Exploring the expertise development process of assessors in government-supported vocational training

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the expertise development process of assessors of government-supported vocational training. Nine research participants were selected through theoretical sampling, and data were collected through in-depth interviews. Based on the collected data, phenomenon understanding analysis, category relationship analysis and theoretical integration analysis were conducted step by step using the systematic grounded theory. In the phenomenon understanding analysis, a number of concepts and 15 categories were extracted. In the category relationship analysis, the categories were first reconstructed based on a specific framework, and the relationship between the categories was identified through causal relation analysis, procedural relation analysis, and micro-macroscopic relation analysis. In the theoretical integration analysis, ‘the applying oneself and studying hard to cultivate expertise’, a key category, was derived, and a theory about the expertise development process of government-supported vocational training assessors was presented as a model. The expertise development process of the research participants continued to evolve through the process of leading self-development and self-reflection in various interactive experiences occurring in the evaluation field. In addition, it was confirmed that they were able to build an effective system as an evaluator and improve their ability to respond flexibly to various unexpected situations that occur in the dynamic evaluation field.