Intro to Assessment Validation
Registered Training Organisations are responsible for multiple duties post-registration, like annual statements, AVETMISS data submission, and marketing compliance. Among these tasks, assessment validation is particularly challenging. While validation has been reviewed in many articles, let's revisit the fundamental principles. The Australian Skills Quality Authority describes assessment review as granular review of the assessment procedure.
Essentially, assessment validation is designed to identify which parts of an RTO’s evaluation 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, adhere to 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 primary type of assessment review ensures compliance with the requirements of the training package within your RTO's scope. The other type ensures that assessments are conducted according to the principles of assessment and rules of evidence. This suggests that we perform validation in both pre- and post-assessment stages. This article will discuss the primary type—assessment tool validation.
Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Also referred to as pre-assessment validation or verification, concerns the initial part of the regulation, focusing on ensuring all unit requirements are met.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is related to the conduct, making sure RTOs conduct assessments according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Guide to Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
Timing for Assessment Tool Validation
The goal of validating assessment tools is to ensure that all elements, performance criteria, and performance and knowledge evidence are covered by your evaluation tools. Therefore, whenever you purchase new training materials, you must conduct assessment tool validation prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Review new resources immediately to ensure they are fit for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only occasion to do this type of validation. Conduct validation of assessment tools also when you:
- Amend your resources
- Expand with new training products on scope
- Audit 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.
Selecting Training Products for Validation
Note that this validation ensures compliance of all educational resources before being used. All RTOs must validate training products for each course unit.
Necessary Resources for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your evaluation tools, you will need the complete set of your training materials:
- Mapping Tool: The first document to review. It identifies which evaluation items meet unit requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Learner/Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment resource during validation. Check if instructions are clear and input fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide: Also ensure if instructions for assessors are sufficient and if clear criteria for each assessment item are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include lists, evaluation registers, and evaluation templates created separately from the workbook and assessor guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment activity and meet course unit requirements.
Assessment Validation Panel
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 mandate all trainers and evaluators to participate, sometimes including sector experts.
Collectively, your panel must have:
- Vocational Competencies and Current 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
- Equity: Is the assessment process fair and equitable for all candidates?
- Flexibility: Are there multiple ways to demonstrate competence, accommodating different needs and preferences?
- Accuracy: Does the assessment evaluate what it is intended to evaluate?
- Reliability: Will different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?
Guidelines for Evidence
- Relevance: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Completeness: Is there enough evidence to ensure that the learner has the skills and knowledge required?
- Originality: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Currency: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the verbs 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 evidence requirement asks students to:
- Change nappies
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Prepare solid food and feed babies
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- Prepare babies for sleep and help them settle
- 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 evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), students should be performing 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 Nothing Competence
Pay attention to itemized requirements. As mentioned earlier, if students do not complete all the tasks listed, it’s out of compliance. Each evaluation task must address all specifications, or the student is not competent, and the evaluation tool is non-compliant.
Can You Be More Specific?
Each evaluation task must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the evaluator’s decision on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not baffle check it out students or assessors.
Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions
Steering clear of double-barrelled questions makes it more straightforward for students to respond and for assessors to accurately judge 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 for an audit before they assist with noncompliance. This affects your compliance history, so it's better to take a proactive and compliant approach.
By following these recommendations and understanding the assessment principles and rules of evidence, you can ensure that your assessment tools are compliant with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.