Assessment Quality Is Moving Up the Agenda: 7 Checks Irish Training Providers Should Make Now

Assessment is receiving renewed attention across Irish education and training. For CPD providers, that is a useful prompt to revisit a basic quality question: can you show, clearly and proportionately, how your course demonstrates that meaningful learning has taken place?

In July 2026, Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) issued a request for research to support an update of its standards-based assessment infrastructure for further and higher education. QQI said the work will examine the quality assurance of assessment, including what is working well, what is not, and how awarding bodies and providers satisfy themselves that assessment policies are effective. The tender deadline is 30 September 2026.

At the same time, the Further Education Support Service (FESS) has made assessment one of the main themes of its Autumn/Winter 2026 professional-development programme. Its September and October schedule includes sessions on locally devised assessment, assessment briefs, examination questions, marking schemes, marking learner evidence and meaningful feedback. It also includes sessions on generative AI, academic integrity and assessment design.

Even so, they reinforce a useful principle for professional learning: assessment should be purposeful, proportionate and connected to the claim a course makes about what the learner has achieved.

1. Start with the learning outcome, not the quiz

A common mistake is to begin course design by deciding that a programme needs “a ten-question quiz at the end”. Assessment should come later.

First ask what the learner should reasonably be able to know, explain, identify, apply or do after completing the course.

If an outcome says that learners will be able to identify the main causes of workplace slips and trips, a short knowledge check may be perfectly appropriate. If the outcome says they will be able to carry out a complex workplace risk assessment, a five-question multiple-choice quiz is unlikely to provide meaningful evidence of that ability.

The assessment method should follow the outcome rather than being added simply because the learning platform has a quiz function.

This is also consistent with CPD Ireland's own Course Accreditation Standard. The Standard expects a legitimate CPD purpose and relevant learning outcomes, coherent learning design, and credible and proportionate approaches to participation verification, learning assessment where relevant, learner evaluation and course effectiveness.

2. Decide whether formal assessment is actually necessary

Not every CPD activity needs a formal examination.

A one-hour professional briefing on a regulatory update may reasonably focus on attendance, engagement and learner evaluation. A practical technical programme claiming that participants can perform a new workplace task may need stronger evidence that the learning outcome has actually been achieved.

The important word is proportionate.

Providers should be able to explain why their chosen approach makes sense for the subject, audience, duration and intended learning outcome.

Depending on the course, suitable evidence might include:

• a short knowledge check;
• a scenario exercise;
• tutor observation;
• a reflective task;
• a workplace assignment;
• a practical demonstration;
• a structured discussion.

Sometimes the correct decision will also be that formal assessment is unnecessary. Accreditation should not encourage providers to manufacture pointless tests. It should encourage deliberate choices that fit the learning.

3. Separate attendance, completion and achievement

These ideas are often treated as interchangeable, but they are not.

A learner can attend a course without completing all required activity. A learner can complete a course without necessarily demonstrating mastery of every learning outcome. And a learner can pass an assessment without that assessment necessarily measuring everything the course was intended to achieve.

This distinction becomes particularly important when issuing certificates.

A certificate should accurately describe what has been evidenced. If the only evidence is attendance, do not accidentally imply that the learner has passed a professional competency assessment. If there is a defined assessment and pass requirement, make that clear. If completion requires watching modules, completing activities and passing a quiz, the provider should be able to show how those conditions are recorded.

Clear language protects the learner, the buyer and the provider.

4. Check whether your questions are testing the right thing

A quiz can look professional while still being a poor assessment.

Consider a course with an outcome stating:

A question asking learners to recall the definition of customer service does not meaningfully test that outcome. A short scenario asking them to choose between several realistic responses would be much stronger.

When reviewing assessment questions, ask whether each one connects to an identified learning outcome and whether the learner is being asked to demonstrate the type of understanding that outcome describes.

Also look for accidental weaknesses:

• obvious correct answers;
• trick questions;
• ambiguous wording;
• unnecessary jargon;
• questions that test minor details rather than important learning.

The goal is not to make assessment difficult. It is to make it useful.

5. Review what generative AI means for your assessment

Generative AI has made this issue more urgent.

In January 2026, QQI and the National Academic Integrity Network published updated national principles and terminology for academic integrity. The update specifically addressed emerging technologies, including AI, and expanded the discussion of plagiarism to include AI-enabled forms. QQI has also hosted work on maintaining valid, reliable and inclusive assessment in the generative-AI era.

Again, that guidance is directed primarily at Ireland's tertiary education sector. But the underlying question matters to commercial and professional training providers too:

That does not mean written assignments should disappear, nor that AI use should automatically be prohibited. It may mean redesigning the task.

A provider might ask learners to apply the material to their own workplace, explain the reasoning behind a decision, discuss their answer with a trainer, respond to a changing scenario or disclose how AI was used.

The right solution depends on the course. The key is to stop assuming that an assessment method provides reliable evidence simply because it has always been used.

6. Make marking consistent

Where assessment affects whether someone passes or receives a certificate, consistency matters.

Two competent trainers reviewing the same learner response should not routinely reach completely different conclusions.

For objective quizzes, the marking logic is straightforward. For assignments, projects, demonstrations or open-ended answers, providers may need clearer criteria.

A simple marking guide can explain:

• what an acceptable response should demonstrate;
• which elements are essential;
• what distinguishes a strong answer;
• when further evidence is required.

FESS's current autumn programme reflects this emphasis by treating assessment design, marking schemes, marking learner evidence and learner feedback as distinct areas of practice.

Small providers do not need university-scale moderation systems. But they should be able to explain how consistent decisions are made.

7. Keep enough evidence to support the claim you are making

Assessment quality is partly about what happens during the course and partly about what you can show afterwards.

Useful evidence might include:

• the approved course version;
• learning outcomes;
• assessment questions;
• marking criteria;
• learner results;
• completion records;
• trainer sign-off;
• evaluation results.

The appropriate evidence will differ by course. What matters is that the provider can connect the claim being made to the evidence being retained.

CPD Ireland's Course Accreditation Standard includes a specific Standard on Assessment, Verification & Evaluation and another on Governance, Evidence & Version Control. The accredited course version, supporting materials, responsibilities and evidence should be identifiable and capable of consistent governance.

That becomes especially important when courses change. If a quiz is rewritten, an assessment removed or a learning outcome substantially changed, providers should know which version learners completed.

Assessment should support learning, not become bureaucracy

There is a danger in any discussion about assessment that providers respond by adding more forms, more quizzes and more paperwork. That is not the objective.

Good assessment is about credible evidence in proportion to the claim being made.

A short professional briefing may need very little. A skills programme making substantial claims about learner competence may need much more.

The current focus on assessment across Irish further and higher education is therefore useful even for providers operating outside those systems. It is a reminder to periodically examine whether our assessment methods still measure what we think they measure — particularly as online learning and generative AI change how learners engage with training.

For CPD providers, the most useful question is not:

That produces better courses, clearer certificates and stronger accreditation submissions.

Sources and further reading

• QQI — Research services for updating QQI's standards-based assessment infrastructure for FET and HE in Ireland, 24 July 2026
• Further Education Support Service — Autumn/Winter 2026 Professional Development Calendar
• QQI and National Academic Integrity Network — National principles and lexicon, 19 January 2026
• QQI — Ensuring valid, reliable and inclusive assessment in the GenAI era
• CPD Ireland — Course Accreditation Standard