Introduction
Registered Training Organisations have various duties post-registration, such as annual statements, AVETMISS reporting, and marketing adherence. Among these tasks, assessment validation is notably challenging. While validation has been covered in many articles, let's revisit the fundamental principles. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) defines assessment validation as granular review of the assessment process.
In essence, assessment validation is dedicated to identifying 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 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 specify two forms of validation. The primary type of assessment review checks conformity with the requirements of the training package within your RTO's scope. The other type verifies that assessments are conducted according to the principles of assessment and rules of evidence. This suggests that validation is performed in both pre- and post-assessment stages. This article will concentrate on the first type—assessment tool validation.
Overview of Assessment Validation Types
- Assessment Tool Validation: Often termed pre-assessment validation or verification, is concerned with the initial part of the regulation, aimed at compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is concerned with the implementation, confirming that RTO assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Steps to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
When to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
The purpose of assessment tool validation is to verify that all components, criteria for performance, and evidence of performance and knowledge are addressed by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you acquire new learning resources, you must conduct assessment tool validation prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next scheduled validation. Check new resources as soon as possible to ensure they are appropriate for students.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only occasion to conduct this type of validation. Perform validation of assessment tools also when you:
- Enhance your resources
- Add new training products on scope
- Examine your course with training product updates
- Note 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.
What Training Products Need Validation?
Keep in mind that this validation ensures compliance of all educational resources before student use. All RTOs must validate materials for each subject unit.
Necessary Resources for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your evaluation tools, you will need the complete set of your learning resources:
- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It indicates which assessment tasks meet course unit requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Learner Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment resource during validation. Check if directions are clear and answer fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Marking Guide: Also check if guidelines for evaluators are sufficient and if clear standards for each assessment task are provided. Clear benchmarks are crucial for awesome site reliable evaluation results.
- Other Related Resources: These may include lists, logs, and evaluation templates developed separately from the learner workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment activity and comply with unit requirements.
Panel for Validation
Regulation 1.11 specifies the requirements for members of the validation panel. It states validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually ask all educators and assessors to participate, sometimes including field experts.
Collectively, your assessment validation panel must have:
- Vocational Competencies and Current Industry Skills relevant to the unit being validated.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Education.
- Either of the following certifications for training and assessment:
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.
Assessment Principles
- Equity: 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 an accurate tool for evaluating the required skills and knowledge?
- Consistency: Will different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?
Guidelines for Evidence
- Relevance: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Sufficiency: Is there enough evidence to ensure that the learner has the skills and knowledge required?
- Genuineness: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Relevance: Is the evidence up-to-date with current industry practices?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the verbs in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one performance criteria asks students to:
- Perform diaper changes
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- Prepare babies for sleep and help them settle
- Monitor and encourage age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills
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., knowledge-based evidence), students should be performing 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 is not sufficient.
Full Competence or Not Competent
Pay attention to enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s non-compliant. Each assessment task must meet all specifications, or the student is incompetent, and the evaluation tool is not compliant.
Can You Be More Specific?
Each assessment item must have clear and specific reference answers to guide the assessor’s evaluation on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your guidelines do not baffle students or trainers.
Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions
Steering clear of double-barrelled questions makes it more straightforward for students to respond and for trainers 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 assurances, you must wait until an audit to address noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, so it's better to take a preventative 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.