KAMPALA – In a bid to keep up to speed with the ever-evolving technology era, the Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board – UBTEB continues to train its assessors in the new requirements of the world of work in order to equip the students with the relevant skills.
Board Executive Secretary, Onesmus Oyesigye says the move is 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.
Attended by 117 participants, the 7th phase of Assessors’ training brings the total of trained assessors and verifiers to 761.
“The Board has been conducting this training in line with the emphasis laid by the TVET Policy, 2019 on the integration of the world of work in the delivery, and assessment of TVET graduates for production purposes.”
He noted that a combination of expertise from the industry and the training institutions is very beneficial in blending the competencies to produce quality items.
“This is the very reason why in this training cohort, we have 15 participants from the Industry and 128 from Training Institutions,” he said while opening the 7th Assessors’ Training workshop at Luyanzi Institute of Technology on Friday.
Oyesigye noted that the Board has also constituted TVET Assessment Working Groups to give direct input into their examinations and assessment processes and activities.
“I am happy to note that due to the effectiveness of training Assessors, the quality of test items by the Board has gone on improving and enabled effective and efficient testing and assessment of the competencies of candidates.”
He added, “I would also like to inform you of the two key outputs of this training; to create a database of Assessors built with the capacity to reflect on the trends, innovations, and labor market demands; and to have bankable Items developed by assessors on the CBA approach.”
According to him, the linkages between the industry, training, and assessment, particularly the need to maximize practitioners’ skills, knowledge, and experience should be their anchor for the participants while developing Assessment test items following UBTEB Assessment Standards.
He is optimistic that with this training workshop, assessors have not remained in their original dimensions. He appealed to them to ensure that when they get back to their stations, they share the skills and knowledge obtained with those who are yet to be trained.
“However, integrity, confidentiality and professionalism are our core values. Hence, the items should never be shared. We have enhanced the ICT online system security that leakage can be by humans whose integrity is in question.”
Mr. Oyesigye commended the industries and companies that have worked with the Board over the years in the retooling and training of Assessors.
Hajjat Shakirah Lwanga, an instructor at Nakawa Vocational Training College commended UBTEB for the training noting that it will guide on different types of exams they should be setting for their students.
“We have benefited much in this training because things and technology keep changing and it brings us up to speed. Here, we interact with people from the world of work who tell us that this one is done like this. We are also happy that normally after the trainings, they take us to the industries to see how technology has evolved.”
