Intro to Assessment Validation
RTOs manage many tasks post-registration, such as annual statements, AVETMISS compliance, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, assessment validation often stands out. While validation has been covered in many articles, a review of the basics is necessary. The Australian Skills Quality Authority describes assessment review as a quality review of the evaluation process.
Primarily, assessment validation is concerned with identifying 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 regulations require two forms of validation. The first type of assessment validation guarantees adherence to the requirements of the training package within your organisation's scope. The second validation ensures that assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence. This implies that validation is carried out pre- and post-assessment. This article will focus on the first type—assessment tool validation.
Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Referred to as pre-assessment validation or verification, deals with the first part of the clause, ensuring meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Deals with the conduct, ensuring that RTO assessments align with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Steps to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
Timing for Assessment Tool Validation
The goal of validating assessment tools is to verify that all components, performance criteria, and performance and knowledge evidence are included by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you obtain new educational resources, you must conduct assessment tool validation before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Validate new materials right away to verify they are fit for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only time to do this type of validation. Conduct assessment tool validation also when you:
- Enhance your resources
- Add new qualifications to scope
- Audit your course with training product updates
- Identify potential risks in your learning resources 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.
Training Products Needing Validation
Keep in mind that this validation ensures conformity of all learning resources before being used. All RTOs must validate training products for each unit.
Resources Needed to Start Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your evaluation tools, you will need the complete set of your educational resources:
- Mapping Document: The first document to review. It identifies which assessment tasks meet course unit requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment tool during validation. Check if instructions are clear and answer fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide: Also verify if directions for evaluators are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each assessment task are provided. Clear benchmarks are crucial for reliable assessment results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include checklists, logs, and evaluation templates developed separately from the learner workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment task and address course unit requirements.
Assessment Validation Panel
Regulation 1.11 specifies the requirements for validation panel members. It states validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually mandate all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.
Collectively, your assessment validation panel must have:
- Vocational Competencies and Current Industry Skills relevant to the unit being validated.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following credentials for training and assessment:
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.
Principles of Assessment
- Equity: Is the assessment process fair and equitable for all candidates?
- Flexibility: 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: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?
Evidence Rules
- Validity: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Adequacy: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Genuineness: Is the evidence genuine and truly representative of the candidate's abilities?
- Relevance: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?
Important Factors in Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the action words in the unit requirements 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
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Observe and promote suitable physical activities and motor skills for babies
Frequent Errors
Describing the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months does not fulfill the unit requirement. Unless the unit criteria is meant to evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., knowledge evidence), 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 calls for 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 does not fulfill the requirement.
All 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 task must address all requirements, or the student is not yet competent, and the assessment method is out of compliance.
Provide Specific Details
Each evaluation 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 guidelines here do not confuse students or trainers.
Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions
Steering clear of 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, “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 proactive and compliant approach.
By following these instructions 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.