the appropriate question style we can • Get the learners/candidates to give us the information we are looking for • Steer and control discussions The various different types of question are like tools in a toolbox – you have to select the correct one for each job.

15. 4. Question Styles Back to Contents Page In general questions usually fall into several broad categories: • Obtaining information • Encouraging disclosure of opinions or feelings • Probing to get more detailed or in-depth facts or views • Seeking clarification of anything which seems unclear • Checking understanding (whether we have understood what has been said and giving the other person the opportunity to correct any misunderstandings).

16. 4. Question Styles Back to Contents Page Open Questions Open Questions are deliberately designed to encourage the person to give a full and open response rather than a yes/no answer, or a simple statement of fact. They are particularly useful at the beginning of a meeting as they can establish rapport by encouraging a person to talk freely and consequently to relax. Examples of Open Questions are: “Tell me about….”, “Why did you….” “How did you…”

17. 4. Question Styles Back to Contents Page Closed Questions Closed questions are useful when you want to establish facts or to elicit yes/no responses. They must, however, be used with care since they may make the learner/candidate feel as if they are being interrogated. These questions close down the opportunity for the candidate to develop the topic or to respond freely. Examples of Closed Questions are: “Is that correct?”, “Do you want this or that?” “How many are necessary?”

18. 4. Question Styles Back to Contents Page Reflective Questions Reflective Questions are particularly useful when the assessor wishes to encourage the candidate to carry on talking or to expand on a particular point. Reflective questions can also be used to alter the direction of the conversation without appearing to interrupt. The technique consists of identifying something the candidate said and bouncing it back. Example of a Reflective Question.. “You mentioned working on project x. That is very interesting. How did you find that experience?”

19. 4. Question Styles Back to Contents Page Probing/follow up questions can be used to explore a topic in greater depth, to clarify the reasons and motivations behind the facts, or to attempt to elicit information held at a sub-conscious level. Probing/follow up questions can be used in the style of open, closed or reflective. “How did you find that experience? … tell me more” (Open) “Exactly how much is that measurement?” (Closed) “Problems? What sort of problems did you encounter?” (Reflective) Probing/Follow up

20. 4.Question Styles Back to Contents Page Leading Questions These are questions in which the required answer is suggested by the way in which the question is constructed. e.g. “…..don’t you think…?” “Wouldn’t you agree that?” In most situations, this type of question is unhelpful as it can give the learner/candidate a steer on what you expect the answer to be. More often than not, it may be used quite inadvertently, due to assessors failing to think about the form of words they are using.

21. 4. Question Styles Back to Contents Page Loaded Questions Loaded questions contain implicit assumptions. e.g “What do you think about this stupid new legislation?” “Why waste time on….” Because everyone makes such assumptions all the time, assessors need to be very careful about the way they phrase questions. It is all too easy to slip into asking a loaded question and, in consequence, to generate an unhelpful response.

22. 4. Question Styles Back to Contents Page Multiple Questions Multiple questions are, quite simply, two or more questions asked in the same breath. They inevitably leave the Learner/ Candidate confused, wondering which part to answer first. These questions should be avoided.

23. 4. Question Styles Back to Contents Page Multiple Choice The Multiple Choice style of question is more commonly used in written question papers. These questions force the Learner/ Candidate to choose between alternatives answers, even though, in practice, there may be other options available. Multiple choice questions are notoriously difficult to write as the ‘wrong’ answers (called distractors) need to be viable alternatives to the correct answer (known as the key). If the distractors are not sensible alternatives the learner/candidate can easily guess the correct answer. Awarding Bodies who run multiple choice question banks continually measure the difficulty and performance of these types of question to ensure the rigour of these questions. Without this measurement Centres should avoid posing these types of questions even though they are easy to mark.

24. Back to Contents Page 4. Question Styles – Activity 1 Now that you can recognise the types of questions that others are using let’s try out the useful ones ourselves. Use the ‘Question Planning and Practice’ form to plan a few questions that you could use on your family and friends in order to control and steer the discussion so that you get the information that you want. These questions will start the discussion off, you will then need to continue using your skills for supplementary questions. Think about the style of question before speaking. Record some other questions that you also used in conversation on the form under the appropriate headings to see whether they worked.

25. 4. Question Styles Back to Contents Page To recap… Your style of question can get the other person to: • Open up and give information (Open) • Limit their response or get straight facts (Closed) • Encourage them to give more (Reflective or Probing) • Steer them to a particular response (Leading) • Understand your feelings (Loaded) • Only give part of the information (Multiple) These question styles can all (with the exception of multiple) be useful in your tool box. Let’s look at how an assessor can use these tools……..

26. Back to Contents Page 5. Questioning for N/SVQs When used in N/SVQs we should mainly stick to Open, Closed, Reflective and Probing/Follow up. We also know that Leading Questions can inadvertently tell the candidate the answer that you want to hear – so these should be avoided. Loaded and multiple questions are also not helpful and should not be used. (Don’t forget that when assessing you need to record whatever questions you used and the candidate’s answers in assessment materials.)

27. 5. Questioning for N/SVQs –Activity 2 Back to Contents Page Let’s relate what we know about questioning techniques to the Knowledge Requirements in a qualification…. • Select the Knowledge Requirements in the qualification of your choice • Print off the ‘Question Prompter’ • Design some questions (related to the Knowledge Requirements) to ask the learners/candidates. If the Knowledge Requirements are already in question format, design some more to probe for deeper understanding. • Complete the Question Prompter with your questions and expected answers. • Trial out your questions on Learners/Candidates and refine them as necessary depending on the answers that you get.

28. Back to Contents Page 5. Questioning in N/SVQs We have been concentrating on oral questioning, by listening to interviews and practicing question techniques when speaking. The principles that we have used, however, are the same for written questions. Written questions are useful when the response requires a diagram/sketch etc.

29. Back to Contents Page 6. Summary We now know:- How questioning can help with assessing the Knowledge Requirement in qualifications The differences between set and not pre-set questions and when they are normally used. The different question styles and what they do How to use the different styles to steer discussions How to apply these principles to questioning learners/candidates

30. Back to Contents Page 7. Quiz This completes the EAL CPD Module on Questioning Skills Please print off and complete the quiz Check it against our answer sheet: Revisit any question areas that you need to improve upon. (See slide number after answers) Keep the quiz as evidence of CPD activity.

31. 8. CertificateBack to Contents Page Well done! • Open the certificate • Enter your details • Print off your course certificate • Keep the certificate, and supporting documents used in the programme, to show your EV as evidence of CPD activities. Look out for other CPD programmes in this series!