Objective assessment is needed to ensure competence

Over the last decade assessment practices of professional competence evaluation have rapidly changed, partly as a result of growing dissatisfaction with previous forms of student assessment. New strategies for the assessment of competence show an increasing emphasis on performance-based assessment (also known as ‘authentic’ assessment). Changes have been prompted by the awareness of the enormous influence of assessment on student learning. This paper will describe the development and the use of a performance-based test at Kerkrade Midwifery School in the Netherlands. The objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE) based midwifery competence test (MCT) was designed to assess competence in risk assessment and management in midwifery care during the final stages of the educational programme. First experiences with the MCT suggest that the test is a powerful tool in the guidance of student learning. Our experiences also suggest that, although several aspects of the test need further attention, the MCT is a useful and acceptable tool for evaluating competence of student-midwives.