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One of the goals of current education is to ensure that graduates can act as independent lifelong learners. Graduates need to be able to assess their own learning and interpret assessment results. The central question in this article is how to acquire sustainable assessment skills, enabling students to assess their performance and learning throughout life, and preparing them to meet their own future learning needs. This article presents an integrated model for developing sustainable assessment skills, consisting of three components: conditions necessary for the development of sustainable assessment skills, elements of sustainable assessment and instructional methods for guiding students in the development of sustainable assessment skills. The article concludes with suggestions for future research to further develop the proposed model. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

In an effort to gain better understanding of the assessment of prior informal and non-formal learning, this article explores assessors' approaches to portfolio assessment. Through this portfolio assessment, candidates had requested exemptions from specific courses within an educational programme or admission to the programme based on their prior learning. The assessors judged the portfolios according to set rating criteria, and subsequently discussed their approaches. Their decision-making processes, perception of portfolio use in the Assessment of Prior Learning (APL), deciding factors in portfolio assessment and use of the rating criteria were key elements in this discussion. The results show that they do use the rating criteria as an indicator in decision-making, but have mixed perceptions regarding the fairness of APL portfolio assessment. They perceive the portfolio evidence in combination with sound argumentation as the deciding elements in portfolio assessment. (Contains 6 tables.)

This study investigates the effects of a competency-oriented course and the effects of feedback training on students' reflection skills. Thirty-one nursing students enrolled in a conventional course with lectures and assignments following a traditional test. Subsequently, they enrolled in a competency-oriented course, which included more performance-oriented tasks based on competencies and a performance-based assessment. In both courses, half of the students received feedback on their assignments from tutors who were trained in feedback skills (experimental group), while the other half of the students received feedback from non-trained tutors (control group). After each course, all students wrote a reflection report. Results show that students' reflection reports after the competency-oriented course were of a higher quality than the reports after the conventional course. Contrary to our expectations, the quality of the reflection reports of the control group (students supervised by non-trained tutors) was significantly higher than the quality of reflection reports of the experimental group (students supervised by trained tutors). This study shows that a competency-oriented design of courses enhances students' reflection skills, but that the training in feedback skills needs to be reconsidered. (Contains 3 tables.)

Using a teacher education class, compared student teachers trained in peer assessment (including defining performance criteria, giving feedback, and writing assessment reports) with a control group. Found that trained students surpassed controls in the quality of assessment skill; they also received higher class grades and were more satisfied. (EV)