effectively beyond the end of the course and be able to make judgments about their own learning outcomes” (Boud & Soler, 2016, p. 2). Other studies, for example of apprenticeship, have shown that being immersed in a learning environment also profoundly structures the learners’ “social knowledge, worldviews and moral principles that denote membership and status in a trade” (Marchand, 2008, p. 246), apart from facilitating technical skills. In the rota commander course, learners/officer cadets are acculturated as members of the officer corps in the Singapore Civil Defence Force through elaborate ceremonies like the commissioning parade. Designing assessment holistically means that assessment outcomes, criteria and tasks, and all the other components in the teaching system, have to incorporate learners as participants in assessment (rather than as receivers of instructions, results and feedback). Sociocultural theories of learning (e.g. Vygotsky, 1978) and anthropological research on learning (e.g. Marchand, 2008; Ross, 1999) support a more holistic view of learning as an “embodied phenomenon” that not only rejects dichotomies of mind–body, knowledge–skill and theory–practice but focuses instead on “whole-person” learning, where learning is regarded as an ongoing process of participation in relevant activities, and engagement in meaningful undertakings, rather than as a “thing”, “product” or acquisition of certain “products”. Therefore, holism is a perspective that focuses on the “integratedness” of learning. We are aware of the importance for “individual components” or tasks to be taught and assessed. Task-specific practice is fundamental in vocations like cooking, and what we are suggesting here is that these tasks can contribute to the overall wholeness of what is essentially a good cook, for example. 4.2.5 Judgement Judgement is an important aspect of assessment for and as learning. It is a fundamental feature of the outcome of sustainable assessment where learners develop the ability to judge the quality of their work, understand standards and identify their learning needs (Boud & Soler, 2016). Outcomes of sustainable assessment refer to the ability of learners to make informed judgements of their own learning (sustainable assessment relies on assessors and/or learners to exercise judgement). Judgement is also an essential part of the learning and assessment process because the development and use of judgement are fundamental in enabling learners to understand their own work, and also for assessors making assessments: Human judgment is needed to collect and collate information, especially if – in a programme of assessment – information from various types of assessment needs to be combined. When human judgment is central in the assessment process, it may be clear that the quality and expertise of the person who is making the judgment is decisive for the quality of the assessment … in assessments involving human observation and evaluation the quality of the user is central. (Schuwirth & van der Vleuten, 2011, p. 481) Our findings suggest that standards of “objectivity” and “reliability” are often privileged in assessment, which has led to a reliance on psychometric assessment/“measurement” methods and breaking things down into smaller components, rather than an emphasis on the connectivity of things and their integratedness or wholeness. One may argue that the exercise of professional judgement through the use of psychometric measurements gives an impression of objectivity and reliability. However, this approach can result in tensions between learning and measurement as the situation is more complex than that: course designers, instructors and assessors recognise the importance of professional judgement, but they also operate in an institutional setting which demands (public) accountability. For example, in the rota commander course, the use of a checklist as a reporting format for assessment may limit capturing holistic performance, but judgement of holistic performance was taking place. Here,
54
