Train the Trainer training in Bern · canton of BerneTrain-the-trainer education in the canton of Berne: how can assessments be aligned across two languages?
In the canton of Berne, federal administration, public health, telecommunications and precision manufacturing provide settings in which trainers need to justify their assessments. For SHR’s train-the-trainer programme, this raises a specific management question: how can judgements be made comparable between French-speaking and German-speaking trainers, particularly in Biel/Bienne?
What the literature establishes about scoring rubrics
Anders Jönsson and Gunilla Svingby (2007, Educational Research Review) show in their literature review that scoring rubrics can improve assessment reliability, particularly when supported by examples and rater training. Their value lies in making expectations more explicit than an overall judgement would. On their own, however, they do not guarantee that an assessment measures the intended competence.
The mechanism: connecting judgement to action
Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam (1998, Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice) emphasise that assessment becomes formative when the information gathered is used to adapt teaching and learning. Differences between trainers’ judgements therefore matter partly because they may lead to different advice. Discussing a shared example helps connect the criterion, the observed evidence and the next action recommended to the participant.
The premature conclusion: translation is enough
It might seem that translating a French rubric into German would be sufficient to ensure equivalent judgements. Yet terms such as “independent”, “adequately documented” and “appropriate” leave room for interpretation, even within a single language. The aim is not to impose identical wording, but to check whether trainers recognise the same evidence of competence. (our executive and employee training programmes)
What the evidence cannot establish
These studies do not validate a bilingual assessment approach specific to the canton of Berne, and applying their findings to adult vocational training requires caution. Strong agreement between assessors may also reflect a shared but poorly chosen criterion. Consistency of judgement must therefore be distinguished from relevance to the work, while avoiding assessment of language proficiency when it is not part of the learning objective.
A practical check in Berne
In a hypothetical workshop within SHR’s train-the-trainer programme in Berne, trainers from federal administration, public health, telecommunications and precision manufacturing could independently assess the same fictional exercise dossier, available in French and German, using a shared rubric. Before discussion, they would record the level assigned to each criterion and the passage supporting their decision; the measure would be the proportion of criteria assigned exactly the same level. After clarifying disagreements and revising the examples, they could repeat the measurement using a second comparable dossier. This record would make differences open to discussion and decisions traceable, an important consideration for organisations operating under a public mandate, without by itself proving linguistic equivalence or assessment validity. To go further: explore the Train the Trainer training in Bern in the canton of Bern, or browse our executive and employee training programmes in Switzerland.
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