Intro to Assessment Validation
RTOs have many tasks upon registration, such as yearly declarations, AVETMISS data submission, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments frequently stands out. While we've discussed validation in many discussions, let's revisit the fundamental principles. The Australian Skills Quality Authority describes assessment validation as a quality review of the assessment procedure.
Basically, assessment review is dedicated to 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, 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 checks conformity with the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The subsequent validation guarantees that assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence. This indicates that validation is performed in both pre- and post-assessment stages. This article will discuss the initial type—assessment tool validation.
Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Commonly called pre-assessment validation or verification, involves the first part of the regulation, ensuring compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is concerned with the execution, confirming that RTO assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
How to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
Scheduling Assessment Tool Validation
The goal of assessment tool validation is to verify that all components, criteria for performance, and evidence of performance and knowledge are addressed by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you acquire new learning resources, you must conduct assessment tool validation prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Check new tools right away 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:
- Revise your resources
- Include new training products on scope
- Check your course against training product updates
- Flag 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 Requiring Validation
Remember that this validation guarantees adherence of all learning resources before being used. All RTOs must validate resources for each subject unit.
Necessary Resources for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your evaluation tools, you will need the complete set of your educational resources:
- Mapping Tool: The first document to review. It identifies which assessment tasks meet subject requirements, helping with 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: Also ensure if instructions for trainers are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each evaluation item are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Additional Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, evaluation registers, and evaluation templates created separately from the learner workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment activity and address course unit requirements.
Assessment Validation Panel
Clause 1.11 specifies the requirements for members of the validation panel. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually ask all educators and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.
Collectively, your validation panel must have:
- Workplace Competencies and Current Professional Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following certifications for training and assessment:
- TAE40116 Training and Assessment Certificate IV or its successor.
Principles of Assessment
- Impartiality: Is equal opportunity and access provided to everyone in the assessment process?
- Versatility: Are there multiple ways to demonstrate competence, accommodating different needs and preferences?
- Relevance: Is the assessment relevant to the skills and knowledge it aims to evaluate?
- Dependability: Are the assessment results consistent regardless of who conducts the training?
Rules of Evidence
- Validity: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Sufficiency: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Originality: Is the evidence genuine and truly representative of the candidate's abilities?
- Relevance: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the action words in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the assessment task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one performance evidence requirement asks students to:
- Change nappies
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- Respond appropriately to baby signs and cues
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
Common Pitfalls
Having students describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old doesn’t directly meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit specification is meant to evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), students should be performing 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 won’t cut it.
Full Competence or Not Competent
Pay attention to enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if website students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s non-compliant. Each assessment task must cover all criteria, 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 standard answers to guide the evaluator’s decision on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not baffle students or evaluators.
Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions
Avoiding double-barrelled questions makes it easier for students to respond and for assessors to accurately evaluate student competence.
Assurance During Audits
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 evidence rules, you can ensure that your assessment methods are compliant with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.