The Children’s Nursing Educators Forum (CNEF) met online on 18 February 2026, bringing together children’s nursing educators from seven countries across Southern and West Africa to explore assessment practices that support the development of practice-ready graduates.

The meeting opened with a reflective discussion on the value and challenges of assessment, with participants highlighting its role in understanding student learning while also acknowledging concerns such as student anxiety, assessment fatigue, and the administrative burden on educators of marking and re-assessment.

Assessing for Competency in Local Contexts

A central focus of the meeting was a presentation by Prof Minette Coetzee on Assessing for Competency, which built on earlier CNEF discussions held in August and November 2025. about the need for assessment that is context-specific, and regionally appropriate.

Prof Coetzee highlighted a core challenge facing health professions educators: how to assess competency in ways that genuinely ensure graduates are ready for practice. Assessment was framed as a comprehensive process involving the design, collection, analysis, and use of information to enhance student learning and development. Practice-ready graduates were described as those who can demonstrate locally relevant theoretical knowledge alongside safe and effective clinical skills within their practice settings.  

Learning from Assessment in Practice

Much of the remainder of the meeting was dedicated to practical examples of assessments currently used across different programmes. Four assessment approaches were presented, with presenters explaining how each was implemented, how it aligned with programme outcomes, and how it contributed to developing practice-ready graduates.

Members were encouraged to reflect on how their own assessments might be adapted to better support competency development and contextual relevance.  

One particularly insightful example was shared by Dr Cynthia Spies, who described an assessment task requiring students to redesign the layout of a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). This exercise enabled students to demonstrate understanding of infection prevention, patient flow, risk management, teamwork, and family-centred care—highlighting the value of creative, applied assessments in revealing deeper learning.