It is public confidence that will largely determine the success, or otherwise, of the Diplomas', says David Wright, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors.

To say that assessment has gone professional, might be construed as patronising in the extreme -  if that were to suggest that there was little or no professionalism in the system as we know it now - especially to those teachers and awarding bodies who have spent many years assessing exam work, standardising markers and awarding grades.

And in any case there is hardly a teacher now that will have escaped assessment in some form or another over the years, with the prominence of coursework and key stage testing, or the rollout of Assessing Pupils' Progress materials in particular.

But even if you have largely managed to avoid it in the past, you're unlikely to escape it in the future - especially not those involved with the Diplomas, where almost 90 per cent of the principal learning elements can be devised, developed and assessed locally by teachers, rather than the awarding bodies. 

But with 'assessment' as a topic in teacher-training courses being relegated to only six short hours in some cases, where is the new generation of teachers to get that help and expertise required - to perform adequately and proficiently as assessors?

And what help is available to existing teachers who need support to ensure that their assessments are credible and that public confidence is both achieved and maintained - for it is public confidence that will largely determine the success, or otherwise, of the Diplomas?

That's where the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (CIEA) comes in.

The Institute was formed in 2005 as an independent membership organisation, and gained its Royal Charter in 2008. 

Since then, it has not lain idle - taking an active part in promoting and supporting the assessment agenda, through conferences, workshops and training.  And through its influence post-graduate degrees in assessment are now developed or delivered at, Bath Spa University, Durham University, University of Leeds, Warwick University, Swansea Metropolitan University and the Institute of Education in London.

Assessment is an issue which will not go away and will have an even bigger influence on teaching careers and students' futures, than ever it has in the past. We need to be ready and prepared to meet that challenge.

The Government plans to have a senior assessment specialist member of staff in every school as outlined in the DCSF's Assessment for Learning Strategy - and is working in partnership with the CIEA and others to bring that about.

And this is where the CIEA is already offering support to assessors at all stages of personal development - through membership of the institute and all that that entails, to include training and resources, qualifications, support, and practical help for schools and colleges through a network of advisers.

Membership can either be on an individual basis or through corporate affiliation of a school or college - or an organisation for that matter too, as more of them sign up to become awarding bodies. 

There is much at stake and these opportunities need to be grasped, if the Diplomas are to work effectively and public confidence earned.

Future working plans are moving on a pace too, with further collaboration between the Institute, the awarding bodies, the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) Life-long Learning UK (LLUK) and the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA), to provide best-practice guidance to consortia.

As a result, two new roles are being recommended in the form of Lead and Domain Assessors.

Domain Assessors will work closely with the awarding bodies to identify and apply consistently appropriate national standards across the country within a single diploma line of learning.

Lead Assessors will work with consortia across different groups of students and lines of learning, again to   ensure consistency and maintenance of standards from year to year, nationally. In essence quality assuring assessment practice across all taught lines of learning.

The CIEA has been offering training to consortia in these roles since the beginning of the year, backed by the QCDA, to complement the training provided by awarding bodies, and ensure consortia are ready and fully capable of meeting the exacting requirements of these new programmes of study.

This training has been mapped against the CIEA Framework of Assessment which lays out the process of assessment from planning or preparing to assess, through to conducting and feeding back after the assessment has been done.

The framework allows individuals to map their skills and capabilities in assessment against a national standard or benchmark of good practice.

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