Overview
Registered Training Organisations have numerous responsibilities following registration, including yearly reports, AVETMISS reporting, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, validating assessments is notably challenging. While validation has been covered in many articles, let's revisit the fundamental principles. The Australian Skills Quality Authority describes assessment review as a quality review of the evaluation process.
At its core, assessment review is designed to identify which parts of an RTO’s assessment procedures 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, comply with the training package requirements and are conducted according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
The standards require two types of validation. The primary type of validation of assessments ensures compliance with the requirements of the training package within your RTO's scope. The subsequent validation verifies that assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence. This suggests that we perform validation pre- and post-assessment. This article will focus on the primary type—assessment tool validation.
Overview of Assessment Validation Types
- Assessment Tool Validation: Also called pre-assessment validation or verification, relates to the initial part of the regulation, focusing on meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Deals with the implementation, ensuring Registered Training Organisations conduct assessments in line with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Steps to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
Optimal Timing for Assessment Tool Validation
The goal of validating assessment tools is to make sure that all elements, criteria for performance, and performance and knowledge evidence are covered by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you get new learning resources, you must carry out assessment tool validation prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Validate new materials immediately to verify they are appropriate for students.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only time to perform this type of validation. Perform assessment tool validation also when you:
- Modify your resources
- Add new training products on scope
- Compare your course with training product updates
- Recognise 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.
What Training Products Need Validation?
Keep in mind that this validation guarantees adherence of all training materials before being used. All RTOs must validate materials for each unit.
Resources Needed to Start Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your assessment tools, you will need the complete set of your training materials:
- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It indicates which evaluation items meet subject requirements, aiding in faster validation.
- Learner/Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if guidelines are clear and response areas are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also verify if directions for evaluators are sufficient and if clear standards for each evaluation item are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, logs, and forms created separately from the workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment activity and meet course unit requirements.
Validation Panel
Clause 1.11 specifies the requirements for panel members. It states validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually mandate all educators and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.
Collectively, your assessment validation panel must have:
- Workplace Competencies and Up-to-date Industry Skills relevant to the unit being validated.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Teaching and Learning.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE40116 or its successor.
Principles of Assessment
- Fairness: Is the assessment process fair and equitable for all candidates?
- Versatility: Is the assessment adaptable to different needs and preferences of candidates?
- Accuracy: Is the assessment relevant to the skills and knowledge it aims to evaluate?
- Consistency: Are the assessment awesome site results consistent regardless of who conducts the training?
Evidence Rules
- Validity: Does the evidence demonstrate that the candidate has the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements?
- Completeness: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Authenticity: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- Currency: Is the evidence up-to-date with current industry practices?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the verbs in the unit requirements and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one required performance evidence asks students to:
- Change diapers
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Prepare solid food and feed babies
- 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
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 criteria is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be doing the tasks.
Watch Out for the Plurals!
Pay attention to the numbers. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers requires 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.
All or Not Competent
Pay attention to itemized requirements. As mentioned earlier, if 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.
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 evaluators.
Steer Clear of Double-Barrelled Questions
Not using double-barrelled questions makes it easier for students to respond and for evaluators to accurately evaluate student competence.
Audit Guarantees
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don’t learning resource developers offer audit guarantees?” However, with these assurances, you must wait for an audit before they help rectify 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 evaluation tools are reliable with the requirements set by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.