{Guide to Assessment Validation for the VET Providers throughout Australia —

{Guide to Assessment Validation for the VET Providers throughout Australia —

Blog Article

Introduction

RTOs are responsible for various tasks following registration, including yearly reports, AVETMISS reporting, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, validating assessments often stands out. While validation has been covered in multiple publications, let's return to the basics. ASQA describes assessment validation as a quality review of the assessment process.

Fundamentally, assessment review 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 Standards for RTOs 2015, 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 regulations mandate two forms of validation. The initial type of assessment validation checks conformity with the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The second validation guarantees that assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence. This suggests that we perform validation pre- and post-assessment. This article will focus on the primary type—assessment tool validation.

Differentiating Assessment Validation Types

- Assessment Tool Validation: Commonly called pre-assessment validation or verification, is concerned with the initial part of the clause, aimed at ensuring all unit requirements are met.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Relates to the execution, verifying that RTOs conduct assessments according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Steps to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation

When to Validate Assessment Tools

The purpose of assessment tool validation is to verify that all aspects, performance criteria, and evidence of performance and knowledge are included by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you get new learning resources, you must carry out validation of assessment tools before allowing students to use them. There's no need to wait for your next scheduled validation. Review new resources as soon as possible to verify they are suitable for student use.

Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason to conduct this type of validation. Perform assessment tool validation also when you:

- Upgrade your resources
- Include new training products on scope
- Assess 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.

What Training Products Require Validation

Keep in mind that this validation ensures conformity of all educational resources before being used. All RTOs must validate resources for each unit.

Necessary Resources for Assessment Tool Validation

To start assessment tool validation, you will need the complete set of your educational resources:

- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It shows which evaluation items meet unit requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Learner 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.
- Marking Guide: Also ensure if instructions for evaluators are sufficient and if clear criteria for each assessment item are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable assessment results.
- Additional Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, evaluation registers, and templates created separately from the student workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment task and meet subject requirements.

Panel for Validation

Standard 1.11 specifies the requirements for members of the validation panel. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually require these guys all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.

Collectively, your assessment validation panel must have:

- Vocational Competencies and Current Industry Skills relevant to the unit being validated.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Training.
- 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?
- Adaptability: Is the assessment adaptable to different needs and preferences of candidates?
- Relevance: Is the assessment an accurate tool for evaluating the required skills and knowledge?
- Consistency: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?

Rules of Evidence

- Relevance: Does the evidence demonstrate that the candidate has the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements?
- Adequacy: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Authenticity: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- Currency: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?

Important Factors in Assessment Validation

Pay attention to the action words in the unit specifications and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care, one performance criteria 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
- Monitor and encourage age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills

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 specification is meant to evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be doing the tasks.

Mind the 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 does not fulfill the requirement.

All or Nothing Competence

Pay attention to lists. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s not compliant. Each assessment task must cover all specifications, or the student is incompetent, and the assessment tool is not compliant.

Provide Specific Details

Each assessment item must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the assessor’s evaluation on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your guidelines do not confuse students or assessors.

Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them

Avoiding double-barrelled questions makes it more straightforward for students to respond and for evaluators to accurately evaluate student competence.

Ensuring Audit Compliance

Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Do resource developers offer guarantees for audits?” 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 preventative and compliant approach.

By following these guidelines and understanding the assessment principles and evidence rules, you can ensure that your assessment tools are compliant with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.