'Lost in translation'? Developing assessment criteria that value rural practice.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Professions Education
• Rural Health Workforce Development

Background:

• Conflicting understandings of assessment criteria exist among Australian university educators.
• Medical education literature often favors quantitative, reliability-driven approaches to assessment.
• The development of assessment criteria is underexplored, impacting the emphasis on rural practice in student learning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore quality assessment techniques in undergraduate medical education.
• To connect medical education literature with broader educational theories on assessment.
• To demonstrate how assessment models can either support or undermine the intention to value rural practice.

Main Methods:

• Examining the development of assessment criteria in undergraduate medical courses.
• Drawing on historical and current debates in medical and general education literature.
• Analyzing assessment techniques to identify how intentions for rural practice can be lost.

Main Results:

• Narrow norm-referenced and competency-based assessment models can hinder the translation of intentions to value rural practice.
• Assessment techniques vary in their effectiveness in conveying educational intentions.
• Broader educational literature offers insights into effective criteria-and-standards-based assessment.

Conclusions:

• Rural health outcomes are linked to the technical quality of health sciences education assessment.
• Effective assessment is crucial for valuing rural practice knowledge and skills in student learning.
• Shifting to best practice in criteria-and-standards-based assessment enhances rural health education.