What is an
Assessor?
Assessors are adults who are knowledgeable and experienced in a participant’s chosen activity. Assessors act as mentors and work with participants for the duration of their activity. All Assessors must be adults and cannot be immediate family members. Award Leaders should only be an Assessor if they are suitably experienced in the activity.
Why is an Assessor important?
An Assessor is someone who helps a participant set challenging and realistic goals for their activity, provides guidance, gives feedback, and verifies the activity has been completed. Learning to connect with mentors (in the form of Assessors) is an important skill for the Award and for life. Building strong relationships with Assessors will provide participants with many benefits including direct support for their chosen activity, enhancing their networks, and maintaining a solid list of references to connect with for future opportunities.
How can an Assessor be found?
Often, an Assessor is someone a participant already knows – a teacher at or outside of school, a volunteer coordinator, a trainer or coach, a community member, or a family friend. An Assessor might directly teach or supervise a participant in their activity. An Assessor may also be someone a participant goes to for guidance and to ask questions even if they are not directly involved in the activity. Participants need to choose a different Assessor for each Award activity. Participants who are unsure of who to ask to be their Assessor are encouraged to reach out to their networks to see if anyone they know can connect them to someone who would be suitable.
Award Leaders determine if the proposed Assessor is suitable for the participant’s chosen activity.
What does an Assessor need to do?
All Assessors must be knowledgeable and experienced in a participant’s chosen activity so they can offer appropriate guidance. Assessors must also understand the requirements of the Award Section they are verifying but they do not need to complete specific Award training.
At a minimum, an Assessor needs to:
- Help participants set SMART goals
- Be available to check-in and provide ongoing support to the participant*
- Submit a short report on the progress a participant has made once the required number of weeks are complete
*Participants are responsible for arranging regular check-ins with their Assessors.
Download our Assessor Information Sheet. This will give you an overview of how by being an Assessor you are helping mentor young Canadians to become the best version of themselves.
Updated February 2021