Strengthening Competency-Based Assessment in Vocational Training Institutions in the Oshana Region, Namibia

Competency-based vocational assessment requires practitioners to interpret occupational standards, design authentic tasks, gather sufficient evidence, exercise defensible judgement, provide useful feedback and maintain records that can withstand quality review. These demands are often treated as the responsibility of individually trained assessors, with insufficient attention to the institutional conditions that make sound practice possible. This article examines assessment literacy as a distributed institutional capacity. It reports a focused analysis of a qualitative multiple-case study conducted in three vocational training institutions in the Oshana Region of Namibia. Twenty purposively selected participants 14 educators and six quality-assurance officers—took part in semi-structured interviews, complemented by document analysis of assessment policies, schedules, tools, marking guides, moderation records, marksheets and assessment files. Data were analysed through reflexive thematic analysis using within-case and cross-case interpretation. Participants demonstrated strong reported understanding of assessment as evidence of practical and theoretical competence, a basis for learner feedback and a safeguard of qualification credibility. However, interview and documentary evidence also revealed uneven alignment between tasks and competencies, variable marking criteria, incomplete records, constrained practical authenticity and inconsistent uptake of quality-assurance feedback. These patterns were shaped by policy clarity, leadership follow-up, continuing professional development, workload, resources and collaborative culture. The article concludes that credible competency-based assessment depends on the interaction of individual knowledge and judgement with institutional support and professional learning. It proposes an Institutional Assessment Literacy Capacity Framework for sustained, practice-embedded development.

assessment literacy; competency-based assessment; vocational education and training; institutional capacity; professional learning; assessor judgement; Namibia

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