''The Cadbury Report on Corporate Governance(Cadbury Code 1992) had Essay

''The Cadbury Report on Corporate Governance(Cadbury Code 1992) had serious and significant flaws that rendered it incomplete as a tool to control certain types of unscrupulous economic behaviour'' - Essay Example As a result the investing public began to lose confidence (Colley, 2005). Apart from the loss of valuable investments such business failures also gave rise to the loss of jobs, shattered public confidence and the decline of the savings invested in the company stock along with the fear of future corporate failures. It was after these failures that the media and the governments made a combined effort to stress on the importance of corporate governance, not just b y highlighting what had gone wrong but also brought the board of directors of the functioning corporate into the public eyes(Colley, 2005). The Industrial Revolution was followed by a wave of capitalism. In capitalism the wealth was restricted to a particular class which continued to get wealthier whereas the remaining segment was poor. This wealth was acquired by those with flourishing businesses at the expense of their workers, customers and the public shareholders. At this point the government began to take notice of the situation and took steps to introduce measures to protected those affected in a negative way by such business practices. As capitalism developed it gave more people the opportunities to set up their businesses. Those with capital begin o to their money together to set up and sun businesses. This made them the shareholders of these businesses. As these businesses grew in size, governance became a challenge (Colley, 2005). In order to understand what corporate governance truly is we must first understand what governance in general terms means. Once we know what governance is we can look into the history of cooperates and why the need for corporate governance was felt. Governance generally refers to the art or the process of governing. This is a concept which in one form or the other has existed throughout the ages across all civilizations. Governance and its processes have changed over time to meet the changing environment. History has seen

Clone Detection in Object Oriented Systems

Clone Detection in Object Oriented Systems Program Slicing based Clone Detection in Object Oriented Systems Ishu Singla Rajesh Bhatia Abstract— Program slicing is an efficient technique for understanding programs by simplifying them. It is a program analysis technique that extracts a particular set of statements relevant to any computation. For the last 25 years, the technique has found its application in a number of research areas like testing, debugging, maintenance etc. In this paper, we have proposed a method to use this technique for clone detection in object oriented programs. As program slicing concentrates only on the relevant portion of the programs based upon some criteria, this property can be utilized in clone detection process. For this we have used Program Dependency Graphs as an intermediate representation. These PDG’s are later used to extract isomorphic partial slices and finally these slices are matched to find out potential clones. Keywords— Partial Slices;PDG; Isomorphism. I. Introduction A code clone represents a sequence of statements that are duplicated in multiple locations of a program. Clones often arise in source code as a result of multiple cut paste operations on the source. Thus, Code cloning can be considered as the act of copying code fragments and making minor, non-functional alterations in the implemented code. Code cloning increases the maintenance cost because if there is an error in the code fragment to be copied, then that error will be propagated at different places. Thus, the normal functioning of the system is not affected but further development may become prohibitively expensive [1][2]. Pre-processing of the whole program is often not a good choice while searching for clones. The program contains a number of irrelevant statements, thus, pre-processing will be a time consuming process [1][3]. Also the approach for finding clones in procedural oriented and object oriented programs is completely different. Clone detection in object oriented programs has a number of problems [15] and sometimes follows different approach. Selecting a particular set of statements from a large program that contains statements relevant to a particular computation is called program slicing. Thus, Program Slicing improves program understandability and find its importance in a number of applications such as software maintenance, software debugging, testing etc [3][5]. A number of code clone detection techniques have been proposed based on text, token, graphs, trees and metrics [1]. Some other techniques based on models and some hybrid techniques have also been proposed [9][11]. The main advantage of using program slicing is that we can find the non-contiguous, intertwined code clones, where the coder changes some of the statements and the rest of the code remains unchanged in between[2][4]. II. DEFINITIONS Program slicing was originally introduced by Weiser that defines program slicing as an analysis technique which extracts the elements of a program related to a particular computation. That set of statements collectively called as program slice. Program slices contains that parts of a program that affects the values computed at some point of interest. Program slicing automatically decomposes program by determining the data and control dependencies [3][8]. A. SLICING CRITERION Slicing in program is always computed on the basis of some slicing criterion. We can represent slicing criterion as , where S is the statement from which the slice is to be computed and V is the variable for which the slice is to be computed and that variable must exist in the statement S [8]. B. DATA DEPENDENCY Statement P is data dependent on statement Q of a program if there exists a variable m at P which is accessed also in statement Q [6]. Consider the following example, 1.x=10; 2.y=x+c; In statement 1, we are assigning a value 10 to x and in statement 2, we are using the value of x. So, there is a data dependency between the two statements 1 and 2. C. CONTROL DEPENDENCY Statement P is control dependent on statement Q if and only if statement P controls the execution of statement Q [6]. Consider the following example, 1.if(statement 1) 2. statement 2; In the above example, statement 2 will be executed if statement 1 results in true value. Thus, statement 2 is control dependent on statement 1. Figure. 1 flow chart for program slicing based clone detection. III. Clone Detection Using the Program Slicing in object oriented programs Figure 1 shows the flow chart for the clone detection approach. The technique starts by taking two sample java programs. Then, the pre-processing of these programs is to be done, in which we remove the comments and blank spaces. Thereafter, the .class files for the normalized sample programs are generated. After this, the Program Dependency Graphs (PDGs), on the basis of control and data dependencies, are determined for the two programs. The program dependency graph is represented in the form of adjacency matrix as shown in figure 2. It is an n*n matrix where n is the no of statements in the normalized program. Every entry ‘1’ represents the data dependency between the two statements determined from the row and column of the matrix. Similarly, every entry 2 represents the control dependency between two statements. Now, by having a close look at the adjacency matrix, it is quite clear that the matrix is sparse because the occurrence of zero is higher than the non-zero entries. So comparing the adjacency matrices of the two programs can’t be an efficient approach. Thus, an algorithm has been developed that determines the partial slices from the adjacency matrix in the form of lists. In earlier techniques for program slicing, the slicing criterion has to be defined manually to determine the slices. But, in our approach, the program slices are determined automatically on the basis of the mentioned algorithm. Because, the slices are extracted starting from the first statement, using control and data dependencies in the adjacency matrix. Figure 2. Example of Adjacency matrix obtained from programs. A. Algorithm for Program Slicing Input:- A control data dependency adjacency matrix mat[n][n] of size n*n where n is the no of statements. Every entry ‘1’ at index mat[i][j] shows that there is a data dependency between statement i and j and every entry ‘2’ represents the control dependency between statement i and j. Output:- Partial slices in form of lists The partial slices are extracted from the adjacency matrix, which are in the form of lists. Once, the partial slices for the two java programs are determined, we have to match them using an efficient matching algorithm. If there is cloning among the two source codes, then there must be a match between these partial slices. The matching algorithm will find out the extent of cloning between the two programs by comparing the partial slices and finally return percentage of cloning as result. IV. Related Work In last two decades, various algorithms have been proposed for program slicing. All have its own advantages and shortcomings. In next section, an overview of recent research in the area of program slicing is given. Z. Guangquan et. al proposed a method to slice the concurrent object oriented programs. In this approach the java concurrency model is used and dependencies between the statements are defined. The paper presents the method of extracting slicing criterion from linear temporal logic property and proposes the steps of computing slicing. Multithreaded dependency graph is used for intermediate representation. A Two-pass algorithm based on Variable Cache Table is adapted to compute slices by extracting out the irrelevant portions of the programs. Results show the satisfaction is guaranteed for source and sliced program and the method can be easily extended to handle other concurrency models[7]. R. Komondoor et. al. proposed a tool to detect clones in C fragments. In their approach, they used program dependence graphs and program slicing to find isomorphic PDG subgraphs. These subgraphs can be represented as clones. This tool is capable of finding non-continuous clones, intertwined clones and clones in which different variable names are used and statements have been reordered. The approach has been applied for the procedural oriented programs and finds many variants of ideal clones. A number of test cases demonstrating the application of approach on large programs have been shown [4]. A. Surendran et. al. proposed a partial slicing approach as an effective method of program testing. Partial slices are formed from the combination of static slices and program points. In some cases static slices contains large number of program statements which are of little use in many practical applications. Partial slicing removes the disadvantage of large size of static slices. In their approach they use only static slices for the algorithm as static slices give all possible execution paths. As compared to original program there is a significant reduction in the number of statements in static slices using partial slicing. Using the constraints of partial slicing program testing is also simplified. This approach can also be used in debugging, maintenance and finding clones [10]. D. Liang et. al. presented system dependence graph for object-oriented software’s. They have shown that their approach is more precise than previous approaches and is more efficient to construct. It distinguishes data members that fit for different objects. It provides a way to represent data members that act as parameters and the effects of polymorphism on parameters and parameter bindings. It presents a concept of object slicing which helps in examine the statements in slice object by object. Object slicing is good technique for debugging and analysis of large scale programs. In their work an efficient mechanism is also provided to represent incomplete programs and to represent classes in class libraries [12]. T. Ishio et. al. proposed a program debugging tool. In their approach they proposed dynamic slicing to efficiently localize faults in procedural oriented and object oriented programs. Aspect-oriented programming is used for collecting dynamic information in program slicing calculation. The dynamic data dependence analysis aspect can be woven into various object-oriented programs without changes as the point cuts of the aspect in the approach is made in a generic form. With the help of dynamic program analysis module, a DC slice calculation system is developed. It improves maintainability and reusability of the module. The approach has also a restriction that it does not allow to analyze the local variables and local control structures. The benefits, usability and cost effectiveness of module show that it is a good tool for debugging [13]. B. Korel et. al. presents the concept of program slicing on the module level which helps in better understanding of program slices of large programs. In this paper on call graph level, execution level and module trace level several static and dynamic program slicing features are proposed. These features can also be used during software maintenance. The concept of static and dynamic program slicing is combined with different methods of visualization which helps in understanding the program. Experiment results show that it helps the process of understanding program [14]. V. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK This paper provides a technique for detecting code clones in object oriented programs. For this purpose, program slicing is used as the base methodology. The algorithm uses PDGs as the intermediate representations for the source program. The PDG is represented in the form of adjacency matrix. Partial slices are extracted from the adjacency matrix and those slices are matched for possible clones. Result shows that program slicing is an efficient way for understanding programs and finding non-contiguous clones and intertwined code clones. The approach uses the control and data dependencies to find out adjacency matrix representation for the PDG. The whole process is automated where the user has to interact only once to input the programs for finding clones. Future work involves taking into consideration all the object oriented paradigm. It includes the object oriented programming features such as abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism. An efficient algorithm for matching partial slices is also to be developed. REFERENCES [1] Dhavleesh Rattan, Rajesh Bhatia, Maninder Singh, â€Å"Software clone detection: a systematic review,† Information and software technology, Vol. 55, No. 7, pp. 1165-1199, 2013. [2] C. K. Roy, J.R. Cordy and R. Koschke, â€Å"Comparison and evaluation of code clone detection techniques and tools: A qualitative approach,† Science of computer programming, Vol. 74, No. 7, pp. 470-495, 2009. [3] F. Tip, â€Å"A Survey of Program Slicing Techniques†, Journal of Programming Languages, 1995, vol. 3, no. 3,pp. 121-189. [4] R. Komondoor,S. Horwitz, Using Slicing to Identify Duplication in Source Code, Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on Static Analysis, 2001. [5] Yingzhou Zhang, Baowen Xu, Jose Emilio, Labra Gayo, A Formal Method for Program Slicing, Proceedings of the 2005 Australian Software Engineering Conference (ASWEC’05) 1530-0803/05. [6] Jens Krinke, Advanced Slicing of Sequential and Concurrent Programs, Proceedings of the 20th IEEE International Conference on Software Mai1ntenance (ICSM’04) 1063-6773/04,2004. [7] Z. Guangquan, R. Mei, An Approach of Concurrent Object-oriented Program Slicing Base on LTL Property, 2008 IEEE International Conference on Computer Science and Software Engineering,DOI 10.1109/CSSE.2008.1283. [8] M. Weiser, Program slicing, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 10(4):352–357, 1984. [9] Dhavleesh Rattan, Rajesh Bhatia, Maninder Singh, â€Å"Model clone detection based on tree comparison,† India conference (INDICON), IEEE, pp. 1041 – 1046, 2012 [10] A. Surendran, P. Samuel, Partial Slices in Program Testing,2012 IEEE 35th Software Engineering Workshop. [11] Yogita Sharma, Rajesh Bhatia, Raj Kumar Tekchandani, â€Å"Hybrid technique for object oriented software clone detection,† ME thesis submitted at Thapar University, Patiala, 2011 [12] D. Liang, M. Harrold, Slicing Objects Using System Dependence Graph, IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance,Washington, D.C., November 1998. [13] T. Ishio, S. Kusumoto,K. Inoue, Program Slicing Tool for Effective Software Evolution Using Aspect-Oriented Technique, Proceedings of the Sixth International Workshop on Principles of Software Evolution, 2002 IEEE. [14] B. Korel, J. Rilling, Program Slicing in Understanding of Large Programs, Program Comprehension, 1998. IWPC 98. Proceedings., 6th International Workshop. [15] S. Khalsa, R. Bhatia,J. Chhabra, M. Singh, A Review of Coupling and Cohesion Measurement in OO Systems Using Program Slicing, ICISTM 2012, CCIS 285, pp.199-210,Springer, 2012.

What Are Ethics? Essay -- Ethics in Decision Making

The word â€Å"ethics† is connected intrinsically with questions of correct conduct within society. The word â€Å"ethics† comes from the Greek â€Å"ethos† meaning â€Å"character† which indicates a concern for virtuous people, reliable character and proper conduct. The term â€Å"morality† is derived from â€Å"mores† or custom — the rules of conduct of a group or society. An initial definition of ethics, then, is the analysis, evaluation, and promotion of correct conduct and/or good character, according to the best available standards. Ethics asks what we should do in some circumstance, or what we should do as participants in some form of activity or profession. Ethics is not limited to the acts of a single person. Ethics is also interested in the correct practices of governments, corporations, professionals and many other groups. To these issues, ethics seeks a reasoned, principled, position. An appeal to existing practice or the command of a powerful leader is not sufficient. To answer such questions in a consistent, reasoned manner may take us far a-field. Some ethical questions will require reflection o...

Mother and Daughter, a Heavenly Relationship Failed Essay

Daughter and mother relationship is an endless topic for many writers. They are meant to share the bond of love and care for each other. In the real world, however, their relationship is not as successful as it ought to be. The stories â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother† and â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† are the examples of this conflict. Lorrie Moore is distinguished for the clever wordplay, irony and sardonic humor of her fiction. â€Å"How to Talk to Your mother† is a short story in her collection Self-Help. It is about a failed relationship of a daughter and her mother over time. Similarly, Tillie Olsen’s â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† portrays powerfully the economic and domestic burdens a poor woman faced, as well as the responsibility and powerlessness she feels over her child’s life. Both stories have the same theme, but each has different technique, and the conflicts from the characters are opposite. Poor communication over time is the theme both stories share. In â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother,† Ginny, the author, faded the relationship with her mother as time goes and things changed from 1939 to 1982. In 1952, Ginny started to break away by slamming the door and say â€Å"Don’t I know it† (Moore 105) when her mother asks about her crush in junior high. Then, she becomes a young adult with a new life and would not come home for holidays. However, it is not until her mother called her by her sister’s name that makes she feels uncomfortable. â€Å"Learn that you have a way of knowing each other which somehow slips out and beyond the ways you have of not knowing each other at all† (Moore 103). The simply â€Å"How to† title belies the complexities of broken communication between mother and daughter. Ginny attempts to communicate with her mother throughout decades, but it never works. In â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing,† the mother faced the same problem with poor communication. Readers feel deeply sorry for the mother as she is economically alone, lonely, overworked and tired. The mother is always busy and preoccupied with other children. â€Å"I was working, there were four smaller ones now, there was not time for her† (Olsen 191). She has little or no time to talk to Emily, the daughter. The only time they met each other is at night, when Emily is struggle over books and the mother be ironing, or do other house chores. In both stories, the mothers and daughters have really  poor communication. Each character has her own life and stared to ignore their love ones. Ginny lives her wild life with romance. On the other hand, the mother in â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† is so busy with her low-class life. As a result, their relationship failed as time rolls. Although both stories share similarity, each story was written with different styles, point-of-views, and languages. Lorrie Moore presents â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother† in reverse chronological order, from latest to earliest. This technique supports her main idea by illustrating the broken communication pattern existing since the narrator’s childhood. With this style, readers find it amusing as they can read forward or backward. Moreover, this kind of writing is very rare in literature. Tillie Olsen’s â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† was written in a traditional flashback. It started with the mother blaming herself for Emily’s outturn. Then, she remembered all the life events that result in bad decisions she made for Emily. Both stories also have different point-of-view. â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother† is told in second-person, using â€Å"you,† instead of â€Å"I.† The second-person narration distances the narrator from the pa in inflicted by her mother, father, and lovers. This is Moore’s clever choice. Readers can relate and sympathize with Ginny. On the other hand, â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† is told in first-person. The mother is telling readers about her faults and her attempts to help Emily through difficult years. Readers can see the hardship the mother faced and understand her situation. Nevertheless, Moore writes the story like one would write in her diary, very informal. The full title is â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother (Notes),† and the language is not very aesthetic. On the contrast, Olsen writes her story in formal, literature language. In response to her story, Helen Pike Bauer writes: â€Å"Olsen’s story is a dialogue between circumstances and desire, constraint and love, absence and presence, silence and speech, power and helplessness.† The conflicts of each character are opposite. The primary conflict in â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother† is between Ginny and herself. She feels like she has her own life and her mother becomes annoying. In 1971, she wrote: â€Å"Go for long walks to get away from her. Walk through wooded area; there is a life you have forgotten† (Moore 103). Throughout the story, readers can see the  broken relationship is resulted from the external events of her life. She has three abortions and involving many relationships with men that she don’t even like. â€Å"Sometimes you confuse her with the first man you ever love, who ever loved you †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Moore 102). Ginny almost blamed herself for their relationship. Her mom is always there, in her house since 1967. A year before death, her mother tells her: â€Å"Is that any way to talk to your mother (Moore 101)?† While Ginny experienced the external conflict of her life, the mother in â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† faced an internal conflict involving Emily. She makes a very meaningful statement at the end of story: help Emily to know that â€Å"she is more than this dress on the ironing board, helpless before the iron† (Olsen 193). The mother constantly referred to the bad decisions she had made for Emily during her childhood. She sent Emily to live with her relatives as a toddler and came back with â€Å"all baby loveliness gone† (Olsen 188). Then, she sent her off again to a convalescent home. These decisions caused the mother to constantly nag at her internal self. Emily turned to a comedic teen is the result of the mother’s ignorant and poor relationship, which makes the mother blaming herself. She feels like the conflict is caused by her and Emily deserved a better life. Thackeray says, â€Å"God cannot be everywhere and therefore he made mother.† Parents are the caretaker of their children. From their experiences, they know what is best and they would never mean ill for them. â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother† and â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† are short stories that remind readers to cherish their relationships with parents. Both stories have the same theme of communication, but each has different technique, and the conflicts from the characters are opposite. Their situations are very difficult: poverty, low-class, and early motherhood. Lorrie Moore writes â€Å"How to Talk to Your Mother† to mock the popular â€Å"How-to† style. She marks off each stage of the plot by repeated works and ideas of heart, babies, containers, and unsuccessful talks between mother and daughter. Tillie Olsen writes â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing† with many symbolisms. For example, the iron is the torment, outside pressures. The dress is her problem, or Emily. The mother is ironing out the problem from inside her heart. Both stories carry the same message of mother and daughter relationship that most people faced the same path. In the society right now, there are many children experienced  child abuses. As for many parents, they could not get their kids to listen to them. The heavenly relationship failed as lives go on.

Reflect on and develop your practice

Sometime I also come across patients with challenging behaviour. Once I had a patient admitted on my ward named Mr F with challenging behaviour and communication was a problem. Understanding his request I found it very difficult, because the communication skills were very limited by the patient. One occasion became very frustrated with his behaviour and I became angry because of his demands. I got irritated and became rather â€Å"short† with him. I realised that this approach is in fact negative and that I needed to change my way of thinking. To be a commencement worker I needed to use skills of empathy and realised that it could be easy for me to lash out. I needed to deal with this and adopt a positive approach. I took into account that I am a care worker and that I have to change my attitude and to give more of myself. I felt I have to learn more about individuals with challenging and complex needs. Any values of beliefs of my own needed to go on the back burner and not stereotype those I am working with. I had to improve my practice as well and seek feedback from my manager. My manager has given me feedback and has encouraged and appreciated my thoughts. She has worked with me to improve my practice and truthfully informed me about the problem with my behaviour to ensure that I was directed and able to deal more effectively with my clients with particular needs. I have attended training sessions on communication and few seminars on stress management. This I felt helped me to be more competent person and able to deal appropriately with my clients. The session on communications and learning disabilities lightened that my clients’ problems were not their fault. I discovered that I had taken their behaviour personally.. In order for best practise to take place I needed knowledge about their disabilities, this has improved my practise and has helped me to understand them more. I have regular supervision regarding my practice and have been told I have improved and have become more professional in my approach. I see training as ongoing and valuable.

Reinsurance Agreements in Business

Reinsurance Agreements in Business Reinsurance can simply be defined as an agreement between an insurance company and a third party. This is more like the general insurance agreement between a person and an insurance company. Reinsurance protects the insurance company from losses since some of the policies have a high chance of incuring huge losses.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Reinsurance Agreements in Business specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The main reason behind reinsurance is to cover the insurance company, when making huge reimbursements as well as preventing it from losses. Reinsurance is also seen as a risk transfer mechanism (Mathew, 2003). Reinsurance agreements may be classified into two types, a facultative and a treaty agreement. Facultative reinsurance policy is used by the reinsured to reduce the chance of loss associated with a particular agreement and helps in ensuring the risks relating to a particular cover are low (Reinsurance, 2005, par. 5). It usually covers the whole or part of the given policy and is based on the analysis of the situation and the clauses in the policy. A treaty reinsurance agreement refers to an agreement where a reinsurance company insures various policies related to a class of policies. A treaty agreement is more general than facultative. There are several types of treaty reinsurance agreements, Quota share treaty, excess loss treaty, and surplus treaty. Wollan (2002) observed that the doctrine of utmost good faith was essential in any insurance transaction or undertaking. The principle of utmost good faith states that an insured person or the insurance company should provide all the details relating to a certain cover that is to be undertaken. One should disclose all the information referred to a particular party or risk. In the case of a reinsurance agreement, both parties should deal with honesty. Both sides should disclose all the information that is deemed necessary for the rei mbursement to take place. Dishonesty occurs when one of the people fails to disclose all the information that is material in the agreement. The insurance company should ensure a good conclusion is reached at when negotiations between the policy holder and the insurance company take place after the occurrence of a loss. There are cases where the reinsured does not negotiate with the policy holder, hence the reinsurance company will fail to honor the agreement. The reinsured also files a claim with the insurer within time. By this time, the reinsured should have carried out investigations to find out if the claim by the original policyholder was genuine. Dishonesty thus results from failure to adhere to the above.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A surety bond ensures the completion of a contract. The Legal Dictionary (n.d.) defines a surety bond as a written promise under seal which commits its issuer (the surety) to pay a named beneficiary, called the oblige, a sum up to a stipulated amount, but subject to the provision that the obligation of the issuer will cease if certain specified conditions are met. (par. 6). In an insurance undertaking, obliges may at times fail to disclose all the relevant information; this results to obliges not being reimbursed. Such a case does not violate a surety bond, and the principal cannot be sued. Renewable insurance policies are the ones that offer renewable guarantee over time. For example, consider the case of life insurance policies. Originally, these policies were not renewable over time, and when a person suffered from some chronical desease, the person could not be covered. However, the case of renewability feature allows one to renew a contract over a given period of time and convenient. References Mathew H. (2003). For the Defense 45. The Role of Reinsurance: Defending under the Follow-the-Fortunes Do ctrine, 2(45), 12. Legal Dictionary. (n.d.). Duhaime.org Law Dictionary and Legal Information. Retrieved from duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/S/SuretyBond.aspx Reinsurance. (2005). In Wests Encyclopedia of American Law. Retrieved from: https://www.encyclopedia.com/law/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/reinsurance Wollan, E. (2002). Handbook of Reinsurance Law. New York: Aspen Law Business.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Reinsurance Agreements in Business specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More

Free Essays on John Wilks Booth

John Wilkes Booth, born May 10, 1838, was an actor who performed throughout the country in many plays. He was the lead in some of William Shakespeare's most famous works. Additionally, he was a racist and Southern sympathizer during the Civil War. He hated Abraham Lincoln who represented everything Booth was against. Booth blamed Lincoln for all the South's ills. He wanted revenge. In late summer of 1864 Booth began developing plans to kidnap Lincoln, take him to Richmond (the Confederate capital), and hold him in return for Confederate prisoners of war. By January, 1865, Booth had organized a group of co-conspirators that included Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlen, John Surratt, Lewis Powell (also called Lewis Paine or Payne), George Atzerodt, and David Herold. Additionally, Booth met with Dr. Samuel Mudd both in Maryland (where Mudd lived) and Washington, and he began using Mary Surratt's boardinghouse to meet with his co-conspirators. On March 17, 1865, the group planned to capture Lincoln who was scheduled to attend a play at a hospital located on the outskirts of Washington. However, the President changed plans and remained in the capital. Thus, Booth's plot to kidnap Lincoln failed. On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox. Two days later Lincoln spoke from the White House to a crowd gathered outside. Booth was present as Lincoln suggested in his speech that voting rights be granted to certain blacks. Infuriated, Booth's plans now turned in the direction of assassination. On the morning of Friday, April 14, Booth dropped by Ford’s Theater and learned that the President and General Grant were planning to attend the evening performance of Our American Cousin. He held one final meeting with his co-conspirators. He said he would kill Lincoln at the theatre (he had since learned that Grant had left town). Atzerodt was to kill Vice-President Andrew Johnson at the Kirkwood Ho... Free Essays on John Wilks Booth Free Essays on John Wilks Booth John Wilkes Booth, born May 10, 1838, was an actor who performed throughout the country in many plays. He was the lead in some of William Shakespeare's most famous works. Additionally, he was a racist and Southern sympathizer during the Civil War. He hated Abraham Lincoln who represented everything Booth was against. Booth blamed Lincoln for all the South's ills. He wanted revenge. In late summer of 1864 Booth began developing plans to kidnap Lincoln, take him to Richmond (the Confederate capital), and hold him in return for Confederate prisoners of war. By January, 1865, Booth had organized a group of co-conspirators that included Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlen, John Surratt, Lewis Powell (also called Lewis Paine or Payne), George Atzerodt, and David Herold. Additionally, Booth met with Dr. Samuel Mudd both in Maryland (where Mudd lived) and Washington, and he began using Mary Surratt's boardinghouse to meet with his co-conspirators. On March 17, 1865, the group planned to capture Lincoln who was scheduled to attend a play at a hospital located on the outskirts of Washington. However, the President changed plans and remained in the capital. Thus, Booth's plot to kidnap Lincoln failed. On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox. Two days later Lincoln spoke from the White House to a crowd gathered outside. Booth was present as Lincoln suggested in his speech that voting rights be granted to certain blacks. Infuriated, Booth's plans now turned in the direction of assassination. On the morning of Friday, April 14, Booth dropped by Ford’s Theater and learned that the President and General Grant were planning to attend the evening performance of Our American Cousin. He held one final meeting with his co-conspirators. He said he would kill Lincoln at the theatre (he had since learned that Grant had left town). Atzerodt was to kill Vice-President Andrew Johnson at the Kirkwood Ho...

Seasonal and Unseasonable

Seasonal and Unseasonable Seasonal and Unseasonable Seasonal and Unseasonable By Maeve Maddox With all the storms, flooding, and unusually low temperatures in the news, Ive been noticing a proliferation of the word unseasonal. Unseasonal rain may continue Southerners lamenting the loss of summer need to brace for more unsettled and unseasonal weather in the coming days Unseasonal weather and flower production will there be a shortage? Unseasonal spring storms are hitting the South In each of these examples, the weather being described is seen as not being usual for the time of year. The appropriate word in this context is the negative of seasonable, which is unseasonable. seasonable: Occurring at the right season, opportune. Of weather, etc.: Suitable to the time of year. The word seasonal differs in meaning from seasonable. seasonal: Pertaining to or characteristic of the seasons of the year, or some one of them. Things that change with the season are seasonal. One speaks of seasonal occupations, seasonal employment, and seasonal products. Strictly speaking, seasonal does not have a negative form. This unusually cold, wet weather were experiencing in the South this May is unseasonable. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:4 Types of Gerunds and Gerund PhrasesOne Fell Swoop

Math Problems Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Math Problems - Speech or Presentation Example Budgeted factory overhead is $400,000 for the current year. Of this amount, $100,000 is fixed. Of the $18,000 of factory overhead assigned to the Northern Cycles, only $13,500 is driven by the special order. $4,500 is a fixed cost. Certain costs can be omitted because the analysis is based upon margin contribution. Under the set structure, 25% of the factory overhead is fixed, which translates to the $4,500 of fixed costs associated with the special order. In this analysis, G&A costs do not even need to be calculated. The 10% markup offered by Mr. Bass does not even cover the special order’s portion of operating fixed costs ($ 4000 - $ 4,500 = ($ 500), much less the order’s share of fixed G&A or variable unit fixed cost allocation. In other words, once we reach the point of determining a loss, there is no need to proceed on to the costs that might be relevant if this special order was not so unreasonable. If the offer is accepted, the opportunity costs are considered as the difference in payments between what would be received from the Bass deal and what would be received on the open market. In this case, the Bass deal returns $ 4,000 above costs, and the open market sales return $ 24,000 above costs. Thus, the opportunity cost of the Bass deal is $ 20,000. It should consider whether it could place a special order of this size with other sources who are willing to pay a higher markup than Bass. It should consider whether the cost of keeping the Bass account is worth the short-term profit loss to the company. If the market is strong, Thousand Island may not be able to afford a customer like Bass. The Entertainment Corporation produces and sells three products. The three products, CDs, DVDs, and videotapes, are sold in a local market and in a regional market. At the end of the first quarter of 2009, the following income statement was prepared: Management has expressed special concern with the regional market because of the

U.S. Fiscal Budgeting and Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

U.S. Fiscal Budgeting and Government - Essay Example The proposal has recently sparked debates on both the Republican and the Democrat controlled Congress, an ordinary occurrence prevalent in American history especially during those times when the president puts forward his budgetary plan. Both the Republican and the Democratic parties would often disagree on what causes imbalance on the Federal budget, and oftentimes, heated debates soon ensue with regards the subject. The issue of budget in the US is an interesting topic to listen to except that ordinary Americans are not privy to the language and the esoteric terms employed in this discussion. It is also imperative that the public and the US legislators be able to pinpoint the sources of imbalance in the federal government expenditures. The president, as a rule, submits his proposal in the month of February after which it is submitted to the Congress on the first Monday of the said month. As this is only a proposal, the budget constitutes and specifies the government’s intended spending for the following fiscal year. This proposal is backed by voluminous documents aimed at convincing the Congress of the importance and value of the budget provisions. The cabinet and the agencies under the Federal government likewise submit their proposals which will consequently be included in the final version of the proposed budget (Taylor 1950). This proposal contains some line items specified as discretionary and some as mandatory expenditures. Discretionary spending obliges a yearly appropriation bill, a piece of legislation which should be enacted and determined by the Appropriations Committee of both Houses of Congress – the Senate and the House of Representatives. This spending is under the discretion of the Congress and usually lasts for one year. On the other hand, mandatory spending is a spending which also requires legislation but is not dependent on a yearly appropriation bill. Examples of these are Social Security

The Colonization of America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Colonization of America - Essay Example Economics was the driving force behind the move to the colonies and religion was the prime motivation. After a millennium of rule over Europe, the Catholic Church had come under increasing pressure brought on by its abuse of power and unpopular doctrines. During the reign of King Henry the VIII, England split from the Catholic Church and changed the national religion to Protestant. After Henry's death, the country switched between Catholic and Protestant as the rulers changed. When Mary became queen in 1553 she banished, persecuted, or killed many people who were not Catholics. When the Protestant religion came back in favor, there were even more dramatic splits in religion as radical Protestants objected to some of the fundamentals of the church. These splits in the churches carried on into the 17th century and eventually fomented into the English Civil War. England was being swept up into the fervor that had engulfed the rest of Europe decades earlier. The English Civil War, also known as the Puritan Movement, had its beginnings with John Calvin in the 16th century. The puritans objected to the modern Protestant church of the 17th century and insisted the church follow the Calvinist doctrine. The strict teachings of Calvinism earned the followers the name of reformer and non-conformer. These Puritan reformers, outlawed in their own country, were seeking a new place where they could practice their religion with freedom. The Americas were the ideal location, and the economic situation at the time made the journey a necessary reality. Others seeking wealth, resources, and land would facilitate their voyage across the sea. During the period of religious upheaval, England was also experiencing a dramatic shift in its economic system. By the beginning of the 17th century, the population has swelled and unemployment was escalating. Peasants and laborers moved to the city and were met with impoverished conditions. The increase in population placed a greater demand on goods and services and resulted in widespread scarcities across England. With a high demand and short supply, inflation set in and resulted in the Price Revolution. Landlords found that they could make more profit during this period of high inflation by producing cash goods rather than renting to tenants. In a process called enclosing, the landowners would evict the current tenants and enclose the property to produce commercial commodities. Though this was good for the economy in that it produced more goods and eased inflation, it resulted in greater poverty for the farmer tenants and increased unemployment in England's cities. These changing economic systems caused people to seek wealth in new areas such as the Americas. America offered the poor an opportunity to own land and the investor the chance to capitalize their fortunes. England saw migration as a means to ease the overpopulation and the overburdened demand for goods. The impoverished in England were also the most disenchanted and dissatisfied class. They were drawn to radical religious and philosophical doctrines and looked for leadership in these disciplines. Drawn by the promise of prosperity in a new land, they were eager to begin a pilgrimage to a new home. The promise of land ownership and religious freedom combined to make the migration to the Americas possible. The new immigrants to America began

Assimilation paper Communication Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assimilation Communication - Research Paper Example However, for an effective human communication, four things need to be done. The representation of information from the sender should be clear. The receiver must receive the information and ask questions to clarify issues. The mode of delivery should be considerate of the needs and situation of both parties. The information has to be in line at some level with the beliefs of the receiver. Human communication occurs every day, every time, everywhere in the world in successive processes. Human communication on all levels of communication has become a part of our life. Therefore, human communication is concluded as an interconnected form of communication, existing as systems governed by rules and laws, which can portray different messages though the same information is sent. The relationships and interactions in communication seek to achieve goals with reduced costs and increased benefits. (Littlejohn and Karen 151) The theories of communication strengthen this conclusion. Constructivism Jesse Delia theorized this theory of communication in 1982. The communication constructivism theory explains there is a greater capacity in terms of sophisticated communication among people that are cognitively complex in perceiving others that helps them in the achievement of positive outcomes (Littlejohn and Karen 180). These persons may employ the logic of rhetorical message design creating a person-centered message pursuing multiple goals of communication simultaneously. The theory deals with the cognitive processes preceding actual communications in a given situation. Observing and measuring these processes is a painstaking task difficult to complete. The theory however states that deducing that those who are cognitively complex do not always achieve more success. A statement claiming otherwise is a misrepresentation of the truth. Multiple truths varying with the abilities of creation and understanding of messages, which are cognitively complex by the receiver and the communic ator. This is the epistemological assumption of the theory the ontological assumption lies in the ability of some people to act in a rhetorical design. Others make use of conventional or expressive designs. The theory value conscious as it recognizes the capacity of influence of value without subscribing to any specific pattern (Littlejohn and Karen 182). The theory is a scientific one that seeks to explain the attainment of interpersonal communication success (Littlejohn and Karen 216). In the process, it concludes that more success is attained by people who are cognitively complex as they use the logic of rhetoric design in sending messages. However, the application of this theory is a complex undertaking due to the difficult and complex nature of the process of studying cognitive processes. Symbolic interactionism Symbolic interactionism is the learning of interpretation and giving meaning to the world in the process of interactions with others. This theory attempts to explain th e interaction of people through symbols (Littlejohn and Karen 128). The basis of the theory is the human ability to generate a complex set of symbols used to convey messages. In the theory, a family is labeled a unit of interacting personalities. The interactions of the people in their environment evolve the symbols applied in the interpretation of the actions. Understanding human

Practicum documentation and evidence of accomplishment manual Essay

Practicum documentation and evidence of accomplishment manual - Essay Example 15 3.Implementation of the Action Plan 17 a.Implementation of action plan and personal learning 17 b.Feedback Report from the Mentor 18 4.Evaluate Overall Project 19 a.Copy of evaluation tool and brief explanation 19 b.Summary of evaluation tool results took place one week after implementation 21 c.Comparing HCAHPS scores before and after implementation. ... In line with this, this was crucial in identifying the reasons why healthcare facilities sought to improve HCAHPS scores. From this general perspective, it was crucial to identify the need to improve HCAHPS scores in Ben Taub General Hospital (BTGH), which is the facility that I was carrying out my practicum. In effect, this is a documentation of the whole process that focuses on explaining the process involved and the steps involved in achieving these crucial objectives. 1. Raising HCAHPS Scores a. Raising HCAHPS Scores-Annotated bibliography This activity involved researching from peer-reviewed journals on the need to improve the HCAHPS scores in any organization. Appendix 1 represents the final annotated bibliography for this practicum activity. It is important to point out that the bibliography is presented in APA style with each peer reviewed journal article providing a summary of the article’s methods and the approach used to determine the usefulness of the journal to th e project practicum. It is crucial to point out that the practicum project had to be organized in an approach that ensured the achievement of the overall goals of the project. However, the achievement of this goal would not have been possible without engaging in a process of research that enhanced the success of the project. The journal articles were important in enhancing the success of the project since they underlined the importance of the project, which was to improve the HCAHPS scores in a healthcare facility. The journals highlight the process of raising the HCAHPS scores in a healthcare facility. Some of the journals start by providing of an explanation about the concept of HCAHPS. In this case, they underline the areas that are

Accounting principles impact Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Accounting principles impact - Case Study Example While this is considered to be critical to effective financial reporting, these principles are also a significant part of the financial control within organisations. The principles have different impacts upon the organisation as discussed below. This could be termed as the most significant accounting principle among all the available accounting principles. The concept of revenue recognition remains critical to financial reporting because it seeks to determine the sources of finance and expenses, in order to determine profitability of the organisation. This principle remains critical to business operations because it seeks to ensure that all the revenue generated becomes recognised through the various records used by the organisation (Kothari, Ramanna, and Skinner 252). Organisations within different industries must ensure the development of appropriate and standardised approaches through which the revenue recognition will be effected. This principle results in the development of an approach for making comparison of different accounting concepts to determine effectiveness of the organisation. Sainsbury which is a retailing outlet for household good would effectively adopt an approach for recognising revenue based on cash basis. This would be mainly because most of the transactions are undertaken instantly and the days is received upon the exchange of the product. Once the cash has been received it become recognised as a sale and revenue. UNIQOL, which is involved in a different level of retailing would have to combine the accrual and cash basis of revenue recognition in its processes. This would be mainly because of the various products which are sometimes shipped and cash is received later. Harmonisation of these transactions remains essential as the organisation seeks to ensure there is accuracy in the process of revenue

Practicum documentation and evidence of accomplishment manual Essay

Practicum documentation and evidence of accomplishment manual - Essay Example 15 3.Implementation of the Action Plan 17 a.Implementation of action plan and personal learning 17 b.Feedback Report from the Mentor 18 4.Evaluate Overall Project 19 a.Copy of evaluation tool and brief explanation 19 b.Summary of evaluation tool results took place one week after implementation 21 c.Comparing HCAHPS scores before and after implementation. ... In line with this, this was crucial in identifying the reasons why healthcare facilities sought to improve HCAHPS scores. From this general perspective, it was crucial to identify the need to improve HCAHPS scores in Ben Taub General Hospital (BTGH), which is the facility that I was carrying out my practicum. In effect, this is a documentation of the whole process that focuses on explaining the process involved and the steps involved in achieving these crucial objectives. 1. Raising HCAHPS Scores a. Raising HCAHPS Scores-Annotated bibliography This activity involved researching from peer-reviewed journals on the need to improve the HCAHPS scores in any organization. Appendix 1 represents the final annotated bibliography for this practicum activity. It is important to point out that the bibliography is presented in APA style with each peer reviewed journal article providing a summary of the article’s methods and the approach used to determine the usefulness of the journal to th e project practicum. It is crucial to point out that the practicum project had to be organized in an approach that ensured the achievement of the overall goals of the project. However, the achievement of this goal would not have been possible without engaging in a process of research that enhanced the success of the project. The journal articles were important in enhancing the success of the project since they underlined the importance of the project, which was to improve the HCAHPS scores in a healthcare facility. The journals highlight the process of raising the HCAHPS scores in a healthcare facility. Some of the journals start by providing of an explanation about the concept of HCAHPS. In this case, they underline the areas that are

Riordan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Riordan - Essay Example In the case of Riordan Manufacturing, diversity is important since it will ensure that the firm creates a positive image on the eyes of the public as well governments (Douglas, 2007). In this way, it will benefit from the support of all the stakeholders. Fostering of ethical culture is another aspect that will significantly impact on RM. For example, the company management team will foster ethics that ensures ethical collaboration that entails holding themselves as well as other accountable. Similarly, the company will start executing its own resolutions to the problems they are facing. In this way, the sense of responsibility will be enacted in the firm thus enhancing the level of motivation among the employees. Through the expansion strategies that the Riordan Manufacturing will adopt, the firm will effectively reach its customers. This implies that the customers will not waste a lot of time travelling long distances to look for their brands. As a result, RM will benefit from strong positive customer brand relationship. The measurement helps in ensuring competitive advantage in various ways. Based on the stiff competition in the Northern America, it is imperative that companies come up with ways of addressing the competition. On the part of Riordan Manufacturing, reduction of lead times for example through the use of freight for small shipments and establishing outlets near the customers will ensure that the firm faces its competitors effectively. Additionally, by improving the transportation strategies, the business will eliminate the delays that are experienced by other customers who are loyal to the competitors. In this way, the company will enjoy strong positive relationship with its customers. Based on the fact that Riordan Manufacturing aims at entering Hermosillo, Mexico the company will employ new employees with a different racial background. This means that

Competency Based Assessments in Education

Competency Based Assessments in Education Chapter 4 Literature Review on Competence-based Assessment 4.1 Introduction In this chapter, the researcher discusses the literature on competence-based assessment. The first part examines the purposes, the interpretations of competence-based assessment (CBA), the critical attributes of CBA and the issues related to competence. The second part looks into the implementation of CBA around the world and later focuses on the implementation of CBA in Malaysia. 4.2 Competence-based Assessment: An Overview The era of the knowledge -economy and globalisation requires not only individuals who possess a sound understanding of specific subject matter but also those who have relevant industry-related skills and interpersonal skills. These attributes and capabilities are necessary for learners to acquire in order to function well in todays complex and global societies (Baartman et al., 2007). Furthermore, acquisition of complex competences (Baartman et al., 2007) has to be developed in the future human capital through purposeful, effective, learner-centred and competence-based programmes (Baartman et al., 2007) in order to prepare students to meet the needs of tomorrows world. The report of the United States Department of Education Secretarys Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, the so-called SCANS Report (McNabb, 1997), made clear that students must be ready to function in collaborative settings, interpret complex requirements, and exhibit self-directed, self-assessing behaviour on the job. This means that employers would want more from the graduates than just entry-level job skills which would help develop a nation progressively in accordance to its political and social needs. The relationship between learning and assessment (discussed in Chapters X and Y) means that assessment should take account of political and social purposes (Broadfoot, 1996). Different vocational and educational training programmes from school level to university level have been introduced to prepare and equip individuals to fit into the labour market. One such programme is Competency-Based Education (CBE) with the emphasis on assessment (competency-based assessment) being seen as key to the success of its implementation (Tillema et al, 2000; Frederiksen, 1984; Baartman et al., 2007). 4.2.1 Purposes of Competence-based Assessment Any forms of assessment s including CBA would usually have one or more of three basic purposes to diagnose learning;, to select students for particular provision; to certificate achievements (Carless et. al., 2006; Freeman Lewis, 1997; Ecclestone, 1996; Rowntree, 1987). CBA has been utilised by schools, training colleges and industriy for two main purposes; to measure competencies (McNerney Briggins, 1995) and to certificate (International Labour Organisation, 1996). 4.2.1.1 CBA for Measuring Competence Measuring competence is one of the main purposes of CBA.Generally, the reason for the implementation of CBA is to determine that learners have sufficient knowledge and skills to contribute effectively to the work force(Canning, 2000; Ecclestone, 1997; Kerka, 1998; LPM, 2002; McNabb, 1997). However,according to Hyland (1994), as competence-based education is found to be seriously flawed and ill-equipped to deal with education and training beyond the basic skills., CBA apparently could can be used to measure limited aspects of competence but Hyland (1994). He believes that its influence on training and education for future generations will be actively damaging as it could can only produce individuals who would function without much learning, knowledge and understanding of anything. He attributes this to a This is due to its highly instrumental philosophy thats combined with a narrow and uncritical behaviourist psychology. (Hyland, 1994). Thus, its qualifications resulting from CBA are viewed as basically reliable as indicators of all the most elementary skills and abilities (Armstrong, 1995). The issues of competence in CBA will be further discussed in section 4.4. 4.2.1.2 CBA for Certification It is asserted claimed that CBA provides learners with opportunities to achieve qualifications that relate to required performance in the workplace (Erridge Perry, 1994). Ecclestone (1997) indicates that NVQs, which primarily employ CBA, represent an explicit commitment to creating wider access to accreditation and better levels of achievement. She argues that Tthis could be made possible by severing links between attendance in learning programmes, and the formal assessment and accreditation of outcomes, and by promoting the accreditation of prior learning in which NVQs subsequently serve as serious challenge to traditional assessment approaches (Ecclestone, 1997). For instance, a trainee in a plumbing courseplumber would have the opportunities to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills in plumbing at certain level. He/she would then achieve the qualifications and certification that relate to the required performance of a plumber in the real life workplace once he/she has complet ed the assessment of at the at particular designated level. Nevertheless, CBA is at the same time, argued to be conceptually confusing, empirically flawed and lacking in meeting the needs of a learning society (Chappell, 1996; Ecclestone, 1997; Hyland, 1994;). This may be the results of the use of confusing language or jargons, the decreasing credibility of the competency standards on how they reflect industry standards (Kerka, 1998) and the indifferent implementation of CBA across the industries due to employers ignorance about the its nature and the purpose. of it (Hyland, 1996). 4.2.2 Definitions and Interpretations of CBA There is a wide range of interpretations and definitions given to CBA. In this discussion, CBA the interpretation of- CBA is looked atinterpreted in terms of three different aspects; the assessors roles, the learners responsibilities and the learning outcomes that are based on predetermined criteria. Figure ____tries to reflect the interedependence of these elements.The relationships of the interpretations of these three aspects are as shown in Figure ____. Adapted: Griffin Nix, 1991; Mcnerney Briggins, 1995; Hager, 1994; Elliot, 1994; Cotton, 1995; Ecclestone, 1996) In the assessors perspective, CBA consists of the simple process of seeing, collecting, gathering,and obtaining evidence, and the further process a more complex as well as subjective process of judging and interpreting the evidence of competence demonstrated by learners (Rowe, 1995; Ecclestone, 1996; Mcnerney Briggins, 1995; Hager, 1994; Griffin Nix, 1991). The assessors have to observe gather and judge the evidence of an individuals competence against the specified standards. This means that the assessors have to be very careful in their actions of gathering evidence of competence and they have to decide when it is considered sufficient, based on their expert judgment. For example, when a student successfully builds a drywall framework, the assessor has to gather evidence of competence not only from the product which is the framework but also from the process and the preparations before the student begins to work on it such as work schedule, list of materials and equipment to be u sed, and the like. The assessor then has to use his/her expertise in this area to determine whether or not the evidence of competence gathered is adequate to say that the student has acquired satisfactory competence in building the drywall framework. McNnerney Briggins (1995) state that CBA is the process of identifying the competencies which are the underlying characteristics that lead toof successful performance be this by may it be among a group of employees, typically by department, job category or hierarchical level. CThey say that a list of competencies that is tied to one corporate culture is usually used tobecome associatede with exemplary performance (McNerney Briggins, 1995)ers. They further relate CBA to its training basis where the focus is on who the successful performers are rather than on what people do. This means that it does not just include training in jobs which rely heavily on psychomotor skills, such as manual labour and traditional hourly production work but also involve performing decision-oriented jobs (Mcnerney Briggins, 1995). The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) (2001) stresses the process of seeing whether or not an individual has the necessary skill and knowledge they need to be awarded a Scottish Vocational Qualifications as the key factor in CBA; emphsising the need for assessors to be expert . This undoubtedly requires the assessors to have even thorough knowledge and skills in the fields they are assessing in order to make good and fair judgments. This means is due to the fact that the athat assessors have to assess and collectconsider evidence of competence in terms of knowledge, abilities, skills and attitudes (Rowe, 1995; Ecclestone, 1996; Mcnerney Briggins, 1995) displayed diferentially in authentic contexts by learners in the context of a selected set of real life professional tasks which are of different levels (Hager, 1994). The process of gathering evidence from observable performance is later followed by the more difficult process of making judgment that may be very subjective (Pedd ie Wilmut, Macintosh, 1997). Despite the difficulty in making judgment based on evidence gathered, assessors have to determine whether or not the competency has been achieved by learners (Victoria Curriculum and Assesssment Authority (VCAA), 2001). It is the assessors responsibility, then, to decide if learners performances meet the pre-determined criteria. Thus, assessors have to equip themselves with relevant skills and use appropriate mechanisms in making fair judgments so that the problem of subjectivity among assessors is reduced. Furthermore, assessors have to assess learners ability to apply a particular knowledge, skills, attitudes and values in a specific context according to a required performance standards (New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), 2002). In other words, assessors themselves have to be extremely knowledgeable and skilful in the art of observing and collecting evidence of competence that come in various tangible and intangible forms. The process of gat hering evidence from observable performance is later followed by the more difficult process of making judgment that is inevitably very subjective (Peddie Wilmut, Macintosh, 1997). Despite the difficulty in making judgment based on evidence gathered, assessors still have to determine whether or not competency has been achieved by learners (Victoria Curriculum and Assesssment Authority (VCAA), 2001). It is the assessors responsibility then, to decide if learners are considered to be competent in a particular context at a particular level based on their performance whether or not it meets the pre-determined criteria. Thus, assessors have to equip themselves with relevant skills and use appropriate mechanisms in making fair judgments so that the problem of subjectivity among assessors is reduced. In addition to assessing and making judgment on students performance based on evidence gathered, assessors would also have to give constructive and supportive feedback to students on their performance and work (Ecclestone, 1996; Sadler, 2009). The assessors would have to point out the strengths and weaknesses as well as the improvements that could be made in the future (Sadler, 2009). Sadler (2009) further proposes that feedback should be given in a manner that would be able toenables educate students to assess and be able to evaluate their own work and give feedback to themselves as well. He suggests that students shcould be taught to monitor the quality of their productions and make adjustments as necessary while they are actually engaged in doing it. In From the learners point of view on the other handperspective, CBA is the platform for them to demonstrate competencies and learning outcomes (Elliot, 1994). These competencies will range from simple constructed responses to comprehensive collections of work over time in very different contexts.Elliot further asserts that CBA requires learners to demonstrate competencies and learning outcomes in performance assessment which vary in terms of simplicity and complexity such as from simple constructed responses to comprehensive collections of work over time, all of which are then judged . Learners are expected to be deeply involved in the assessment process and they areto be aware of the specified criteria that they have to meet as well as the standards of performance that are expected of them right from the beginning even before the assessment is conducted. Theoretically, tThis allows learners to take charge of and control over their own learning outcomes and success by preparing them selves well in advance. In other words, learners would have the autonomy for in their own learning, as CBA canould promote individuality and personal development (Ecclestone, 1996). The learners responsibility includes demostrating the It is also here in CBA that learners have to show their ability to apply theoretical knowledge and procedures, in addition to their understanding ofbeing able to describe the theories or even point to appropriate theoretical knowledge (Cotton, 1995). In demonstrating competence Cotton further elucidates that learners also have to express wise use of common sense in the public by demonstrating good physical, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills with mindful decision- making; that suggests the multiple intelligence described by Gardner (1985). In other words, learners have to demonstrate their abilities in all the three psychological domains of psychomotor, cognitive and affective learning (ANTA, 1998). Similarly, the Australias National Training Auth ority (ANTA) (1998) considers CBA to be a platform for learners to display their skills, knowledge and experience in accomplishing specific tasks as required in the workplace or to obtain a credit towards a qualification in the vocational and education training (VET). A Both the assessors and learners have one thing in common: to focus on and that is the set of learning outcomes that can be derived from an assessment. Learning outcomes cover diverse range of areas including personal qualities, various forms of knowledge and skills (Ecclestone, 1996). In this case it is the evidence of competence that learners have to demonstrate and which the assessors have to observe for and make judgments on, has to meet specified criteria. Thus, CBA consists of specified set of both the general and specific outcomes that assessors, learners and third parties can make reasonably objective judgments with respect to learners achievement or non-achievement of these outcomes (Wolf, 1995). CBA then certifies learners progress based on the demonstrated achievement of these outcomes while the assessments may not be necessarily tied to time served in formal educational settings. The emphasis is on the outcomes specifically, multiple outcomes, each distinctive and separ ately considered which should be specified clearly and as transparent as possible for assessors, assessees and third parties to understand what is being assessed and what should be achieved (Wolf, 1995) . This definition encapsulates the key-features of CBA as it has been developed and promoted for the vocational, technical and professional education and training in the UK while at the same time it signals the American origins of much of the debate (Wolf, 1995). The demonstrated performance that provides evidence of competence has to be at least of the minimum required quality in the real life workplace environment. These are the predetermined criteria set in CBA which are generally based on endorsed industry benchmark or competency standard (ANTA, 1998). The emphasis on outcomes and transparency is not only peculiar to the competence-context but it is also an essential characteristic of criterion-referenced assessment. The emphasis on what learners can actually do and the beneficia l effects of clear criteria on teaching and learning (Glaser, 1963; Popham, 1978) are argued to meet the competence-based literature where in England in the early years of the implementation of CBA, such system was referred to as criterion-referenced approach (Jessup 1991: 167). Jessup (1991) further underlines that what people actually learn from an education and training system and how effectively, as the key factor to measure its success. Thus, CBA is considered a criterion-referenced interpretation of assessment (Nuttall, 1984; Ling, 1999) where individuals are given an award after achieving the pre-determined standards (Cotton, 1995). This critical attribute of CBA will be discussed further in section 4.3.2. 4.3 Critical Attributes of Competence-based Assessment The following section discusses the two learning theories associated with CBA and the nature of its criterion-referenced assessment. 4.3.1 Learning Theories Associated with Competence-based Assessment Learning in the psychology and education contexts is a the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, and values, and world views acquisition and enhancement through ones integrated employment of cognitive, emotional, and experiences (Illeris, 2000; Ormorod, 1995). How this process works is explained variously. Learning as a process focuses on what happens when the learning takes place and the explanations of what happens constitute learning theories. In other words, learning theories are attempts to describe how people and animals learn, and they help uncover the inherently complex process of learning to our understanding. Hill (2002) explains that learning theories have two main values. The first is to provide adequate vocabulary and a conceptual framework in to interpreting examples of observed learning; and the second. Next is to suggest the right directions to look for solutions to practical problem instead of providing the solutions. Learning theories are therefore, the basis for any form of educational assessment (Gipps, 1994) and the theories most commonly associated to with CBA are the behaviourism and, more recently, the constructivism. These two theories will be discussed as CBA essentially involves observable aspects of learning and learning as a process for construction of new knowledge. Although the cognitive theory which looks beyond behaviour to explain brain-based learning is important, the need for it in CBA is not that apparent or crucial. Thus it is not included in the discussion. 4.3.1.1 Behaviourist Learning Theory Behaviourism is a theory of organism (may it be an animal or human) learning that only focuses on objectively observable behaviours and discounts mental activities (Murphy, 1999; Kerka, 1997; Doolittle Camp, 1999) with the assumption that a learner starts off as a clean slate (i.e. tabula rasa) and is essentially passive, responding to environmental stimuli (Murphy, 1999; Kerka, 1997) in the acquisition of new behaviour (Chowdhury, 2006). Learning according to the behaviourists takes place as the result of a response that follows on a specific stimulus and that behaviour is shaped through reinforcement (Kerka, 1997). By repeating the Stimulus-Response (S-R) cycle the learner is conditioned into repeating the response whenever the same stimulus is present and thusbehaviour can be modified and learning is measured by observable change in behaviour (Murphy, 1999; Kerka, 1997; Doolittle Camp, 1999). Theis emphasis on stimulus-response pairing (Murphy, 1999; Chowdhury, 2006) and the rejections to of structuralism (Kerka, 1997) reflected behaviourisms positivistic philosophical base, as the analysis of the human condition relies on only verifiable observations of behaviour and not on untenable mentalistic constructs (Kerka, 1997). Furthermore,Accordingly most human behaviour could can be understood as basic reflexive learning mechanisms or laws that operate on ones experience within the environment (Kerka, 1997). As the approach is seen to be more operational and practical in nature, it has dominated education.n, in which Tthe teacher disseminates selected knowledge, measures learners passive reception of facts, and focuses on behaviour control and task completion (Kerka, 1997). These views of the behaviourists and the learning characteristics that can be found in the education setting are summarised in Table___. Generally, conditioning has been identified in experiments by behaviourists to be a universal learning process. There are two different types of conditioning, each yielding a different behavioural pattern: Classic conditioning occurs when an instinctive reaction responds to a stimulus (Comer, 2004). Essentially, animals and people are biologically wired so that a certain stimulus will produce a specific response. As such, learning process takes place when two events that repeatedly occur close together in time are associated in a persons mind to impulsively produce the same response. The most popular example is Pavlovs observation that dogs salivate when they eat or even see food where food is unconditioned stimulus and the salivation, the unconditioned reflex (Comer, 2004; Chowdhury, 2006). Pavlovs theory of classical conditioning is considered a foundation of learning theories to the behaviourists. According to Pavlovs experiment, when some neutral stimulus, such as the ringing of a bell, is combined with the presentation of food and is repeated for a period of time, the dog salivates with the ringing of the bell, even though food is not given. Hence, the ringing of the bell acts as the conditioned stimulus while salivation is the conditioned response or reflex (Dembo: 1994). The result of this experiment led to the formation of Pavlovs classical conditioning in which an individual responds to some stimulus that would ordinarily produce such a response. Behavioural or operant conditioning occurs when a response to a stimulus is reinforced. Basically, operant conditioning is a simple feedback system: If a response to a stimulus is rewarded or reinforced, then the response is likely to take place in the future. Similarly, when a particular behaviour is rewarded, that behaviour is repeated as shown in the experiment conducted by B.F. Skinner using reinforcement techniques to teach pigeons to dance and bowl a ball. B.F. Skinner based his theory upon the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behaviour where these changes in behaviour are the result of an individuals response to events (stimuli) that occur in the environment (Chowdhury, 2006). According to Skinner, a reward or punishment will either strengthen or weaken a voluntary or automatic behaviour (Skinner: 1968). Ever since its introduction, the reinforced techniques have gone through series of enhancement and have contributed tremendously in training and teaching. The most important aspect of Skinners contribution to training is the significance attached to the desired behaviour to be emitted in certain environment. In order for the trainer to ensure the right behaviour is reinforced in the trainees, the trainer should have the clear idea about the terminal behaviour of the trainees, and should closely follow the trainees to appropriately reinforce correct responses. This is the purpose of programmed instructions including competence-based training in its early years of implementation which was based on this theory of reinforcement (Burns, 1995). . As the emerging learning theory of the early 1900s, behaviourism provided the final found ation for social efficiency as learning which is seen objectively consists of the formation of links between specific stimuli and responses through the application of rewards ( Wirth, 1972 ). The emphasis on the need of objectivity leads to extensive use of statistical and ma thematical analysis. Despite all the remarkable contribution s the learning theory has to offer , the extreme focus on objectivity has totally ignored the significant role the mind play in shaping ones behaviour. Men are treated more like robots or machines than human beings as their thoughts and feelings are not taken into consideration. They are expected to demonstrate desired behaviour through the use of reward and punishment neglecting other factors that may have an influence on the change in behaviour. Thus, the behaviourist theory of learning is lacking in utilizing the full potential of the mind in moulding essential behaviour and in constructing new knowledge . Assessment in Behaviourism Assessment, according to behaviourism, is a test (the stimulus) for which the answer (the response) is conditioned In accordance to the behaviourist learning theory which focuses on the stimulus-response cycle to attain observable conditioned behaviour, assessment in the behaviourism also applies the same concept. Thus, t he test item is the stimulus, the answer is the response and a learner has to be conditioned to produce the appropriate response to any given stimulus ( (Murphy, 1999; Kerka, 1997; Doolittle Camp, 1999). NSince the emphasis is on the response that is observable, no attention is paid to any model of the thinking process of the learner which might intervene between stimulus and response. Consequently, the distinctions between rote learning and learning with understanding is not considered as teaching is a matter deliveringof delivering the appropriate stimuli while learning is a matter of repeating the appropriate response, which will be rewarded. is what matters the most in which teaching is by repetition and then rewarding the appropriate responses. As such, a test composed of many short, atomised, out-of-context questions, and teaching to the test, are both consistent with this approach (Murphy, 1999; Kerka, 1997). Likewise, some forms of CBA which has always been associated to thewith behaviourist theory can be seen to assess, atomistically. applied the atomistic but not out of context approach. The assessor who is an observer ticks off a checklist of predetermined criteria whenever a learner has performed a series of discrete observable tasks. The criteria are the stimuli, the accomplished tasks the responses and learner has to be conditioned to demonstrate the ability to meet the criteria successfully. Although this approach to assessment may developstestify to learners ability to perform observable tasksbehaviours, it does not pay much attention to the theoretical knowledge and understanding (Ashworth, 1992) as the role of the mind is considered insignificant in delivering the required behaviour. While assessing competent observable performance is vital, assessing knowledge and understanding is just as important as it is an essential aspect of competence without which an assessment is lacking in credibility or construct validity (Ashworth, 1992). A valid assessment method should be able to measure what it is supposed to measure which in this case (Watson, 1994). Given the extensive discussion in Chapter ? on the idea of competence, both the observable performance behaviour and underpinning knowledge are aspects of competence that should be assessed and measured. People who understand are those who have clear mental representation of the situation with which they are confronted and are able to deal with it creatively and imaginatively using the acquired knowledge which acts as an interpretive resource for them (Ashworth, 1992). Thus, it is insufficient to assess ones competence just by looking at the performance while ignoring the aspect of knowledge and understanding. It is unfortunate then, if such an assessment method should produce people who are like robots in a factory; they couldwho can perform a job or a task efficiently and effectively but they do not have any understanding of what they were are doing. As the approachCBA also emphasises personal competence within competence concentrates on an individual demonstrating competent performance ((Wolf, 1995), traditional notions of CBA have allowed an and emphasises on personal competences, it leads to one being individualistic perspective whilst lacking ignoring the very necessary in the abability of being able to work as a team player to work as a team whereas team work is essential in performing relevan t aspect of a job in the actual workplace (Ashworth, 1992). As a result, theis behaviourist view of CBA has eventually shifted to the constructivist belief as discussed in the following section.weakened. Despite all the remarkable contributions the learning theory has to offer, the extreme focus on objectivity has totally ignored the significant role that the mind plays in influencing ones behaviour. People are treated more like robots or machines than human beings as their thoughts and feelings are not taken into consideration. They are expected to demonstrate desired behaviour through the use of reward and punishment neglecting other factors that may have an influence on the change in behaviour. 4.3.1.2 Constructivist Learning Theory Constructivism is a theory of learning that has roots in both philosophy and psychology (Doolitle Camp, 1999) founded on the premise that learners actively construct their own knowledge, meaning and understanding of the world they live in by reflecting on their experiences (Doolitle Camp, 1999; Murphy, 1999; Kerka, 1997). Learners learn by doing rather than observing and by bringing prior knowledge into a learning situation (Epstein Ryan, 2002; Carvin, date?) in which they must critique and re-evaluate their understanding of it until they can demonstrate their comprehension of the subject (Carvin). Furthermore, learners need to analyse and transform new information or problems in their minds based on existing knowledge and understanding where these abstract thoughts evolve from concrete action (Murphy, 1999). Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting their mental models to accommodate new experiences. TBasically, the theory of constructivism rests on the notion that there is an innate human drive to make sense of the world by building cognitive structures which include declarative knowledge (know that facts, concepts, propositions) and procedural knowledge (know how techniques, skills, and abilities) (Murphy, 1999). These two components of knowledge have been discussed in depth in Chapter 3. Moreover, learning is a matter of personal and unique interpretation which takes place within the social context and is of useful to the learner as intrinsic motivation emerges from the desire to understand and to construct meaning (Billet, 1996). However, dispositions such as attitudes, values and interests that help learners decide, are often neglected in this theory (Murphy, 1999) making it incomprehensive and insufficient in a way. Philosophically, the essence of constructivism relies on an epistemology that stresses subjectivism and relativism, where personally unique reality resulted from the concept that reality can be known through experience although it may exist separate from experience (Doolitle Camp, 1999). Hence came four essential epistemological tenets of constructivism (Von Glasersfeld ,1984; 1998; Doolitle Camp, 1999); Knowledge is the result of active cognizing by the individual ; Cognition is an adaptive process that functions to make an individuals behaviour more viable given a particular environment; Cognition organizes and makes sense of ones experience, and is not a process to render an accurate representation of reality; and Knowing has roots both in biological/neurological construction, and in social, cultural, and language-based interactions (Dewey, 1916/1980; Garrison, 1997; Larochelle, Bednarz, Garrison, 1998; Gergen, 1995). Thus, constructivism acknowledges the active role learners play in the personal creation of knowledge, the importance of both the individual and social experiences in this knowledge creatio Competency Based Assessments in Education Competency Based Assessments in Education Chapter 4 Literature Review on Competence-based Assessment 4.1 Introduction In this chapter, the researcher discusses the literature on competence-based assessment. The first part examines the purposes, the interpretations of competence-based assessment (CBA), the critical attributes of CBA and the issues related to competence. The second part looks into the implementation of CBA around the world and later focuses on the implementation of CBA in Malaysia. 4.2 Competence-based Assessment: An Overview The era of the knowledge -economy and globalisation requires not only individuals who possess a sound understanding of specific subject matter but also those who have relevant industry-related skills and interpersonal skills. These attributes and capabilities are necessary for learners to acquire in order to function well in todays complex and global societies (Baartman et al., 2007). Furthermore, acquisition of complex competences (Baartman et al., 2007) has to be developed in the future human capital through purposeful, effective, learner-centred and competence-based programmes (Baartman et al., 2007) in order to prepare students to meet the needs of tomorrows world. The report of the United States Department of Education Secretarys Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, the so-called SCANS Report (McNabb, 1997), made clear that students must be ready to function in collaborative settings, interpret complex requirements, and exhibit self-directed, self-assessing behaviour on the job. This means that employers would want more from the graduates than just entry-level job skills which would help develop a nation progressively in accordance to its political and social needs. The relationship between learning and assessment (discussed in Chapters X and Y) means that assessment should take account of political and social purposes (Broadfoot, 1996). Different vocational and educational training programmes from school level to university level have been introduced to prepare and equip individuals to fit into the labour market. One such programme is Competency-Based Education (CBE) with the emphasis on assessment (competency-based assessment) being seen as key to the success of its implementation (Tillema et al, 2000; Frederiksen, 1984; Baartman et al., 2007). 4.2.1 Purposes of Competence-based Assessment Any forms of assessment s including CBA would usually have one or more of three basic purposes to diagnose learning;, to select students for particular provision; to certificate achievements (Carless et. al., 2006; Freeman Lewis, 1997; Ecclestone, 1996; Rowntree, 1987). CBA has been utilised by schools, training colleges and industriy for two main purposes; to measure competencies (McNerney Briggins, 1995) and to certificate (International Labour Organisation, 1996). 4.2.1.1 CBA for Measuring Competence Measuring competence is one of the main purposes of CBA.Generally, the reason for the implementation of CBA is to determine that learners have sufficient knowledge and skills to contribute effectively to the work force(Canning, 2000; Ecclestone, 1997; Kerka, 1998; LPM, 2002; McNabb, 1997). However,according to Hyland (1994), as competence-based education is found to be seriously flawed and ill-equipped to deal with education and training beyond the basic skills., CBA apparently could can be used to measure limited aspects of competence but Hyland (1994). He believes that its influence on training and education for future generations will be actively damaging as it could can only produce individuals who would function without much learning, knowledge and understanding of anything. He attributes this to a This is due to its highly instrumental philosophy thats combined with a narrow and uncritical behaviourist psychology. (Hyland, 1994). Thus, its qualifications resulting from CBA are viewed as basically reliable as indicators of all the most elementary skills and abilities (Armstrong, 1995). The issues of competence in CBA will be further discussed in section 4.4. 4.2.1.2 CBA for Certification It is asserted claimed that CBA provides learners with opportunities to achieve qualifications that relate to required performance in the workplace (Erridge Perry, 1994). Ecclestone (1997) indicates that NVQs, which primarily employ CBA, represent an explicit commitment to creating wider access to accreditation and better levels of achievement. She argues that Tthis could be made possible by severing links between attendance in learning programmes, and the formal assessment and accreditation of outcomes, and by promoting the accreditation of prior learning in which NVQs subsequently serve as serious challenge to traditional assessment approaches (Ecclestone, 1997). For instance, a trainee in a plumbing courseplumber would have the opportunities to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills in plumbing at certain level. He/she would then achieve the qualifications and certification that relate to the required performance of a plumber in the real life workplace once he/she has complet ed the assessment of at the at particular designated level. Nevertheless, CBA is at the same time, argued to be conceptually confusing, empirically flawed and lacking in meeting the needs of a learning society (Chappell, 1996; Ecclestone, 1997; Hyland, 1994;). This may be the results of the use of confusing language or jargons, the decreasing credibility of the competency standards on how they reflect industry standards (Kerka, 1998) and the indifferent implementation of CBA across the industries due to employers ignorance about the its nature and the purpose. of it (Hyland, 1996). 4.2.2 Definitions and Interpretations of CBA There is a wide range of interpretations and definitions given to CBA. In this discussion, CBA the interpretation of- CBA is looked atinterpreted in terms of three different aspects; the assessors roles, the learners responsibilities and the learning outcomes that are based on predetermined criteria. Figure ____tries to reflect the interedependence of these elements.The relationships of the interpretations of these three aspects are as shown in Figure ____. Adapted: Griffin Nix, 1991; Mcnerney Briggins, 1995; Hager, 1994; Elliot, 1994; Cotton, 1995; Ecclestone, 1996) In the assessors perspective, CBA consists of the simple process of seeing, collecting, gathering,and obtaining evidence, and the further process a more complex as well as subjective process of judging and interpreting the evidence of competence demonstrated by learners (Rowe, 1995; Ecclestone, 1996; Mcnerney Briggins, 1995; Hager, 1994; Griffin Nix, 1991). The assessors have to observe gather and judge the evidence of an individuals competence against the specified standards. This means that the assessors have to be very careful in their actions of gathering evidence of competence and they have to decide when it is considered sufficient, based on their expert judgment. For example, when a student successfully builds a drywall framework, the assessor has to gather evidence of competence not only from the product which is the framework but also from the process and the preparations before the student begins to work on it such as work schedule, list of materials and equipment to be u sed, and the like. The assessor then has to use his/her expertise in this area to determine whether or not the evidence of competence gathered is adequate to say that the student has acquired satisfactory competence in building the drywall framework. McNnerney Briggins (1995) state that CBA is the process of identifying the competencies which are the underlying characteristics that lead toof successful performance be this by may it be among a group of employees, typically by department, job category or hierarchical level. CThey say that a list of competencies that is tied to one corporate culture is usually used tobecome associatede with exemplary performance (McNerney Briggins, 1995)ers. They further relate CBA to its training basis where the focus is on who the successful performers are rather than on what people do. This means that it does not just include training in jobs which rely heavily on psychomotor skills, such as manual labour and traditional hourly production work but also involve performing decision-oriented jobs (Mcnerney Briggins, 1995). The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) (2001) stresses the process of seeing whether or not an individual has the necessary skill and knowledge they need to be awarded a Scottish Vocational Qualifications as the key factor in CBA; emphsising the need for assessors to be expert . This undoubtedly requires the assessors to have even thorough knowledge and skills in the fields they are assessing in order to make good and fair judgments. This means is due to the fact that the athat assessors have to assess and collectconsider evidence of competence in terms of knowledge, abilities, skills and attitudes (Rowe, 1995; Ecclestone, 1996; Mcnerney Briggins, 1995) displayed diferentially in authentic contexts by learners in the context of a selected set of real life professional tasks which are of different levels (Hager, 1994). The process of gathering evidence from observable performance is later followed by the more difficult process of making judgment that may be very subjective (Pedd ie Wilmut, Macintosh, 1997). Despite the difficulty in making judgment based on evidence gathered, assessors have to determine whether or not the competency has been achieved by learners (Victoria Curriculum and Assesssment Authority (VCAA), 2001). It is the assessors responsibility, then, to decide if learners performances meet the pre-determined criteria. Thus, assessors have to equip themselves with relevant skills and use appropriate mechanisms in making fair judgments so that the problem of subjectivity among assessors is reduced. Furthermore, assessors have to assess learners ability to apply a particular knowledge, skills, attitudes and values in a specific context according to a required performance standards (New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), 2002). In other words, assessors themselves have to be extremely knowledgeable and skilful in the art of observing and collecting evidence of competence that come in various tangible and intangible forms. The process of gat hering evidence from observable performance is later followed by the more difficult process of making judgment that is inevitably very subjective (Peddie Wilmut, Macintosh, 1997). Despite the difficulty in making judgment based on evidence gathered, assessors still have to determine whether or not competency has been achieved by learners (Victoria Curriculum and Assesssment Authority (VCAA), 2001). It is the assessors responsibility then, to decide if learners are considered to be competent in a particular context at a particular level based on their performance whether or not it meets the pre-determined criteria. Thus, assessors have to equip themselves with relevant skills and use appropriate mechanisms in making fair judgments so that the problem of subjectivity among assessors is reduced. In addition to assessing and making judgment on students performance based on evidence gathered, assessors would also have to give constructive and supportive feedback to students on their performance and work (Ecclestone, 1996; Sadler, 2009). The assessors would have to point out the strengths and weaknesses as well as the improvements that could be made in the future (Sadler, 2009). Sadler (2009) further proposes that feedback should be given in a manner that would be able toenables educate students to assess and be able to evaluate their own work and give feedback to themselves as well. He suggests that students shcould be taught to monitor the quality of their productions and make adjustments as necessary while they are actually engaged in doing it. In From the learners point of view on the other handperspective, CBA is the platform for them to demonstrate competencies and learning outcomes (Elliot, 1994). These competencies will range from simple constructed responses to comprehensive collections of work over time in very different contexts.Elliot further asserts that CBA requires learners to demonstrate competencies and learning outcomes in performance assessment which vary in terms of simplicity and complexity such as from simple constructed responses to comprehensive collections of work over time, all of which are then judged . Learners are expected to be deeply involved in the assessment process and they areto be aware of the specified criteria that they have to meet as well as the standards of performance that are expected of them right from the beginning even before the assessment is conducted. Theoretically, tThis allows learners to take charge of and control over their own learning outcomes and success by preparing them selves well in advance. In other words, learners would have the autonomy for in their own learning, as CBA canould promote individuality and personal development (Ecclestone, 1996). The learners responsibility includes demostrating the It is also here in CBA that learners have to show their ability to apply theoretical knowledge and procedures, in addition to their understanding ofbeing able to describe the theories or even point to appropriate theoretical knowledge (Cotton, 1995). In demonstrating competence Cotton further elucidates that learners also have to express wise use of common sense in the public by demonstrating good physical, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills with mindful decision- making; that suggests the multiple intelligence described by Gardner (1985). In other words, learners have to demonstrate their abilities in all the three psychological domains of psychomotor, cognitive and affective learning (ANTA, 1998). Similarly, the Australias National Training Auth ority (ANTA) (1998) considers CBA to be a platform for learners to display their skills, knowledge and experience in accomplishing specific tasks as required in the workplace or to obtain a credit towards a qualification in the vocational and education training (VET). A Both the assessors and learners have one thing in common: to focus on and that is the set of learning outcomes that can be derived from an assessment. Learning outcomes cover diverse range of areas including personal qualities, various forms of knowledge and skills (Ecclestone, 1996). In this case it is the evidence of competence that learners have to demonstrate and which the assessors have to observe for and make judgments on, has to meet specified criteria. Thus, CBA consists of specified set of both the general and specific outcomes that assessors, learners and third parties can make reasonably objective judgments with respect to learners achievement or non-achievement of these outcomes (Wolf, 1995). CBA then certifies learners progress based on the demonstrated achievement of these outcomes while the assessments may not be necessarily tied to time served in formal educational settings. The emphasis is on the outcomes specifically, multiple outcomes, each distinctive and separ ately considered which should be specified clearly and as transparent as possible for assessors, assessees and third parties to understand what is being assessed and what should be achieved (Wolf, 1995) . This definition encapsulates the key-features of CBA as it has been developed and promoted for the vocational, technical and professional education and training in the UK while at the same time it signals the American origins of much of the debate (Wolf, 1995). The demonstrated performance that provides evidence of competence has to be at least of the minimum required quality in the real life workplace environment. These are the predetermined criteria set in CBA which are generally based on endorsed industry benchmark or competency standard (ANTA, 1998). The emphasis on outcomes and transparency is not only peculiar to the competence-context but it is also an essential characteristic of criterion-referenced assessment. The emphasis on what learners can actually do and the beneficia l effects of clear criteria on teaching and learning (Glaser, 1963; Popham, 1978) are argued to meet the competence-based literature where in England in the early years of the implementation of CBA, such system was referred to as criterion-referenced approach (Jessup 1991: 167). Jessup (1991) further underlines that what people actually learn from an education and training system and how effectively, as the key factor to measure its success. Thus, CBA is considered a criterion-referenced interpretation of assessment (Nuttall, 1984; Ling, 1999) where individuals are given an award after achieving the pre-determined standards (Cotton, 1995). This critical attribute of CBA will be discussed further in section 4.3.2. 4.3 Critical Attributes of Competence-based Assessment The following section discusses the two learning theories associated with CBA and the nature of its criterion-referenced assessment. 4.3.1 Learning Theories Associated with Competence-based Assessment Learning in the psychology and education contexts is a the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, and values, and world views acquisition and enhancement through ones integrated employment of cognitive, emotional, and experiences (Illeris, 2000; Ormorod, 1995). How this process works is explained variously. Learning as a process focuses on what happens when the learning takes place and the explanations of what happens constitute learning theories. In other words, learning theories are attempts to describe how people and animals learn, and they help uncover the inherently complex process of learning to our understanding. Hill (2002) explains that learning theories have two main values. The first is to provide adequate vocabulary and a conceptual framework in to interpreting examples of observed learning; and the second. Next is to suggest the right directions to look for solutions to practical problem instead of providing the solutions. Learning theories are therefore, the basis for any form of educational assessment (Gipps, 1994) and the theories most commonly associated to with CBA are the behaviourism and, more recently, the constructivism. These two theories will be discussed as CBA essentially involves observable aspects of learning and learning as a process for construction of new knowledge. Although the cognitive theory which looks beyond behaviour to explain brain-based learning is important, the need for it in CBA is not that apparent or crucial. Thus it is not included in the discussion. 4.3.1.1 Behaviourist Learning Theory Behaviourism is a theory of organism (may it be an animal or human) learning that only focuses on objectively observable behaviours and discounts mental activities (Murphy, 1999; Kerka, 1997; Doolittle Camp, 1999) with the assumption that a learner starts off as a clean slate (i.e. tabula rasa) and is essentially passive, responding to environmental stimuli (Murphy, 1999; Kerka, 1997) in the acquisition of new behaviour (Chowdhury, 2006). Learning according to the behaviourists takes place as the result of a response that follows on a specific stimulus and that behaviour is shaped through reinforcement (Kerka, 1997). By repeating the Stimulus-Response (S-R) cycle the learner is conditioned into repeating the response whenever the same stimulus is present and thusbehaviour can be modified and learning is measured by observable change in behaviour (Murphy, 1999; Kerka, 1997; Doolittle Camp, 1999). Theis emphasis on stimulus-response pairing (Murphy, 1999; Chowdhury, 2006) and the rejections to of structuralism (Kerka, 1997) reflected behaviourisms positivistic philosophical base, as the analysis of the human condition relies on only verifiable observations of behaviour and not on untenable mentalistic constructs (Kerka, 1997). Furthermore,Accordingly most human behaviour could can be understood as basic reflexive learning mechanisms or laws that operate on ones experience within the environment (Kerka, 1997). As the approach is seen to be more operational and practical in nature, it has dominated education.n, in which Tthe teacher disseminates selected knowledge, measures learners passive reception of facts, and focuses on behaviour control and task completion (Kerka, 1997). These views of the behaviourists and the learning characteristics that can be found in the education setting are summarised in Table___. Generally, conditioning has been identified in experiments by behaviourists to be a universal learning process. There are two different types of conditioning, each yielding a different behavioural pattern: Classic conditioning occurs when an instinctive reaction responds to a stimulus (Comer, 2004). Essentially, animals and people are biologically wired so that a certain stimulus will produce a specific response. As such, learning process takes place when two events that repeatedly occur close together in time are associated in a persons mind to impulsively produce the same response. The most popular example is Pavlovs observation that dogs salivate when they eat or even see food where food is unconditioned stimulus and the salivation, the unconditioned reflex (Comer, 2004; Chowdhury, 2006). Pavlovs theory of classical conditioning is considered a foundation of learning theories to the behaviourists. According to Pavlovs experiment, when some neutral stimulus, such as the ringing of a bell, is combined with the presentation of food and is repeated for a period of time, the dog salivates with the ringing of the bell, even though food is not given. Hence, the ringing of the bell acts as the conditioned stimulus while salivation is the conditioned response or reflex (Dembo: 1994). The result of this experiment led to the formation of Pavlovs classical conditioning in which an individual responds to some stimulus that would ordinarily produce such a response. Behavioural or operant conditioning occurs when a response to a stimulus is reinforced. Basically, operant conditioning is a simple feedback system: If a response to a stimulus is rewarded or reinforced, then the response is likely to take place in the future. Similarly, when a particular behaviour is rewarded, that behaviour is repeated as shown in the experiment conducted by B.F. Skinner using reinforcement techniques to teach pigeons to dance and bowl a ball. B.F. Skinner based his theory upon the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behaviour where these changes in behaviour are the result of an individuals response to events (stimuli) that occur in the environment (Chowdhury, 2006). According to Skinner, a reward or punishment will either strengthen or weaken a voluntary or automatic behaviour (Skinner: 1968). Ever since its introduction, the reinforced techniques have gone through series of enhancement and have contributed tremendously in training and teaching. The most important aspect of Skinners contribution to training is the significance attached to the desired behaviour to be emitted in certain environment. In order for the trainer to ensure the right behaviour is reinforced in the trainees, the trainer should have the clear idea about the terminal behaviour of the trainees, and should closely follow the trainees to appropriately reinforce correct responses. This is the purpose of programmed instructions including competence-based training in its early years of implementation which was based on this theory of reinforcement (Burns, 1995). . As the emerging learning theory of the early 1900s, behaviourism provided the final found ation for social efficiency as learning which is seen objectively consists of the formation of links between specific stimuli and responses through the application of rewards ( Wirth, 1972 ). The emphasis on the need of objectivity leads to extensive use of statistical and ma thematical analysis. Despite all the remarkable contribution s the learning theory has to offer , the extreme focus on objectivity has totally ignored the significant role the mind play in shaping ones behaviour. Men are treated more like robots or machines than human beings as their thoughts and feelings are not taken into consideration. They are expected to demonstrate desired behaviour through the use of reward and punishment neglecting other factors that may have an influence on the change in behaviour. Thus, the behaviourist theory of learning is lacking in utilizing the full potential of the mind in moulding essential behaviour and in constructing new knowledge . Assessment in Behaviourism Assessment, according to behaviourism, is a test (the stimulus) for which the answer (the response) is conditioned In accordance to the behaviourist learning theory which focuses on the stimulus-response cycle to attain observable conditioned behaviour, assessment in the behaviourism also applies the same concept. Thus, t he test item is the stimulus, the answer is the response and a learner has to be conditioned to produce the appropriate response to any given stimulus ( (Murphy, 1999; Kerka, 1997; Doolittle Camp, 1999). NSince the emphasis is on the response that is observable, no attention is paid to any model of the thinking process of the learner which might intervene between stimulus and response. Consequently, the distinctions between rote learning and learning with understanding is not considered as teaching is a matter deliveringof delivering the appropriate stimuli while learning is a matter of repeating the appropriate response, which will be rewarded. is what matters the most in which teaching is by repetition and then rewarding the appropriate responses. As such, a test composed of many short, atomised, out-of-context questions, and teaching to the test, are both consistent with this approach (Murphy, 1999; Kerka, 1997). Likewise, some forms of CBA which has always been associated to thewith behaviourist theory can be seen to assess, atomistically. applied the atomistic but not out of context approach. The assessor who is an observer ticks off a checklist of predetermined criteria whenever a learner has performed a series of discrete observable tasks. The criteria are the stimuli, the accomplished tasks the responses and learner has to be conditioned to demonstrate the ability to meet the criteria successfully. Although this approach to assessment may developstestify to learners ability to perform observable tasksbehaviours, it does not pay much attention to the theoretical knowledge and understanding (Ashworth, 1992) as the role of the mind is considered insignificant in delivering the required behaviour. While assessing competent observable performance is vital, assessing knowledge and understanding is just as important as it is an essential aspect of competence without which an assessment is lacking in credibility or construct validity (Ashworth, 1992). A valid assessment method should be able to measure what it is supposed to measure which in this case (Watson, 1994). Given the extensive discussion in Chapter ? on the idea of competence, both the observable performance behaviour and underpinning knowledge are aspects of competence that should be assessed and measured. People who understand are those who have clear mental representation of the situation with which they are confronted and are able to deal with it creatively and imaginatively using the acquired knowledge which acts as an interpretive resource for them (Ashworth, 1992). Thus, it is insufficient to assess ones competence just by looking at the performance while ignoring the aspect of knowledge and understanding. It is unfortunate then, if such an assessment method should produce people who are like robots in a factory; they couldwho can perform a job or a task efficiently and effectively but they do not have any understanding of what they were are doing. As the approachCBA also emphasises personal competence within competence concentrates on an individual demonstrating competent performance ((Wolf, 1995), traditional notions of CBA have allowed an and emphasises on personal competences, it leads to one being individualistic perspective whilst lacking ignoring the very necessary in the abability of being able to work as a team player to work as a team whereas team work is essential in performing relevan t aspect of a job in the actual workplace (Ashworth, 1992). As a result, theis behaviourist view of CBA has eventually shifted to the constructivist belief as discussed in the following section.weakened. Despite all the remarkable contributions the learning theory has to offer, the extreme focus on objectivity has totally ignored the significant role that the mind plays in influencing ones behaviour. People are treated more like robots or machines than human beings as their thoughts and feelings are not taken into consideration. They are expected to demonstrate desired behaviour through the use of reward and punishment neglecting other factors that may have an influence on the change in behaviour. 4.3.1.2 Constructivist Learning Theory Constructivism is a theory of learning that has roots in both philosophy and psychology (Doolitle Camp, 1999) founded on the premise that learners actively construct their own knowledge, meaning and understanding of the world they live in by reflecting on their experiences (Doolitle Camp, 1999; Murphy, 1999; Kerka, 1997). Learners learn by doing rather than observing and by bringing prior knowledge into a learning situation (Epstein Ryan, 2002; Carvin, date?) in which they must critique and re-evaluate their understanding of it until they can demonstrate their comprehension of the subject (Carvin). Furthermore, learners need to analyse and transform new information or problems in their minds based on existing knowledge and understanding where these abstract thoughts evolve from concrete action (Murphy, 1999). Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting their mental models to accommodate new experiences. TBasically, the theory of constructivism rests on the notion that there is an innate human drive to make sense of the world by building cognitive structures which include declarative knowledge (know that facts, concepts, propositions) and procedural knowledge (know how techniques, skills, and abilities) (Murphy, 1999). These two components of knowledge have been discussed in depth in Chapter 3. Moreover, learning is a matter of personal and unique interpretation which takes place within the social context and is of useful to the learner as intrinsic motivation emerges from the desire to understand and to construct meaning (Billet, 1996). However, dispositions such as attitudes, values and interests that help learners decide, are often neglected in this theory (Murphy, 1999) making it incomprehensive and insufficient in a way. Philosophically, the essence of constructivism relies on an epistemology that stresses subjectivism and relativism, where personally unique reality resulted from the concept that reality can be known through experience although it may exist separate from experience (Doolitle Camp, 1999). Hence came four essential epistemological tenets of constructivism (Von Glasersfeld ,1984; 1998; Doolitle Camp, 1999); Knowledge is the result of active cognizing by the individual ; Cognition is an adaptive process that functions to make an individuals behaviour more viable given a particular environment; Cognition organizes and makes sense of ones experience, and is not a process to render an accurate representation of reality; and Knowing has roots both in biological/neurological construction, and in social, cultural, and language-based interactions (Dewey, 1916/1980; Garrison, 1997; Larochelle, Bednarz, Garrison, 1998; Gergen, 1995). Thus, constructivism acknowledges the active role learners play in the personal creation of knowledge, the importance of both the individual and social experiences in this knowledge creatio