Inside News

Quality Training

Volume 12 No 4

September 2016

Constructive Alignment and

Programmatic Assessment in

Registrar Training

The recommendations for improvement

handed down by Prof David Prideaux

in his 2015 review of the College’s

assessment programs centred on two

key concepts: constructive alignment

and programmatic assessment.

Constructive alignment is about clearly

articulating the learning objectives

and student learning outcomes of the

training program and ensuring that

they are aligned with the curriculum

content, the teaching strategies and the

assessment tasks. It’s about ensuring a

balance between theory and practice

and having a well-defined framework

of assessments and examinations to

evaluate the learning outcomes.

The College’s training program

curriculums conform to good curriculum

design, and while the radiation oncology

curriculum is organised according

to learning outcomes and includes

statements of overall learning outcomes,

the clinical radiology curriculum requires

some additional work.

The clinical radiology curriculum

contains statements of educational

principles, details on assessments,

key conditions and experiential

requirements. There are syllabus

statements for the medical expert roles

of the program, however improving the

documentation on learning outcomes

will assist with clearer models for

assessment.

Over the coming months statements on

overall learning outcomes for the non-

medical expert roles will be developed.

These statements will not only guide

the overall assessment program but will

also identify to any trainee or clinical

supervisor what the expected learning

outcomes of that syllabus are.

Once the learning objectives have been

identified, the way in which they are

assessed can be developed. The tool

for assessment needs to be appropriate

and be able to capture the information

required to determine if the expected

outcomes have been reached. A formal

examination is one such tool. However

often an examination may not be the

best performing tool or may not be the

only assessment tool used to build a

comprehensive picture of performance.

This is where programmatic assessment

is introduced. Programmatic assessment

is about having a holistic view of

performance across multiple events. It

recognises that competency develops

over time, so assessment information is

gathered in a progressive way, and all

available data is used to measure the

achievement of learning outcomes.

The College’s curriculums are supported

by well recognised assessments and

examinations tools and on face value

there are alignments with the curriculum

statements. However in both training

programs, each assessment and

examination is a unique event with no

relationship between each activity. As an

example there is no clear relationship

between the work-based assessments

and examinations.

Over the coming months the

assessments and examinations of each

training program will be reviewed. The

exact purpose of an assessment and

examinations will be documented and

related back to the overall outcomes of

the curriculum.

The overall framework of assessments

will also be reviewed so that a trainee’s

performance is not evaluated using

one assessment tool but by evaluating

performance across a number of

assessment tools. This will allow for the

strengths and weaknesses of a trainee to

be captured across multiple instruments

and provide more comprehensive

information about trainee progress.

The move to programmatic assessment

may mean that work-based assessment

tools change in the future. This

could also assist with addressing

workload issues by identifying areas

of overlap and redundancy to allow

for assessments that provide sufficient

information to evaluate a trainee’s

progress through the training program.

It will also provide opportunities to have

more targeted and focused feedback to

trainees about performance.

Two steering committees have been

established to oversee the review and

development of constructive alignment

and programmatic assessment. A/Profs

Margot Lehman and Sandra Turner,

Dr Matthew Seel, Prof David Prideaux

and the Head of Specialty Training will

lead radiation oncology. A/Prof Dinesh

Varma, Drs Meredith Thomas, Barry

Soans, Alexandria Taylor and Graeme

Anderson, Prof David Prideaux and

the Head of Specialty Training will lead

clinical radiology.

This review will require the knowledge

and collaboration of many members.

To support the development of the

programmatic assessment over the

next 12 months, a number of working

groups will be established. Members

are encouraged to be a part of these

developments.

If you are interested in being

involved please contact A/Prof

Varma or Lehman c/o Mr Adam

Rayment, Manager Special

Projects, at adam.rayment@ranzcr.

edu.au

or phone

+61 2 9268 9706.

“Programmatic

assessment is about

having a holistic view

of performance across

multiple events.”