title: Is the learning value of workplace-based assessment being realised? A qualitative study of trainer and trainee perceptions and experiences.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Workplace-based assessments (WBAs) were originally intended to inform learning and development by structuring effective observation-based feedback. The success of this innovation has not yet been established due in part to the widely varied tools, implementation strategies and research approaches. Using a conceptual framework ofexperience, trajectories and reificationsin workplace learning, we aimed to explore trainer and trainee experiences and perceptions of the learning value of WBAs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Trainers and trainees who had used at least one WBA in the previous year were invited to participate in semistructured interviews for this phenomenological study. We used a template analysis method to explore and compare the experiences of the two groups, using the emergent themes to develop an understanding of the impact of these experiences on perceptions of learning value.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nine trainers and eight trainees participated in the study. Common themes emerged among the two groups around issues of responsibility and engagement along with (mis)understandings of the purpose of the individual tools. Trainer-specific themes emerged related to the concurrent implementation of a new e-portfolio and perceptions of increased workload. Trainees associated WBA with a training structure support value but could not translate experiences intolearningvalues.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  WBAs provide trainees with a justified reason to approach trainers for feedback. WBAs, however, are not being reified as the formative assessments originally intended. A culture change may be required to change the focus of WBA research and reconceptualise this set of tools and methods as a workplace learningpractice.
authors.affiliation: Education and Professional Development Unit, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.|School of Medicine, Brookfield Health Sciences Centre, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Aileen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Education and Health Sciences, Discipline of Physiotherapy, Department of Clinical Therapies, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
authors.forename: Rose
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Galvin
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Albert J J A
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Scherpbier
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, Netherlands.|Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Pim W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Teunissen
authors.affiliation: Education and Professional Development Unit, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: O'Shaughnessy
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Brookfield Health Sciences Centre, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Horgan
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007494:Ireland; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D036301:Qualitative Research; D016526:Workload; D017132:Workplace
keywords: learning value; phenomenology; postgraduate medical education; workplace-based assessment