Witness Testimony
A witness testimony is a piece of evidence that is provided by an individual that has closely worked with the candidate. A witness testimony can be used to clarify that the candidate has shown knowledge and performance skills throughout the work place. The assessor only has a limited amount of time to spend with each candidate so using this assessment method allows others to contribute in the assessment process. Witness Testimonies can provide useful information to the assessor but only when the source is valid and reliable. Evidence provided by the witness should be fair, reliable, valid and appropriate to standards and criteria of the specific qualification. The evidence should be signed and dated by the witness and if felt appropriate the assessor should communicate with the witness to confirm authenticity. A copy of the witness testimony should be placed into each candidate’s profile. This is to ensure that if an internal verifier was to check then all the information and evidence will be present. The information provided by the witness testimony should never be used upon solely to make an assessment decision. The assessor should use the information gathered as a guide to help inform them in making the correct assessment decision.
A witness testimony can be conducted by a colleague to the client who does a similar role or who has experience or perhaps more appropriately a supervisor or manager could do this for the assessor. Whoever does it, they need to witness the learner doing their job. The assessor will have to work out who is the most suitable & willing witness as well as ensuring that they are available to do the testimony & that this will not interfere with their job duties/responsibilities or any business operations (also includes the candidate). It is important that the candidate’s employers are not disrupted by any witness