Overview
Training Organisations are responsible for multiple responsibilities following registration, including annual statements, AVETMISS compliance, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, validating assessments is notably challenging. While validation has been covered in several publications, let's revisit the fundamental principles. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) defines assessment review as a quality review of the assessment procedure.
In essence, assessment review is concerned with identifying which parts of an RTO’s evaluation 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, adhere to the training package requirements and are conducted according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
The standards specify two types of validation. The primary type of assessment validation ensures compliance with the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The subsequent validation ensures that assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence. This indicates that we perform validation in both pre- and post-assessment stages. This article will concentrate on the primary type—assessment tool validation.
Exploring the Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Sometimes called pre-assessment validation or verification, deals with the primary part of the regulation, focusing on compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is related to the implementation, guaranteeing that RTO assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Process of Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
Best Time for Conducting Assessment
The goal of assessment tool validation is to verify that all components, criteria for performance, and performance and knowledge evidence are covered by your evaluation tools. Therefore, whenever you purchase new educational resources, you must conduct assessment tool validation prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next scheduled validation. Check new resources immediately to ensure they are fit for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only occasion to conduct this type of validation. Perform assessment tool validation also when you:
- Update your resources
- Integrate new training products on scope
- Review your course against training product updates
- Flag your learning resources as a risk during your risk assessment
ASQA uses a risk-based approach for regulating RTOs and requires regular risk assessments. Therefore, student complaints about learning resources are an ideal time to conduct assessment tool validation.
Selecting Training Products for Validation
Keep in mind that this validation ensures conformity of all educational resources before being used. All RTOs must validate resources for each course unit.
Resources Needed to Start Assessment Tool Validation
To start assessment tool validation, you will need the complete set of your training materials:
- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It shows which assessment items meet course unit requirements, aiding in faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if directions are clear and input fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Marking Guide: Also verify if instructions for assessors are sufficient and if clear criteria for each evaluation item are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Additional Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, registers, and templates created separately from the workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they match the evaluation task and meet unit requirements.
Assessment Validation Panel
Standard 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 ask all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including field experts.
Collectively, your assessment validation panel must have:
- Vocational Skills and Up-to-date Industry Skills relevant to the unit being validated.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Education.
- Either of the following credentials for training and assessment:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE40116 or its successor.
Assessment Principles
- Equity: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Flexibility: Are there multiple ways to demonstrate competence, accommodating different needs and preferences?
- Validity: Is the assessment relevant to the skills and knowledge it aims to evaluate?
- Consistency: Are the assessment results consistent regardless of who conducts the training?
Rules of Evidence
- Appropriateness: Does the evidence demonstrate that the candidate has the skills, knowledge, 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?
- Genuineness: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- Timeliness: Are the assessment tools based on current units of competency and up-to-date industry practices?
Key Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the action words in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care, one performance criteria asks students to:
- Change nappies
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- Respond to baby signs and cues properly
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
Typical Mistakes
Describing the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months does not fulfill the unit requirement. Unless the unit criteria is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be performing the tasks.
Mind the Plurals!
Pay attention to the frequency. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers demands the students to awesome site 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 Nothing Competence
Pay attention to enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students do not complete all the tasks listed, it’s out of compliance. Each assessment item must address all specifications, or the student is not yet competent, and the assessment tool is out of compliance.
Be Specific!
Each assessment task must have clear and specific reference answers to guide the assessor’s judgment on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not confuse students or assessors.
Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them
Avoiding double-barrelled questions makes it more straightforward for students to respond and for evaluators to accurately judge student competence.
Audit Guarantees
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don’t learning resource developers offer audit guarantees?” However, with these promises, you must wait until an audit to address noncompliance. This influences your compliance status, so it's better to take a proactive and compliant approach.
By following these guidelines and understanding the assessment principles and rules of evidence, you can ensure that your evaluation tools are compliant with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.