Who Assesses the Assessors in Landscaping? Standards, Scrutiny and Professional Judgement

Who Assesses the Assessors in Landscaping? Standards, Scrutiny and Professional Judgement

Who assesses the assessors in landscaping is an important question for an industry built on judgement, standards and professional interpretation. From expert witnesses and awards judges to college trainers, company assessors and external consultants, the quality of any assessment depends not only on technical knowledge, but on fairness, consistency, scrutiny and continual learning.

Every profession relies on people making judgements regarding standards of quality and efficiency, on which to build decisions in everyday working life.

Horticulture and landscaping are perhaps the best examples of the wide range of expertise required to operate a business, as so many of those skills are subjective, unable to be standardised due to the variety of materials and situations in which those skills are displayed.

British Standards may be used as a guide in the majority of circumstances, whilst flexibility must be given when working with non-standard materials such as reclaimed and recycled products, and therefore written standards cannot be absolute.

The hierarchy of assessment usually follows the same pattern; employees are appraised by managers, managers by directors, directors by shareholders, or; in the case of assessors themselves, by fellow assessors working to current regulations and legal directives.

I think the best example of this hierarchy may be found in the workings of the City & Guilds Foundation, where individuals must hold a Quality Assurance certification together with extensive industry experience, usually five years of practical skills-based knowledge. They are required to hold a Gold-standard Level 3 certificate in Vocational Achievement (CAVA).

Every assessor must maintain a formal annual City & Guilds CPD log to ensure they are updated on regulations and legislation, including legal debriefs. This is a powerful system, designed to maintain the highest level of scrutiny at all times within their organisation.

Self-regulating as an Assessor

As an expert witness, I am obliged to self-regulate by keeping up to date with the latest legislation and industry directives, even though I am not required or expected to become involved in interpreting the Law. I do however, have to work strictly within the Civil Procedure Rules, (CPR) which carry significant consequences for non-compliance, and therefore act as a huge incentive to ensure my reports are able to withstand heavy scrutiny by assessment from fellow experts and lawyers.

Civil courts demand a high level of independence of thought by an expert witness, using sound reasoning, firm evidence and consistent logic in order to maintain credibility, following one of several reporting styles, including Statement of Opinion, Initial or Extant reports, or written to strict CPR (various named Parts, mainly Pt 35) formulae.

Expert witnesses work for the court, regardless of who pays their fees. They are not advocates for any single party.

Consistency and logic ensures credibility, as the court will weigh competing opinions, rather than simply accept a report because the author has impressive qualifications. (In the event of a conflict of reports, the court will order a Scott Schedule, which involves both experts sitting down and agreeing (if they can) on a single report which is acceptable to both parties).

Unlike the City & Guilds regime, expert witnesses have no formal ‘performance review’, and yet are bound to work to continuous standards, as they are ‘assessed’ by the system, which is highly critical, including barristers, solicitors, opposing experts and others, who will find any excuse to have a report struck out.

One poor report can destroy a practice. Every case must be treated with consistently robust and evidenced opinion, otherwise the enquiries will cease. (If an expert is a vetted member of an organisation such as the UK Expert Witness Register, they make be struck off for life).

Royal Horticultural Society Forms of Assessment

Another system of assessment may be found within the Royal Horticultural Society and their judging panels. Having been both Assessor and Show Gardens judge for over ten years, I know that their methods are as robust as they can be when working with volunteers, who do not undergo any formal training as such. Some may not have any relevant paper qualifications at all, and are chosen for their perceived knowledge and industry standing.

Each judge will have been selected for their special skills. In my case, it was ‘hard’ landscaping and construction (I was also a Chelsea Show panelist for thirteen years, helping to set up the show). Other show garden judges will have expertise in design or plant knowledge, thereby building a solid team of assessors, all working under the same pre-scripted judging criteria to ensure fairness and unbiased opinion.

(Even then, the judges can get things wrong. In one instance, a terraced deck garden was marked down as the ‘balustrade was too high’, yet was constructed to meet Building Regulations which the panel obviously did not realise).

There are many other forms of assessment related standards that demand stringent inspection, including Professional Institutes (when deciding membership criteria) Awards schemes such as the Association of Professional Landscapers, Society of Garden and Landscape Designers or similar judging panels, all of whom will be working as assessors, making decisions based on their experience.

The Danger of ‘Groupthink’

The built-in safeguards of judging panels are that they usually reach a collective decision, although this can sometimes fail if one or more of the group members holds strong opinions, and influences others into reaching an unfair conclusion. For this reason, the panel should be open to a challenge and re-assessment without equivocation, as part of the judging process and rules.

No assessment system is perfect because people are not perfect. The best systems are those that recognise that assessors themselves must be open to challenge, scrutiny and continual learning, otherwise the assessment process itself becomes affected.

External Assesors

Many firms employ firms or individuals offering staff assessments and working practices. Who assesses these assessors? Usually by reputation, recommendations and repeat commissions, with their results meeting the requirements of the employer. Formal qualifications may not be needed to become a successful assessor if they can provide evidence of continual improvements in an organisation.

These external experts may be charged with a wide range of assessments including helping to appoint new staff by conducting interviews and checking their long-term records of success in recommending people who have remained in post long-term.

College Assessors

A major part of college life is being regularly assessed, usually by in-house training staff. As the reputation of the site will depend on the efficacy and fairness of the staff, it may be held that repute is sufficient to suit the requirements of the pupils.

Each site will have their own standards and systems of ensuring that training staff are kept up to date with current legislation and standards, either via internal assessors or external firms certifying their standards and current industry knowledge.

The reputation of a college will fundamentally involve peer review and accountability rather than examinations results solely. Experience, scrutiny and peer respect all count towards a successful college.

The quality of the outcome depends not only on the competence of the individuals involved, but also in the integrity of the process throughout training. The skill of the trainer is in the ability to evaluate other people’s work fairly and consistently. This subtle but important distinction is one that is often overlooked.

Landscape Companies

It is often presumed that, because someone is an excellent landscaper or designer that they will naturally become an excellent assessor. Good assessors require qualities that go beyond technical ability, and include objectivity, consistency and the nous to separate personal taste from the assessment and the confidence to justify a decision.

In order to improve staff training and ensure that your staff hierarchy is constantly challenged, one way is to devise a programme that not only enhances the skills and teaching ability of the trainer, it also provides a road-map for the future well-being of the company by using either in-house assessors or external specialists.

Becoming a company assessor is not necessarily a position of authority, although it is a position of responsibility, whereby your reputation will depend on fairness and consistency as well as providing evidence of the talent of the trainer.

Consider devising a training programme, formally produced and agreed by all in management as a template for the future of the company. Employ a suitably trained named individual as the company trainer or assessor, and hold annual sessions where a whole range of topics, all relevant and important to the firm are taught to team leaders and others in charge of a project.

Include in that programme a full range of regulations and legislation, plus British Standards and industry best practice to include matters such as step heights, wall regulations, dry cutting on site, safe use of personal protective equipment, changing soil levels on site, soak-away and drainage regulations and a host of other vital site disciplines.

At the end of the session, ensure that each team leader completes an examination form, not necessarily to prove their knowledge, but to ensure they understand the need for compliances, which they can pass on to their teams.

It will provide the employer with a bench-mark against which to measure the success of the training if carried out as an annual exercise. This regular examination of legislation will ensure that your company can withstand any scrutiny from outside observers, being seen at the forefront of the landscaping industry training-wise.

It also demonstrates that the firm is serious about competency, consistency and continual improvement across all levels of the business – from apprentices to directors.