Why become an assessor?In demand

In my experience of training and assessing assessors, the main benefit has been to see candidates achieving their goals. Usually this is reward enough. However, assessment also provides professional development benefits. These can include enhancing personal skills which involve leadership, team work and communication. It can also help you to identify key improvements and put best practice into action. Where exchanging ideas and information is becoming increasingly important, the assessor award enables practitioners to meet other assessors and network. As far as an employer or manager is concerned, having an assessor on site can benefit the setting by helping them to carry out appraisals and identify the strengths and weaknesses of the team. Best practice results when all staff are maximising their skills and developing short-, mid- and long-term development plans. Assessors can assist with contingency planning if someone leaves unexpectedly and there is a need to update the skills of others. As an assessor, you can also begin to identify and make the most of experience your team has gained in previous jobs. This often involves accrediting prior experience, particularly specialist skills, such as working with special educational needs.