The Department for International Development (DFID), Government of UK in association with the Construction Skill Development Council of India (CSDCI) organized a ten-day Training of Master Assessor Program at the Construction Skill Training Institute, an L&T institute at Pilkhuwa, Uttar Pradesh from 21 to 31 of January 2020. The job roles in focus were ‘Supervisor Structure’ and ‘Lead Assessor’. Close to 20 participants from 17 different assessment agencies participated in the program. All the participants had at least 8 years of industry and/or skilling experience, in the construction sector. The training was delivered by Dudley College of Technology, a specialist organization in providing further education and vocational courses in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector, globally.
The objective was to train the assessors on international standards and enable them to assess the target trainees in a balanced manner and in accordance with the standard norms. Towards the end of the program, a unique model of assessment was followed wherein a one-day assessment was conducted by Dudley College of Technology and two-day assessment was undertaken by the SSC appointed independent evaluator.
The event was inaugurated by the Technical Assistance team underlining the commitment of the Government of UK in partnering with Skill India Mission on furthering global best practices. On the first two days, an Indian Master Trainer delivered the modules on sector level nuances. The next six days, Amanda Potts and Linden Wale, from Dudley College, with close to 15+ years of experience, delivered topics ranging from housekeeping on the construction site, risk assessment and fire safety norms together with platform skills like enhancing training effectiveness and competency-based delivery.
Through dynamic interactions and sharing of experiences of assessing the trainees in the job role, training ended with the evaluations where the participants’ knowledge was further refreshed and tested through a formative assessment. A feedback session was also held by the DFID team which would be utilized in designing future interventions. The event ended with promise of introducing robust assessment methodologies and practices for promoting a strong skills ecosystem in India.
