WAKISO – The Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board – UBTEB on Wednesday passed out 143 assessors who were trained in the new requirements of the world of work.
The week-long training was deliberate for Technical and Vocational Education and Training – TVET Assessors to enhance their capacity in the usage of Competence-Based Assessment (CBA) approaches to TVET and Assessment.
Different groups exhibited their skills in their different programmes noting that it will aid them pass on the skills to the students.
Speaking at the pass-out at Luyanzi Institute of Technology, Board Executive Secretary, Onesmus Oyesigye said they have so far trained a total of 904 assessors and verifiers in partnership with the industry.
“On this note, I wish to applaud all the industries and companies that have worked with the Board over the years in the retooling and training of Assessors.”
“I urge you to cascade the acquired competencies and tactics of assessing trainees on Competence Bases assessment principles to other players in both training and assessment,” he added.
Represented by his Deputy, Dr. Nahamya Wilfred, Oyesigye noted that the cohort of training had 15 participants from the Industry and 128 from Training Institutions. He is optimistic that the interaction and exposure they gained during the training and the development of test items will enable the Board to register continuous improvement in the quality of the test items for quality assessment.
He was so impressed with the development of practical and theory test items, the application of assessment strategies, techniques and assessment tools, and the implementation of assessment according to industrial standards.
Oyesigye noted that the test items developed as seen in the exhibition are a manifestation of the good work they have done.
With the completion of the 7th phase of training, he said they are close to their target of having 1,000 retooled assessors.
Ms. Nasaza Jalia, Manager, Vocational Training at UBTEB who was also the team leader of the training noted that their main focus was on how to write examinations. She said participants were taken through the theory and practical item development.
For the practicals, trainees were taken and tested in the places of the world of work to see how long the test item takes, and the stages that are supposed to be covered.
“We found that some of them were not exposed to this new system, so we did a mind shift of instructors.”
Although some of the equipment needed may not be in the training institutions, Jalia says the concepts remain the same.
“So from here, we expect tremendous improvement because how they came is not how they’ve gone and when they go back and continue practicing, they’ll make the TVET system better.”
