Overview of Assessment Validation
Registered Training Organisations handle numerous responsibilities upon registration, including annual declarations, AVETMISS compliance, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments frequently stands out. While validation has been reviewed in several discussions, let's revisit the fundamental principles. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) describes assessment review as granular review of the assessment process.
Primarily, validation of assessments is dedicated to identifying 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, 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 specify two forms of validation. The first type of assessment review checks conformity with the requirements of the training package within your RTO's scope. The second validation verifies that assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence. This indicates that validation is carried out both before and after the assessment. This article will focus on the primary type—assessment tool validation.
Understanding Assessment Validation Types
- Assessment Tool Validation: Commonly called pre-assessment validation or verification, involves the first part of the clause, focusing on meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Involves the implementation, guaranteeing that RTO assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Steps to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
When Should Assessment Tool Validation Be Conducted?
The aim of assessment tool validation is to verify that all aspects, performance criteria, and performance and knowledge evidence are addressed by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you purchase new training materials, you must conduct validation of assessment tools prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next scheduled validation. Validate new materials immediately to ensure they are suitable for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only occasion to perform this type of validation. Perform validation of assessment tools also when you:
- Improve your resources
- Integrate new training products on scope
- Audit your course with training product updates
- Spot 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?
Bear in mind that this validation ensures compliance of all learning resources before use. All RTOs must validate training products for each unit.
Necessary Resources for 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 identifies which assessment tasks meet subject requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Learner Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment resource during validation. Check if guidelines are clear and input fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Marking Guide: Also ensure if guidelines for evaluators are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each assessment task are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Additional Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, evaluation registers, and templates designed separately from the learner workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment task and meet course unit requirements.
Validation Panel
Standard 1.11 specifies the requirements for panel members. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually require all educators and assessors to participate, sometimes including field experts.
Collectively, your validation panel must have:
- Workplace Competencies and Current Industry Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Teaching and Learning.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.
Principles of Assessment
- Impartiality: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Flexibility: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on different needs and preferences?
- Accuracy: 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?
Guidelines for Evidence
- Appropriateness: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Sufficiency: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Originality: 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 verbs in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the assessment task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care, one performance criteria asks students to:
- Change nappies
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Prepare and give solid food to babies
- Respond appropriately to baby signs and cues
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
Common Pitfalls
Describing the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months does not fulfill the unit requirement. Unless the unit specification is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., knowledge evidence), students should be performing the tasks.
Mind the Plurals!
Pay attention to the quantities. 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 this site cut it.
All or Not Competent
Pay attention to enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students do not complete all the tasks listed, it’s not compliant. Each assessment task must meet all requirements, or the student is not competent, and the assessment method is non-compliant.
Provide Specific Details
Each assessment item must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the assessor’s evaluation on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not confuse students or assessors.
Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions
Not using double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for evaluators to accurately evaluate student competence.
Assurance During Audits
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don't resource developers provide audit guarantees?” However, with these assurances, you must wait until an audit to address noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, so it's better to take a proactive and compliant approach.
By following these recommendations and understanding the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence, you can ensure that your assessment tools are reliable with the requirements set by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.