Assessment Validation Overview
RTOs manage numerous tasks upon registration, like annual statements, AVETMISS reporting, and marketing adherence. Among these tasks, validating assessments is particularly challenging. While validation has been reviewed in several publications, let's revisit the fundamental principles. The Australian Skills Quality Authority defines validation of assessments as granular review of the assessment procedure.
Primarily, assessment validation is designed to identify which parts of an RTO’s evaluation 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 Standards for RTOs 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 regulations require two forms of validation. The first type of assessment validation guarantees adherence to the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The subsequent validation verifies that assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence. This suggests that validation is carried out in both pre- and post-assessment stages. This article will focus on the primary type—assessment tool validation.
The Two Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Referred to as pre-assessment validation or verification, is concerned with the initial part of the clause, aimed at ensuring all unit requirements are met.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Relates to the implementation, ensuring that RTO assessments align with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Process of Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
Best Time for Conducting Assessment
The goal of assessment tool validation is to ensure that all elements, performance criteria, and performance and knowledge evidence are addressed by your evaluation tools. Therefore, whenever you obtain new learning resources, you must perform assessment tool validation before allowing students to use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Review new materials as soon as possible to ensure they are suitable for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason to conduct this type of validation. Do assessment tool validation also when you:
- Improve your resources
- Include new training products on scope
- Examine your course with 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.
Training Products Needing Validation
Bear in mind that this validation ensures compliance of all educational 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 unit requirements, aiding in faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if directions are clear and response areas are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Marking Guide: Also check if directions for assessors are sufficient and if clear criteria for each assessment task are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Additional Resources: These may include checklists, evaluation registers, and forms created separately from the workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they suit the assessment activity and meet unit requirements.
Validation Panel
Standard 1.11 specifies the requirements for validation panel members. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually mandate all trainers and evaluators to participate, sometimes including field experts.
Collectively, your panel must have:
- Workplace Competencies and Up-to-date Industry Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- Updated Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following credentials for training and assessment:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE40116 or its successor.
Principles Guiding Assessment
- Impartiality: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Adaptability: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on different needs and preferences?
- Relevance: Does the assessment evaluate what it is intended to evaluate?
- Consistency: Are the assessment results consistent regardless of who conducts the training?
Rules of Evidence
- Relevance: Is the evidence relevant to the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency?
- Completeness: 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?
- Timeliness: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?
Key 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
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Prepare solid food and feed babies
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- Observe and promote suitable physical activities and motor skills for babies
Typical Mistakes
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 carrying out the tasks.
Mind the Plurals!
Pay attention to the frequency. 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 itemized requirements. As mentioned earlier, if students do not complete all the tasks listed, it’s out of compliance. Each assessment item must cover all requirements, or the student is not yet competent, and the assessment method is not compliant.
Can You Be More Specific?
Each assessment task must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the assessor’s judgment on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your directions do not confuse students or evaluators.
Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them
Steering clear of double-barrelled questions makes it more straightforward for students to respond and for assessors to accurately judge student competence.
Ensuring Audit Compliance
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don’t learning resource developers offer audit guarantees?” However, with these promises, you must wait for an audit before they help rectify noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, so it's better to take a proactive and compliant approach.
By following these instructions and understanding the assessment principles and evidence rules, you can ensure that your assessment methods are compliant get more info with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.