Overview
RTOs handle various responsibilities post-registration, like yearly declarations, AVETMISS compliance, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, validating assessments often stands out. While validation has been covered in several publications, let's revisit the fundamental principles. The Australian Skills Quality Authority describes assessment review as quality assurance of the assessment process.
Basically, validation of assessments is intended to identify which parts of an RTO’s assessment methods 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, adhere to the training package requirements and are conducted according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
The standards require two forms of validation. The initial type of assessment validation checks conformity with the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The second validation ensures 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.
Exploring the Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Often termed pre-assessment validation or verification, is related to the initial part of the regulation, focusing on ensuring all unit requirements are met.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Relates to the conduct, making sure RTOs conduct assessments according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Steps to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
Optimal Timing for Assessment Tool Validation
The aim of assessment tool validation is to verify that all components, performance criteria, and evidence of performance and knowledge are covered by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you obtain new educational resources, you must conduct assessment tool validation before allowing students to use them. There's no need to wait for your next scheduled validation. Validate new resources right away to confirm they are suitable for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only occasion to conduct this type of validation. Conduct assessment tool validation also when you:
- Update your resources
- Integrate new training products on scope
- Assess your course with training product updates
- Detect 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.
Training Products Needing Validation
Remember that this validation guarantees adherence of all educational resources 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 Document: The first document to review. It indicates which assessment items meet unit requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment tool during validation. Check if guidelines are clear and response areas are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also ensure if instructions for evaluators are sufficient and if clear criteria for each assessment task are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Additional Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, registers, and templates designed separately from the student workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment activity and comply with unit requirements.
Panel for Validation
Standard 1.11 specifies the requirements for panel members. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually ask all trainers and evaluators to participate, sometimes including sector experts.
Collectively, your panel must have:
- Workplace Competencies and Current Industry Skills relevant to the unit being validated.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Teaching and Learning.
- Either of the following credentials for training and assessment:
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.
Principles Guiding Assessment
- Fairness: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Versatility: Are there multiple ways to demonstrate competence, accommodating different needs and preferences?
- Accuracy: Does the assessment evaluate what it is intended to evaluate?
- Consistency: Will different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?
Rules of Evidence
- Relevance: Is the evidence relevant to the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency?
- Adequacy: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Genuineness: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Timeliness: Is the evidence up-to-date with current industry practices?
Key Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the action words in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the evaluation task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers, one required performance evidence asks students to:
- Perform diaper changes
- Prepare and feed bottles, clean feeding equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
Frequent Errors
Asking students to describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old does not meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit requirement is meant to evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be carrying out the tasks.
Mind the 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 does not fulfill the requirement.
All or Nothing Competence
Pay attention to lists. As mentioned earlier, if students do not complete all the tasks listed, it’s non-compliant. Each evaluation task must cover all specifications, or the student is incompetent, and the assessment tool is non-compliant.
Can You Be More Specific?
Each evaluation task must have clear and specific reference answers this site to guide the evaluator’s decision on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your guidelines do not mislead students or evaluators.
Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions
Steering clear of double-barrelled questions makes it easier for students to respond and for trainers to accurately assess student competence.
Ensuring Audit Compliance
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Do resource developers offer guarantees for audits?” However, with these guarantees, you must wait until an audit to address noncompliance. This influences your compliance status, so it's better to take a safe and compliant approach.
By following these guidelines and understanding the principles of assessment and Rules of Evidence, you can ensure that your assessment methods are valid with the requirements set by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.