Observations and the Assessment of Behaviours

Observations involve the deliberate, systematic, and purposeful act of watching and listening to learners as they engage in tasks relevant to their work, enabling educators to assess and provide feedback on learners’ competencies and to track how these competencies develop over time. This chapter is written for engineering educators and assessors who wish to incorporate observational assessment into their practice, with particular emphasis on non-technical skills. It explores how behaviours are observed within educational settings, with particular attention to Behavioural Marker Systems (BMS) as structured observational frameworks for competencies such as communication, teamwork, leadership, transferable competencies and skills, and problem solving. The chapter guides readers through principles, methods, and pragmatic steps for planning and conducting observations of non-technical skills, and for establishing and validating a BMS for engineering contexts.