ISSUES OF ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE ASSESSMENT OF PRACTICE

The nature of nursing work makes the Code of Professional Conduct's mo ral and professional emphasis appropriate. However this is to the detr iment of practitioners' moral, professional and contractual accountabi lity towards learners. Practitioners may fail to make the paradigmatic shift necessary for them to be accountable for the teaching, supervis ion and assessment of learners. This is a direct consequence of the pa ucity of assessor preparation and the utilisation of assessors with li mited professional experience. They have been invested with an authori ty of which they are unaware and for which they are unprepared.