{Assessment Validation concerning Vocational Education Institutes within Australia's training sector —
Intro to RTO Assessment ValidationRTOs handle many responsibilities upon registration, including annual declarations, AVETMISS compliance, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments is particularly challenging. While validation has been reviewed in many discussions, let's return to the basics. ASQA identifies assessment review as quality assurance of the evaluation process.
Principally, assessment review is about identifying which parts of an RTO’s assessment methods 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, comply with the training package requirements and are conducted according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
The rules specify two forms of validation. The primary type of assessment validation ensures compliance with the training package assessment requirements within your RTO's scope. The second validation verifies that assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence. This indicates that validation is carried out pre- and post-assessment. This article will discuss the primary type—validation of assessment tools.
Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Referred to as pre-assessment validation or verification, is concerned with the initial part of the rule, focusing on meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Deals with the implementation, ensuring that RTO assessments align with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Conducting Validation of Assessment Tools
Scheduling Assessment Tool Validation
The aim of validating assessment tools is to make sure that all aspects, performance criteria, and performance and knowledge evidence are included by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you get new educational resources, you must perform assessment tool validation before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next 5-year cycle validation schedule. Review new tools right away to confirm they are suitable for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason to perform this type of validation. Conduct assessment tool validation also when you:
- Update your resources
- Introduce new training products on scope
- Examine your course with training product updates
- Detect 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?
Bear in mind that this validation guarantees adherence of all learning resources before use. All RTOs must validate materials for each course unit.
Resources Required for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your assessment tools, you will need the complete set of your learning resources:
- Mapping Tool: The first document to review. It identifies which assessment tasks 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 answer fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also ensure if guidelines for trainers are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each assessment item are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Additional Resources: These may include checklists, logs, and evaluation templates created separately from the student workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment activity and address course unit requirements.
Assessment Validation Panel
Clause 1.11 specifies the requirements for panel members. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually ask all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.
Collectively, your validation panel must have:
- Vocational Competencies and Up-to-date Industry Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following credentials for training and assessment:
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.
Principles Guiding Assessment
- Impartiality: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Adaptability: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on 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?
Rules of Evidence
- Validity: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Completeness: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Authenticity: Is the evidence genuine and truly representative of the candidate's abilities?
- Currency: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the tasks in the unit requirements and ensure they are addressed by the assessment task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care, one required performance evidence asks students to:
- Perform diaper changes
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- Respond to baby signs and cues properly
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- Monitor and encourage age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills
Common Pitfalls
Describing the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months does not fulfill the unit requirement. Unless the unit criteria is meant to assess theoretical understanding (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be performing the tasks.
Mind the Plurals!
Pay attention to the quantities. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 requires 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 check here itemized requirements. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s not compliant. Each assessment task must meet all specifications, or the student is not yet competent, and the assessment tool is not compliant.
Be Specific!
Each evaluation task must have clear and specific reference answers to guide the assessor’s judgment on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not baffle students or trainers.
Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions
Not using double-barrelled questions makes it easier for students to respond and for assessors to accurately evaluate student competence.
Ensuring Audit Compliance
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 influences your compliance status, so it's better to take a preventative and compliant approach.
By following these guidelines and understanding the assessment principles and rules of evidence, you can ensure that your assessment methods are compliant with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.