ASSESSMENT USING VIEWPOINT gives professionals insights based on young people’s self assessments and encourages young people to think about their achievements and directions

Viewpoint assessment uses several interactive resources, which can be used to encourage young people to contribute to their assessment, and at the same time to help professionals to assimilate and act on the information that they provide. The process involves young people and professional such as teachers, personal advisors, social workers and Youth Justice workers each using purpose designed tools. These resources have been developed in partnership between Viewpoint, igen and some other organisations that have been involved in piloting and commenting in them. They involve both computer applications and work sheets, which have been selected carefully to maximise flexibility and involvement.

· Online questionnaires are designed and validated in processes that focus on what young people think of as relevant.

· Animated, talking, assistants make answering questionnaires online engaging, and easy for young people to understand.

· Formatted reports provide a quick overview of a whole cohort.

· Summary assessment tools provide a “traffic lights” overview with the option to drill down to successive levels of detail.

· Individual reports provide the complete detail needed to follow up where necessary.

· Radar charts provide a graphical summary and easy access to progressive levels of detail.

· The “Target” resource encourages meaningful discussion between professionals and young people about each topic.

· “My targets – what I am aiming for?” worksheets can be used to record individual targets.

· “Getting on target and staying on target?” work sheets help young people to explore positive and negative influences

· “Distance travelled – where I have been?” worksheets help young people to reflect on what they have achieved.

Viewpoint, July 04

Young People Participating in Assessment

· Young people do the appropriate Viewpoint Online questionnaire. Suitable questionnaires cover topics relevant to Careers, APIR, Transition, Preferred Learning Styles, Health, Behaviour and others can be added.

· A formatted individual report is a formal text based report, in which all the questions and the individual’s responses to them are grouped in sections. A weighting is shown for responses, where appropriate. Open text responses and comments are shown verbatim. A score is calculated for each section based on the total of the weights for actual responses divided by the maximum possible weights. This is the most detailed of the reports and covers one young person’s answers.

· The worker uses Viewpoint Online Analysis to produce a report, formatted so that responses are grouped in sections. For example the Careers format groups responses into the following sections:

o After 20 years old

o Avoiding stereotypes

o Career choices

o Choosing courses for year 10 and 11

o Equal opportunities and gender

o Equal Opportunities and race

o How school is useful

o Ideas about careers

o Ideas for after year 11

o Influence of ethnicity and culture on courses

Understanding the elements of an individual report

The report provides information about an individual’s responses. The report will look like the example below.

The first part identifies the questionnaire, when it was completed and when this report was created

· The main part of the report is divided into sections.

· Each section is made up of one or more questions.

· The response for each question is shown and also its score

· A total is calculated for each section and compared to the maximum possible for a section. 294 out of 300 can also be expressed as a percentage i.e. 98.00 %

· The percentage figures should be used in the On Target system

NB Open text responses and comments may be shown for some questions. These are what young people have entered themselves when answering the questionnaire. They do not affect the score but can provide very helpful insights to a young persons perceptions and circumstances.

Other ways of reviewing the results

The information can be presented and used in different ways:

· RADAR CHART
A RADAR chart is similar in format to the Connexions wheel. Each spoke on the wheel represents one of the sections. The position on the spoke indicates the young person’s score for the section. A table of the sections and scores is provided. By clicking in the table, details of the individual’s responses to the questions making up the section can be reviewed.

· Assessment Summary report
An Assessment Summary report is an effective method for looking at the response of a group of young people. Teachers, Personal Advisers and other professionals working with young people can feel that they are inundated with “too much” information. An onscreen report summarises the responses of a whole group to very manageable proportions. A school class or year group, or the group of young people with which a Personal Adviser or a YOT worker is involved can be reduced to a single page. “Traffic Lights” colour coding draws attention to sections that present any problems or issues to follow up. Each section can be further investigated by clicking on it to reveal the details of the individual’s responses to the questions, as with the radar report.

· Statement Bank Report
A Statement Bank report can be used to provide automatically generated feedback for the young person. It provides comment and suggestions dependent on the young person’s scores for each section.

Example

Take advantage of opportunities to get qualifications and training, so that you can get a job with good prospects

Avoiding stereotypes

Try to choose courses that suit your abilities and interests, and not to be influenced by stereotypes. It is good that you seem able to choose courses without being influenced by stereotypes about what is right for your sex.

Choosing courses for year 10 and 11

Choosing courses for Years 10 and 11 is a big decision, so think about it carefully. To find out more about the courses, you could talk to teachers and people in Years 10 and 11. If you are finding it really hard to decide, talk to your careers teacher or personal adviser.

Equal opportunities and gender

Remember that almost all jobs are open to men and women equally, and you have the right not to be discriminated against on the grounds of your sex. Focus on your strengths and interests and try not to be influenced by stereotypes. Choose what will suit you!

How school is useful

It is good that you think things you do in school will be useful in your life. This will probably help you to stay motivated to work hard in school.

Ideas about careers

Having ideas about the type of work you would like to do is a good thing. It may help motivate you to work hard in school over the next 2 years. Find out as much as you can about the things you are interested in - you could use the Internet or the careers information in the resource centre. Check what qualifications you will need and ask your teachers if they think you can achieve them.

Ideas for after year 11

It is good that you already have some ideas about what you will do after year 11. Getting the best qualifications you can help you get a better job in the long term. When you start work, find out what training you will get and what qualifications it will lead to. Look for a job that will give you the chance to work your way up.

Influence of ethnicity and culture on courses

It is good that you seem able to choose courses without being influenced by stereotypes about ethnicity and culture

· On Target Reports
On Target reports can be used to encourage young people to think about the meaning of their responses to questionnaires and involves young people and their worker together. It has been developed for the Youth Justice Board’s eWDYT project and is being adapted for use with Connexions and Careers work.

Working together at a computer, the young person’s and the worker’s assessment of each of the sections are entered. For the young person their scores are copied from a Formatted Individual Report or a RADAR chart. The Worker uses the appropriate methods for their own assessment.

The display should be personalised by typing names above each column.

Clicking to the left of the first column, or to the right of the second, after scores have been entered, triggers an animation in which colour coded arrows are fired at the target. They are positioned according to the scores. Low association puts the arrow near to the bull’s eye. If it is not easy to understand which section an arrow is for just pointing to an arrow on the target brings up the title of the section in the table.

Differences between the young persons and the worker’s scores can be discussed, and reasons can be explored. Practitioners will develop their own imaginative ways to use the tool.

A copy of the completed target should be printed and saved in the young person’s folder, so that it can be referred to at other stages in the process

Setting targets and reviewing progress

· The young person may already have clearly defined targets but they may be encouraged to think about them again at this stage. Use the MY TARGETS – WHAT I AM AIMING FOR templates to write on and for drawing pictures that clearly summarise the young persons target. It is probably effective to focus on only a few key targets.

· It may be useful to encourage young people to explore the things that they and other people do that affect their progress towards their targets. They can draw pictures or words on the GETTING ON TARGET- STAYING ON TARGET template.

A template can be used for each target or in some circumstances to explore other issues. It might, for example, be useful to focus on one or more of the Asset sections – perhaps ones that require most work or ones where there is a significant difference in opinion between the young person and their worker.

· After a suitable interval it may be appropriate to repeat - “What do you think?” and to repeat the process of comparing results, and reviewing targets and influences. At this stage it will be useful to use the DISTANCE TRAVELLED – WHERE I HAVE BEEN template. It is also possible to use this template at any time when you want to record progress or achievement.