Reference Framework for Planning Learning and Evaluation Activities

It is important to remember that the process of defining the aim of the evaluation, gathering
information, making a judgment and making a decision is the same in both evaluation to support
learning and evaluation for certification purposes. Nevertheless, evaluation for certification purposes is
more formal. At the end of the time allotted to competency acquisition, most students will be evaluated
for certification purposes; others will be evaluated at a later date.
Teachers are required to judge and attest to the students’ level of acquisition of a competency. Some
students will need to make an effort to continue developing the competency, while others will have time
to enrich certain aspects of the competency if they have already attained the minimum performance
standard. Activities with different levels of difficulty and enrichment activities foster the continuation of
the development of the competency: they enable the teacher to insist on certain elements of the
competency, to ensure added value or to make them more explicit, to motivate the students and to
personalize their teaching. The teacher recognizes the students’ needs, supports them in their quest
for improvement and helps them catch up, if necessary. He or she helps every student make progress,
even beyond the expected performance level, because every student is there to learn. Students who
have attained the expected performance level are given enrichment activities.
An equitable process based on students’ needs must be flexible enough to provide additional time for
students with learning difficulties to master the competency. Flexibility in terms of the key moments of
evaluation is at the discretion of the teacher and the educational institution. It must take into account
organizational constraints, and it is entirely acceptable and legitimate in terms of the values underlying
evaluation, given the differences in students’ performance.
Learning and the acquisition of a competency
Planning
Information
gathering and Judgment Decision Certification
interpretation
Remedial and corrective teaching
Fail
Pass
The social recognition of learning requires that there be minimum performance standards: the teacher
has a formal responsibility and a legal obligation to comply with the requirements set out in the
program and the specifications. He or she is responsible for enabling students to acquire all the
competencies in the program of study in accordance with the predetermined performance criteria. The
recognition of competencies is based on a systematic evaluation, which is itself based on evaluation
criteria. The pass/fail decision must be the result of an assessment carried out with rigour, openness
and coherence.
50 Planning Activities to Help Students Acquire Competencies