Overview
RTOs have many duties post-registration, such as annual declarations, AVETMISS reporting, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments often stands out. While validation has been covered in multiple posts, let's revisit the fundamental principles. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) defines validation of assessments as a quality review of the assessment process.
Essentially, assessment validation is concerned with 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 2015 Standards for RTOs, 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 rules specify two forms of validation. The first type of assessment validation ensures compliance with the requirements of the training package within your RTO's scope. The other type ensures that assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence. This implies that validation is performed both before and after the assessment. This article will focus on the primary type—assessment tool validation.
What are the Two Types of Assessment Validation?
- Assessment Tool Validation: Often termed pre-assessment validation or verification, pertains to the primary part of the regulation, aimed at meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Pertains to the conduct, ensuring that RTO assessments align with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Methods for Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
Scheduling Assessment Tool Validation
The goal of validating assessment tools is to ensure that all components, performance standards, and evidence of performance and knowledge are included by your evaluation tools. Therefore, whenever you get new educational resources, you must conduct validation of assessment tools prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next scheduled validation. Review new resources as soon as possible to confirm they are appropriate for students.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only occasion to do this type of validation. Do assessment tool validation also when you:
- Modify your resources
- Introduce new training products on scope
- Examine your course with training product updates
- Recognise 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.
What Training Products Require Validation
Remember that this validation guarantees adherence of all learning resources before use. All RTOs must validate training products for each subject unit.
Resources Required for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your evaluation tools, you will need the complete set of your educational resources:
- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It shows which evaluation items meet subject requirements, helping with faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment tool during validation. Check if instructions are clear and input fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also verify if guidelines for assessors are sufficient and if clear criteria for each evaluation item are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Other Related Resources: These may include lists, registers, and evaluation templates developed separately from the learner workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment task and address unit requirements.
Assessment Validation Panel
Regulation 1.11 specifies the requirements for validation panel members. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually ask all educators and assessors to participate, sometimes including sector experts.
Collectively, your assessment validation panel must have:
- Vocational Competencies and Current Industry Skills relevant to the unit being validated.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- TAE40116 Training and Assessment Certificate IV or its successor.
Principles Guiding Assessment
- Fairness: Is equal find it here opportunity and access provided to everyone in the assessment process?
- Adaptability: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on different needs and preferences?
- Validity: Is the assessment an accurate tool for evaluating the required skills and knowledge?
- Reliability: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?
Guidelines for Evidence
- Relevance: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Sufficiency: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Originality: Is the evidence genuine and truly representative of the candidate's abilities?
- Currency: Are the assessment tools based on current units of competency and up-to-date industry practices?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the tasks in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the assessment task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care, one required performance evidence asks students to:
- Change nappies
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Prepare solid food and feed babies
- Respond appropriately to baby signs and cues
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
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 criteria is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), students should be carrying out the tasks.
Watch Out for the Plurals!
Pay attention to the frequency. 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 does not fulfill the requirement.
All or Not Competent
Pay attention to enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s not compliant. Each evaluation task must meet all requirements, or the student is not competent, and the assessment method is out of compliance.
Provide Specific Details
Each evaluation task must have clear and specific benchmark answers to guide the assessor’s judgment on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your guidelines do not confuse students or assessors.
Steer Clear of Double-Barrelled Questions
Avoiding double-barrelled questions makes it easier 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 assurances, you must wait for an audit before they help rectify noncompliance. This affects your compliance history, so it's better to take a preventative and compliant approach.
By following these guidelines 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.