{Guide to Assessment Validation for Vocational Education Centres in Australia —

{Guide to Assessment Validation for Vocational Education Centres in Australia —

Blog Article

Overview of Assessment Validation

Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) manage many obligations upon registration, including annual declarations, AVETMISS data submission, and marketing compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments is notably challenging. While we've discussed validation in many publications, let's return to the basics. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) describes validation of assessments as a quality review of the assessment process.

Primarily, assessment validation is focused on identifying which parts of an RTO's assessment 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, 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 rules mandate two forms of validation. The first type of assessment validation checks conformity with the training package assessment requirements within your RTO's scope. The second validation verifies that assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence. This implies that we perform validation both before and after the assessment. This article will discuss the first type—validation of assessment tools.

Overview of Assessment Validation Types

- Assessment Tool Validation: Referred to as pre-assessment validation or verification, relates to the primary part of the clause, ensuring compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Pertains to the conduct, confirming that RTO assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Steps to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation

Best Time for Conducting Assessment

The goal of validating assessment tools is to verify that all elements, performance criteria, and evidence of performance and knowledge are included by your evaluation tools. Therefore, whenever you acquire 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 tools immediately to confirm they are suitable for student use.

Nevertheless, this isn't the only time to perform this type of validation. Perform assessment tool validation also when you:

- Amend your resources
- Integrate new training products on scope
- Evaluate your course with training product updates
- Detect your learning resources as a risk 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.

Identifying Training Products for Validation

Remember that this validation ensures compliance of all training materials before being used. All RTOs must validate resources for each unit.

Resources Required for Assessment Tool Validation

To validate your assessment tools, you will need the complete set of your learning resources:

- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It shows which assessment items meet course unit requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- 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.
- Marking Guide: Also ensure if instructions for evaluators are sufficient and if clear standards for each assessment task are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, logs, and forms designed separately from the workbook and assessor guide. Validate these to ensure they suit the evaluation task and address unit requirements.

Validation Panel

Clause 1.11 specifies the requirements for validation panel members. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually ask all trainers and evaluators to participate, sometimes including industry experts.

Collectively, your assessment validation panel must have:

- Vocational Skills and Up-to-date Industry Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- check here TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.

Principles of Assessment

- Fairness: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Flexibility: Is the assessment adaptable to different needs and preferences of candidates?
- Validity: Does the assessment evaluate what it is intended to evaluate?
- Consistency: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?

Rules of Evidence

- Appropriateness: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Adequacy: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Authenticity: 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?

Key Considerations for Assessment Validation

Pay attention to the action words in the unit specifications and ensure they are addressed by the assessment task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one performance criteria asks students to:

- Perform diaper changes
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Prepare solid food and feed babies
- Respond to baby signs and cues properly
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- 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 assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be performing the tasks.

Watch Out for the Plurals!

Pay attention to the quantities. 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.

Full Competence or Not Competent

Pay attention to lists. As mentioned earlier, if students only complete half the tasks, it’s not compliant. Each assessment item must meet all requirements, or the student is not competent, and the assessment method is out of compliance.

Provide Specific Details

Each evaluation task must have clear and specific benchmark answers to guide the evaluator’s decision on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not baffle students or evaluators.

Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions

Avoiding double-barrelled questions makes it easier for students to respond and for trainers to accurately assess 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 assessment tools are valid with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.