Overview
Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) manage many obligations upon registration, such as yearly reports, AVETMISS compliance, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments is particularly challenging. While we've discussed validation in several publications, let's return to the basics. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) defines assessment validation as quality assurance of the assessment process.
Principally, assessment validation is focused on 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 2015 Standards for RTOs, 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 standards require two forms of validation. The initial type of validation of assessments ensures compliance with the requirements of the training package within your organisation's scope. The second validation ensures that assessments follow 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 initial type—assessment tool validation.
Understanding Assessment Validation Types
- Assessment Tool Validation: Sometimes called pre-assessment validation or verification, pertains to the initial part of the regulation, aimed at compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is concerned with the implementation, verifying that RTOs conduct assessments according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Steps to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
Timing for Assessment Tool Validation
The purpose of assessment tool validation is to make sure that all aspects, criteria for performance, 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. Check new resources as soon as possible to verify they are suitable for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason to perform this type of validation. Do assessment tool validation also when you:
- Improve your resources
- Introduce new training products on scope
- Assess your course with training product updates
- Identify 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.
What Training Products Require Validation
Bear in mind that this validation ensures conformity of all learning resources before being used. 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 educational resources:
- Mapping Document: The first document to review. It shows which assessment items meet course unit requirements, aiding in faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment resource during validation. Check if instructions are clear and response areas are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also ensure if instructions for evaluators are sufficient and if clear criteria for each assessment task are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable assessment results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include lists, evaluation registers, and templates created separately from the student workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment task and address unit requirements.
Panel for Validation
Regulation 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 educators and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.
Collectively, your validation panel must have:
- Vocational Skills and Current Professional Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Teaching and Learning.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- TAE40116 Training and Assessment Certificate IV or its successor.
Assessment Principles
- Fairness: Is equal opportunity and access provided to everyone in the assessment process?
- Versatility: Is the assessment adaptable to different needs and preferences of candidates?
- Validity: Is the assessment an accurate tool for evaluating the required skills and knowledge?
- Dependability: Are the assessment results consistent regardless of who conducts the training?
Rules of Evidence
- Appropriateness: Does the evidence demonstrate that the candidate has the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements?
- Sufficiency: Is there enough evidence to more info ensure that the learner has the skills and knowledge required?
- Genuineness: Is the evidence genuine and truly representative of the candidate's abilities?
- Relevance: Are the assessment tools based on current units of competency and up-to-date industry practices?
Important Factors in Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the action words in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the evaluation task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one performance evidence requirement 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
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- Observe and promote suitable physical activities and motor skills for babies
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 requirement is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., knowledge evidence), students should be carrying out the tasks.
Be Careful with Plurals!
Pay attention to the quantities. 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 won’t cut it.
All or Not Competent
Pay attention to lists. As mentioned earlier, if students only complete half the tasks, it’s out of compliance. Each assessment task must cover all requirements, or the student is incompetent, and the evaluation tool is not compliant.
Can You Be More Specific?
Each evaluation task must have clear and specific reference answers to guide the evaluator’s decision on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your directions do not baffle students or evaluators.
Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them
Steering clear of double-barrelled questions makes it more straightforward for students to respond and for assessors 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 guarantees, you must wait for an audit before they help rectify noncompliance. This affects your compliance history, so it's better to take a preventative and compliant approach.
By following these recommendations and understanding the Principles of Assessment and evidence rules, you can ensure that your assessment tools are reliable with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.