Assessment Validation Overview
RTOs are responsible for multiple responsibilities after becoming registered, including yearly declarations, AVETMISS data submission, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, assessment validation often stands out. While validation has been covered in many articles, let's revisit the fundamental principles. ASQA identifies assessment validation as quality assurance of the assessment procedure.
Principally, validation of assessments is aimed at 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, 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 initial type of assessment validation guarantees adherence to the requirements of the training package within your organisation's scope. The subsequent validation guarantees that assessments adhere to the principles of assessment and rules of evidence. This implies that validation is performed both before and after the assessment. This article will concentrate on the initial type—validation of assessment tools.
Two Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Sometimes called pre-assessment validation or verification, deals with the initial part of the rule, aimed at meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Deals with the implementation, guaranteeing that RTO assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
How to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
Best Time for Conducting Assessment
The goal of validating assessment tools is to make sure that all components, performance standards, and evidence of performance and knowledge are addressed by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you purchase new training materials, you must perform validation of assessment tools before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Validate new tools immediately to ensure they are suitable for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only occasion to conduct this type of validation. Conduct validation of assessment tools also when you:
- Revise your resources
- Incorporate new training products on scope
- Compare your course with training product updates
- Identify potential risks in your learning resources 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.
Selecting Training Products for Validation
Keep in mind that this validation ensures compliance of all learning resources before student use. All RTOs must validate training products for each unit.
Resources Required for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your evaluation tools, you will need the complete set of your educational resources:
- Mapping Resource: The first document to here review. It shows which assessment tasks meet subject requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment tool during validation. Check if guidelines are clear and answer fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Marking Guide: Also verify if instructions for trainers are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each assessment item are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include lists, evaluation registers, and evaluation templates created separately from the student workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they suit the assessment task and meet course unit requirements.
Validation Panel
Clause 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 mandate all educators and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.
Collectively, your assessment validation panel must have:
- Vocational Competencies and Up-to-date Industry Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Updated Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Education.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE40116 or its successor.
Assessment Principles
- Fairness: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Flexibility: Is the assessment adaptable to different needs and preferences of candidates?
- Relevance: Is the assessment relevant to the skills and knowledge it aims to evaluate?
- Reliability: Will different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?
Rules of Evidence
- Validity: 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?
- Genuineness: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- Relevance: Are the assessment tools based on current units of competency and up-to-date industry practices?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the verbs in the unit requirements and ensure they are addressed by the assessment task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers, one performance evidence requirement asks students to:
- Change nappies
- Prepare and feed bottles, clean feeding equipment
- Prepare solid food and feed babies
- Respond appropriately to baby signs and cues
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
Typical Mistakes
Asking students to describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old does not meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit criteria is meant to assess theoretical understanding (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be carrying out the tasks.
Be Careful with Plurals!
Pay attention to the frequency. 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 won’t cut it.
Full Competence or Not Competent
Pay attention to lists. As mentioned earlier, if students only complete half the tasks, it’s out of compliance. Each assessment item must cover all criteria, or the student is incompetent, and the assessment method is non-compliant.
Be Specific!
Each evaluation task 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.
Steer Clear of Double-Barrelled Questions
Not using double-barrelled questions makes it easier for students to respond and for trainers to accurately assess student competence.
Assurance During Audits
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don't resource developers provide audit guarantees?” However, with these guarantees, you must wait until an audit to address noncompliance. This affects your compliance history, 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 assessment methods are valid with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.