Developing and maintaining an assessment system: A PMETB guide to good practice

Developing and maintaining an assessment system - a PMETB guide to good practice completes the guidance for medical Royal Colleges and Faculties who are developing assessment systems based on curricula approved by PMETB.
As the title implies, this is a good practice guide rather than a cook book providing recipes for assessment systems. This guide covers the assessment Principles 3, 4 and 6. As indicated by PMETB, the Colleges and Faculties developing assessment systems have until August 2010 to comply with all nine Principles of assessment produced by PMETB. These Principles highlight the issues that need to be addressed for transparency and fairness to trainees and to encourage curricula designers in not forgetting the duty of care to the trainers and trainees alike. The work was undertaken by the Assessment Working Group, which consisted of people from different disciplines of medicine and who are considered experts in designing assessments. This good practice guide explains some of the challenges faced by anyone.