Perhaps your NVQ Assessor or tutor has
asked you to obtain a witness testimony as part of your assessment plan
to gather evidence of competence for your NVQ (National
Vocational Qualification).
Are you wondering…
· What is this all about?
· Where do I get this from?
· Who can I ask to write one for me?
· Do I need to use some forms?
Well I would like to explain this in today’s article.
Firstly, who is a witness?
Literally, he or she is a person who testifies at a court hearing. As a witness, the person may have seen an accident, witnessed a crime, or be asked to describe the character of someone they know. As a witness they will be asked to answer some questions regarding their knowledge of a case in court.
Well in this case we are certainly not in a court of Law but in a work setting you need to locate someone who testifies in writing about you with regards to your work.
Secondly, what is a testimony?
This is evidence obtained from a witness who has made a statement or declaration of fact.
Using the 2 definitions above you can define
WITNESS TESTIMONY as an account of your work performance, which has been witnessed by another person.
This clearly suggests that you can’t write one for yourself. You need someone who can testify in writing to say what they know about you, what they have seen you do or describe an activity you have carried out which should relate to your job description and also to the performance criteria of the units within your NVQ.
You can get a witness testimony from:
· Your manager or supervisor
· Your colleague at work
· The individuals you work with
· Your tutors or trainers.
Depending on your training centre’s policy, generally you would be required to obtain the witness testimony on a form given to you and you have to request that they sign what is called a Witness Status List – normally found at the front bits in your portfolio. Anyone who writes out a witness testimony must sign the Witness Status List and then your assessor will judge the evidence provided.
See an example; this is a witness testimony from a colleague at work. Yours might be how you handled a disclosure of abuse from a service user and the words in your form would be different.
Name
of Witness: S.M
I
am a care worker working at ABC Care Home and a colleague of Candidate
A whom
we have worked together for 2years. I have witnessed her move and
handle
residents in our workplace according to organisational and legal
requirements
learnt from our moving and handling training which I attended with
Candidate A
and this is done annually.
On
many occasions we have moved residents from either their bed to
wheelchair or
wheelchair to the commode and so on using the hoist of which candidate
A is
competent at using various kinds.
I
have witnessed Candidate A wash her hands and wear a pair of gloves
when carrying
out a moving and positioning task. Candidate A reads the care plan and
risk
assessment to find out how we are to carry out the task safely and also
how to
meet the resident’s preferences and wishes.
Candidate
A assesses the environment for the move, sometimes we could be in the
bedroom,
toilet, and bathroom or in the lounge. Candidate A checks for any
hazards
present and ensures she removes them. Sometimes when the hazard is
beyond what
she can remove she reports to the manager. For example one day one of
the
residents wanted to go outdoors in the wheel chair but his electric
wheel chair
was faulty. The service user requested to manage it but Candidate A
explained that she
couldn’t allow that
because of the danger involved as the brakes were not functioning well
when the
resident insisted she reported to the manager to intervene on her
behalf.
Yesterday
Candidate A and I had to transfer a resident from the wheelchair unto
the
toilet so that he could use the toilet.
I
witnessed Candidate A explain to the resident how she and I were going
to use
the hoist to transfer him from the wheel chair unto the commode chair
and then
wheeled the commode chair over the toilet. The service user gave his
consent
and Candidate A got the sling put it in the correct way and ensured we
worked
together as a team deciding in between us both what to do next with
Candidate A
giving very clear instructions to make sure that the resident was
handled
carefully in order to avoid him being uncomfortable during the move.
After the
resident was seated comfortably, I witnessed Candidate A record and
update the
care records she made a good record of the activity carried out and
dated and
signed what time it was done.
janette
dosha
janet
Dylan
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