Overview
Training Organisations have many duties upon registration, which include annual declarations, AVETMISS reporting, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments frequently stands out. While validation has been reviewed in several publications, let's return to the basics. ASQA identifies assessment validation as quality assurance of the evaluation process.
Fundamentally, assessment review 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, comply with the training package requirements and are conducted according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
The regulations require two forms of validation. The initial type of validation of assessments guarantees adherence to the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The second validation verifies that assessments follow the principles of assessment and Rules of Evidence. This implies that we perform validation in both pre- and post-assessment stages. This article will focus on the first type—validation of assessment tools.
Understanding Assessment Validation Types
- Assessment Tool Validation: Also referred to as pre-assessment validation or verification, is concerned with the first part of the clause, focusing on compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is concerned with the execution, confirming that RTO assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
How to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
When to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
The goal of assessment tool validation is to ensure that all elements, criteria for performance, and evidence of performance and knowledge are included by your evaluation tools. Therefore, whenever you purchase new educational resources, you must perform assessment tool validation 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 reason to do this type of validation. Perform assessment tool validation also when you:
- Amend your resources
- Add new training products on scope
- Compare your course with training product updates
- Note 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.
Training Products Needing Validation
Keep in mind that this validation ensures compliance of all educational resources before student use. All RTOs must validate resources 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 Resource: The first document to review. It indicates which assessment items meet subject requirements, helping with faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if directions are clear and answer fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also check if guidelines for evaluators are sufficient and if clear criteria for each assessment item are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Other Related Resources: These may include lists, evaluation registers, and evaluation templates created separately from the student workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment activity and address course unit requirements.
Assessment Validation Panel
Regulation 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 ask all educators 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 of Assessment
- Impartiality: Is equal opportunity and access provided to everyone in the assessment process?
- Adaptability: Is the assessment adaptable to different needs and preferences of candidates?
- Validity: Does the assessment evaluate what it is intended to evaluate?
- Reliability: Will different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?
Rules of Evidence
- Appropriateness: Is the evidence relevant to the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency?
- Sufficiency: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Genuineness: Is the evidence genuine and truly representative of the candidate's abilities?
- Currency: 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 action words in the unit requirements 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 nappies
- Prepare and feed bottles, clean feeding equipment
- Prepare solid food and feed babies
- Respond to baby signs and cues properly
- Prepare babies for sleep and help them settle
- Observe and promote suitable physical activities and motor skills for babies
Common Pitfalls
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 evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., knowledge evidence), students should be doing the tasks.
Mind the Plurals!
Pay attention to the numbers. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care 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 does not fulfill the requirement.
Full Competence or Not Competent
Pay attention to lists. As mentioned earlier, if students do not complete all the tasks listed, it’s non-compliant. Each evaluation task must address all criteria, or the student is not competent, and the assessment method is not compliant.
Provide Specific Details
Each assessment task must have clear and specific benchmark 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.
Steer Clear of Double-Barrelled Questions
Avoiding double-barrelled questions makes it here more straightforward for students to respond and for evaluators to accurately judge student competence.
Audit Guarantees
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 proactive and compliant approach.
By following these instructions and understanding the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence, you can ensure that your evaluation tools are reliable with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.