Assessment within general practice training curricula is necessary to both guide learning and to make certification decisions about competence to practise without supervision in the community, but there is a risk that the two roles could become confused. This paper proposes a conceptual framework that explains the relationship between formative assessment, in-training assessment and end-point assessment, as adopted by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Training Programme. The literature is reviewed to suggest assessment formats that could provide a means of making decisions about progress through training without harming the important role of providing feed-back to guide learners.

The rationale and content for an interdisciplinary communication and interpersonal helping skills programme taught to third year Physiotherapy students is described, noting in particular the need to integrate a general counselling model with specific interviewing and clinical skills required by Physiotherapists. A programme evaluation based on the participation of 97 students is described. Evaluation techniques included meetings of the independent evaluator with student representatives, and completion by students of several forms evaluating general and specific aspects of the programme. Overall, the results were positive and supportive of the rationale and content of the programme. A pre- and post-test design was used to assess outcome in terms of student priorities, results of which are discussed with reference to the measuring instrument's focus on ratings of performance as distinct from specific behaviours. Directives for the future development of the programme are highlighted.