Overview
Registered Training Organisations handle numerous tasks upon registration, which include annual declarations, AVETMISS compliance, and marketing adherence. Among these tasks, validating assessments is notably challenging. While validation has been reviewed in multiple publications, let's return to the basics. ASQA describes assessment validation as granular review of the assessment process.
Basically, assessment review is about identifying which parts of an RTO's assessment process are effective and which need improvement. With a proper grasp of its key aspects, validation becomes less daunting. According to Clause 1.8 of the SRTOs 2015 regulations, RTOs must ensure their assessment systems, including RPL, meet the training package requirements and are conducted according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
The regulations mandate two forms of validation. The initial type of assessment review ensures compliance with the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The other type verifies that assessments follow the principles of assessment and rules of evidence. This implies that validation is carried out in both pre- and post-assessment stages. This article will discuss the primary type—validation of assessment tools.
Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Also called pre-assessment validation or verification, involves the primary part of the clause, ensuring meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Deals with the implementation, guaranteeing that RTO assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Steps to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
When Should Assessment Tool Validation Be Conducted?
The purpose of validating assessment tools is to verify that all elements, performance criteria, and evidence of performance and knowledge are covered by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you acquire new educational resources, you must perform assessment tool validation before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next scheduled validation. Review new tools immediately to ensure they are appropriate for students.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only occasion to conduct this type of validation. Perform assessment tool validation also when you:
- Update your resources
- Add new qualifications to scope
- Compare your course with training product updates
- Detect your learning resources as a risk during your risk assessment
The Australian Skills Quality Authority employs a risk-based approach for regulating RTOs and expects regular risk assessments. Therefore, student complaints about learning resources are an ideal time to conduct assessment tool validation.
Training Products Needing Validation
Keep in mind that this validation ensures conformity of all training materials before student use. All RTOs must validate materials for each course unit.
Necessary Resources for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your assessment tools, you will need the complete set of your training materials:
- Mapping Tool: The first document to review. It identifies which evaluation items meet course unit requirements, aiding in faster validation.
- Learner Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if instructions are clear and input fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide: Also ensure if instructions for evaluators are sufficient and if clear standards for each assessment item are provided. Clear benchmarks are crucial for reliable assessment results.
- Additional Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, evaluation registers, and templates created separately from the student workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they suit the evaluation task and meet subject requirements.
Validation Panel
Regulation 1.11 specifies the requirements for members of the validation panel. It states validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually require all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including sector experts.
Collectively, your panel must have:
- Vocational Skills and Up-to-date Industry Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- TAE40116 Training and Assessment Certificate IV or its successor.
Principles Guiding Assessment
- Fairness: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Versatility: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on different needs and preferences?
- Relevance: Is the assessment an accurate tool for evaluating the required skills and knowledge?
- Reliability: Will different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?
Evidence Rules
- Validity: Does the evidence demonstrate that the candidate has the skills, knowledge, check here and attributes described in the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements?
- Adequacy: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Originality: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Currency: Is the evidence up-to-date with current industry practices?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the tasks in the unit specifications and ensure they are addressed by the evaluation task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one performance criteria asks students to:
- Change nappies
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Prepare and give solid food to babies
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Observe and promote suitable physical activities and motor skills for babies
Frequent Errors
Having students describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old doesn’t directly meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit requirement is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be doing the tasks.
Be Careful with Plurals!
Pay attention to the quantities. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 demands the students to complete the tasks at least once on two different babies under 12 months of age. Having students complete the tasks listed twice on just one baby is not sufficient.
All or Not Competent
Pay attention to itemized requirements. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s not compliant. Each evaluation task must address all criteria, or the student is not competent, and the evaluation tool is not compliant.
Can You Be More Specific?
Each assessment task must have clear and specific benchmark answers to guide the evaluator’s decision on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not mislead students or trainers.
Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions
Avoiding double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for trainers to accurately assess student competence.
Assurance During Audits
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don't resource developers provide audit guarantees?” However, with these promises, you must wait for an audit before they assist with noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, so it's better to take a safe and compliant approach.
By following these instructions and understanding the assessment principles and rules of evidence, you can ensure that your evaluation tools are reliable with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.