Assessment Validation Overview
RTOs are responsible for multiple obligations upon registration, including yearly declarations, AVETMISS reporting, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, assessment validation frequently stands out. While validation has been reviewed in several discussions, let's revisit the fundamental principles. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) describes assessment validation as granular review of the assessment procedure.
Fundamentally, assessment review is aimed at 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, comply with the training package requirements and are conducted according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
The regulations mandate two types of validation. The initial type of assessment validation ensures compliance with the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The other type guarantees that assessments are conducted according to the principles of assessment and Rules of Evidence. This suggests that validation is performed pre- and post-assessment. This article will concentrate on the primary type—validation of assessment tools.
Differentiating Assessment Validation Types
- Assessment Tool Validation: Commonly called pre-assessment validation or verification, involves the initial part of the clause, ensuring compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Concerns the implementation, confirming that RTO assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
How to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
When Should Assessment Tool Validation Be Conducted?
The goal of validating assessment tools is to make sure that all components, performance standards, and performance and knowledge evidence are addressed by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you acquire new learning resources, you must conduct validation of assessment tools before allowing students to use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Validate new tools right away to ensure they are suitable for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only time to perform this type of validation. Perform assessment tool validation also when you:
- Upgrade your resources
- Incorporate new training products on scope
- Check your course against training product updates
- Identify 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.
Which Training Products Should You Validate?
Note that this validation guarantees adherence of all learning resources before student use. All RTOs must validate resources for each course unit.
Resources Required 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 shows which evaluation items meet course unit requirements, helping with faster validation.
- Student 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.
- Marking Guide: Also check if instructions for evaluators are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each assessment task are provided. Clear benchmarks are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include lists, evaluation registers, and templates designed separately from the workbook and assessor guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment task and comply with unit requirements.
Validation Panel
Clause 1.11 specifies the requirements for validation panel members. It states 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 panel must have:
- Vocational Skills and Up-to-date 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: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on different needs and preferences?
- Validity: Is the assessment relevant to the skills and knowledge it aims to evaluate?
- Dependability: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?
Rules of Evidence
- Validity: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Completeness: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Authenticity: 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?
Important Factors in Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the verbs in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the evaluation task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one required performance evidence asks students to:
- Perform diaper changes
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Prepare solid food and feed babies
- Respond to baby signs and cues properly
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- 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 specification is meant to assess theoretical understanding (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be performing the tasks.
Mind the Plurals!
Pay attention to the numbers. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care 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 enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students only complete half the tasks, it’s not compliant. Each assessment item must address all requirements, or the student is not yet competent, and the evaluation tool is not compliant.
Be Specific!
Each evaluation task must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the assessor’s evaluation on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your directions do not mislead students or assessors.
Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them
Not using double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for assessors to accurately assess student here competence.
Assurance During Audits
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don’t learning resource developers offer audit guarantees?” However, with these guarantees, you must wait until an audit to address noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, so it's better to take a safe and compliant approach.
By following these recommendations and understanding the principles of assessment and Rules of Evidence, you can ensure that your assessment methods are compliant with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.