Overview
Registered Training Organisations manage numerous duties following registration, like yearly reports, AVETMISS reporting, and marketing adherence. Among these tasks, validating assessments is particularly challenging. While validation has been covered in several publications, let's revisit the fundamental principles. ASQA describes validation of assessments as a quality review of the assessment procedure.
Basically, validation of assessments is focused on 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 standards mandate two types of validation. The primary type of assessment review checks conformity with 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 indicates that validation is performed pre- and post-assessment. This article will discuss the first type—validation of assessment tools.
Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Commonly called pre-assessment validation or verification, pertains to the first part of the clause, aimed at compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is concerned with the execution, ensuring RTOs conduct assessments in line with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
How to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
Best Time for Conducting Assessment
The aim of assessment tool validation is to make sure that all components, performance standards, and performance and knowledge evidence are covered by your evaluation tools. Therefore, whenever you purchase new educational resources, you must perform validation of assessment tools before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Review new materials immediately to ensure they are suitable for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason to do this type of validation. Do assessment tool validation also when you:
- Enhance your resources
- Integrate new training products on scope
- Evaluate your course with training product updates
- Note 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.
Which Training Products Should You Validate?
Note that this validation ensures conformity of all training materials before use. All RTOs must validate training products for each course unit.
Necessary Resources for Assessment Tool Validation
To start assessment tool validation, you will need the complete set of your learning resources:
- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It shows which assessment tasks meet unit requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Learner Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if guidelines are clear and answer fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also verify if directions for evaluators are sufficient and if clear standards for each assessment task are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable assessment results.
- Other Related Resources: These may include checklists, logs, and forms designed separately from the workbook and assessor guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment task and comply with subject requirements.
Assessment Validation Panel
Standard 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 require all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including field experts.
Collectively, your assessment validation panel must have:
- Vocational Skills and Up-to-date Industry Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following certifications for training and assessment:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE40116 or its successor.
Assessment Principles
- Equity: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Versatility: Is the assessment adaptable to different needs and preferences of candidates?
- Relevance: Does the assessment evaluate what it is intended to evaluate?
- Reliability: Are the assessment results consistent regardless of who conducts the training?
Rules of Evidence
- Validity: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Sufficiency: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Originality: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- Relevance: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?
Important Factors in Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the verbs in the unit requirements and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one performance evidence requirement asks students to:
- Change diapers
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Prepare solid food and feed babies
- 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
Frequent Errors
Describing the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months does not fulfill the unit requirement. Unless the unit specification is meant to evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), students should be carrying out the tasks.
Be Careful with 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 won’t cut it.
Full Competence or Not Competent
Pay attention to enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students only complete half the tasks, it’s out of compliance. Each assessment item must meet all specifications, or the student is incompetent, and the assessment tool is out of compliance.
Can You Be More Specific?
Each assessment 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 evaluators.
Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions
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 here these requirements, you might wonder, “Don’t learning resource developers offer audit guarantees?” However, with these assurances, you must wait for an audit before they assist with noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, so it's better to take a safe and compliant approach.
By following these instructions and understanding the principles of assessment and Rules of Evidence, you can ensure that your assessment methods are reliable with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.