An assessment plan is a documented procedure for carrying out a formal assessment. It is particularly useful if there are several assessors using the same assessment tool, because it helps to ensure that they are maintaining a consistency in approach across all of the candidates being assessed.

Some developers like to incorporate the assessment plan into the assessment tool itself.

However, it is also possible to have a separate plan that acts like a summary document. This enables you to have more than one plan for the same assessment tool, which each one tailored to the specific requirements of a particular group of candidates.

In many cases, if you are faced with the task of developing an assessment tool for a trade skill that you know well or a machine that you are very familiar with, you can actually start the development process by producing an assessment plan first.

This allows you to define your objectives and focus on the specific things you want the candidate to demonstrate, so that you can achieve a sharp, concise set of performance criteria that describe exactly what a 'competent' operator should be able to do.

Below is a link to an example of an assessment plan that could be used for training mill workers in the operation of a bench saw.

Sample assessment plan for bench saw operation