It is already 6^th part of the Module with a title “Self-assessment”. At this point you already have a lot of knowledge and skills on the topic of evaluation in youth work. In the frames of the Module, we already talked a lot about concept of evaluation, its aims and objectives, evaluation models, actors, types and timing of evaluation, planning and preparing for evaluation, learned different evaluation methods and focused on importance of reflection and feedback.

It is time to talk about self-assessment and its place in a complex system of evaluation in youth work.

Generally, in order to progress in the frames of youth projects and programs, youth workers need to carry out periodic evaluations. It gives an idea and information about how much it is already achieved and what more needs to be done in order to achieve the best possible results. 

In a formal education system we used to the fact that assessments carried out by teachers on a regular basis to know how much the students have been able to learn. It is usually done through a series of verbal and written tests with the scores being the parameter to judge a student's capability.

After being so long in the frames of formal education, we usually forget that there is another system that offers students a realistic chance of looking at their own self, without any claims of prejudice or bias. It is called self-assessment. It may provide young people with some new information about themselves, and acquaint them with some facts that they were unaware of earlier. Self-assessment also helps in changing the role of young people from a passive observer to an active participant.

Not the less self-assessment of youth workers themselves means to the improvement and quality of youth projects. Being able to assess your work is crucial for creating high-quality products.

It is obvious that self-assessment is a very important tool for the continuous self-improvement of an individuals and groups and should be effectively included into structure of youth projects. That is why self-assessment needs separate attention to become an essential tool in the toolbox of effective youth worker. And this is actually the chapter where you will learn more about self-assessment as a part of educational evaluation complex. You will explore what is self-assessment, how it is connected to evaluation, why it is important to have it in youth work and how to organize it in effective way.

It is time to take a look inside the chapter.