Intro to Assessment Validation
RTOs manage numerous responsibilities after becoming registered, which include yearly declarations, AVETMISS data submission, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments frequently stands out. While validation has been reviewed in many articles, let's return to the basics. The Australian Skills Quality Authority describes assessment validation as quality assurance of the assessment procedure.
Essentially, assessment review is intended 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, 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 mandate two types of validation. The primary type of assessment validation ensures compliance with the requirements of the training package within your organisation's scope. The other type verifies that assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence. This implies that validation is performed both before and after the assessment. This article will discuss the primary type—assessment tool validation.
The Two Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Also called pre-assessment validation or verification, relates to the primary part of the clause, ensuring meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Concerns the conduct, confirming that RTO assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
Timing for Assessment Tool Validation
The aim of assessment tool validation is to verify that all elements, performance criteria, and evidence of performance and knowledge are covered by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you obtain new educational resources, you must conduct validation of assessment tools prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next 5-year cycle validation schedule. Check new materials as soon as possible to confirm 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:
- Upgrade your resources
- Include new training products on scope
- Examine 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.
Selecting Training Products for Validation
Remember that this validation guarantees adherence of all learning resources before use. All RTOs must validate training products for each subject unit.
Resources Required for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your assessment tools, you will need the complete set of your educational resources:
- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It shows which evaluation items meet course unit requirements, aiding in faster validation.
- Learner/Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment resource during validation. Check if directions are clear and input fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also verify if instructions for assessors are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each evaluation item are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, evaluation registers, and forms designed separately from the student workbook and assessor guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the evaluation task and address unit requirements.
Validation Panel
Regulation 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 sector experts.
Collectively, your validation panel must have:
- Workplace Competencies and Current Professional Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE40116 or its successor.
Principles of Assessment
- Fairness: Is equal opportunity and access provided to everyone in the assessment process?
- Flexibility: Are there multiple ways to demonstrate competence, accommodating different needs and preferences?
- Accuracy: Is the assessment relevant to the skills and knowledge it aims to evaluate?
- Dependability: 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?
- Adequacy: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Genuineness: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- Currency: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?
Key Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the action words in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the assessment task. 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
- Prepare babies for sleep and help them settle
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
Frequent Errors
Asking students to describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old does not meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit specification is meant to evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), students should be performing the tasks.
Be Careful with Plurals!
Pay attention to the numbers. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care 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 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 cover all requirements, or the student is incompetent, 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 evaluator’s decision on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your directions do not confuse students click here or trainers.
Steer Clear of 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, “Do resource developers offer guarantees for audits?” However, with these promises, 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 instructions and understanding the principles of assessment and rules of evidence, you can ensure that your assessment tools are valid with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.