{Process of Assessment Validation for Training Establishments across the Australian context An Authoritative Guide

{Process of Assessment Validation for Training Establishments across the Australian context An Authoritative Guide

Blog Article

Overview

Registered Training Organisations manage many tasks post-registration, including yearly reports, AVETMISS reporting, and marketing adherence. Among these tasks, assessment validation often stands out. While we've discussed validation in many posts, let's return to the basics. The Australian Skills Quality Authority identifies assessment validation as granular review of the evaluation process.

Essentially, validation of assessments is designed to identify 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 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 standards mandate two forms of validation. The primary type of assessment review checks conformity with the requirements of the training package within your organisation's scope. The other type verifies that assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence. This implies that validation is carried out pre- and post-assessment. This article will focus on the initial type—assessment tool validation.

Two Types of Assessment Validation

- Assessment Tool Validation: Commonly called pre-assessment validation or verification, involves the primary part of the regulation, ensuring meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Relates to the execution, verifying that RTOs conduct assessments according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Conducting Validation of Assessment Tools

When Should Assessment Tool Validation Be Conducted?

The purpose of assessment tool validation is to make sure that all elements, performance standards, and performance and knowledge evidence are included by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you obtain new educational resources, you must carry out validation of assessment tools before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Validate new tools as soon as possible to ensure they are suitable for student use.

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

- Enhance your resources
- Introduce new training products on scope
- Assess your course with training product updates
- Identify potential risks in your learning resources 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.

Which Training Products Should You Validate?

Keep in mind that this validation guarantees adherence of all educational resources before use. All RTOs must validate training products for each subject 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 indicates which evaluation items meet course unit requirements, helping with faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if instructions are clear and input fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide: Also ensure if guidelines for evaluators 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 lists, logs, and forms created separately from the student workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment task and address course unit requirements.

Assessment Validation Panel

Standard 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 evaluators to participate, sometimes including industry experts.

Collectively, your validation panel must have:

- Vocational Competencies and Current Industry Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- TAE40116 Training and Assessment Certificate IV or its successor.

Assessment Principles

- Impartiality: Is the assessment process fair and equitable for all candidates?
- Flexibility: 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 different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?

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?
- Sufficiency: 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?
- Relevance: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?

Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation

Pay attention to the action words in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care, one required performance evidence asks students to:

- Change diapers
- Prepare and feed bottles, clean feeding equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Observe and promote suitable physical activities and motor skills for babies

Common Pitfalls

Having students describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old doesn’t directly meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit requirement is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), students should be performing the tasks.

Watch Out for 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 check it out 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 not compliant. Each assessment task must meet all specifications, or the student is incompetent, and the assessment method is out of compliance.

Provide Specific Details

Each assessment task 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 trainers.

Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions

Steering clear of double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for trainers to accurately judge student competence.

Audit Guarantees

Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Do resource developers offer guarantees for audits?” However, with these promises, you must wait for an audit before they assist with noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, 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 assessment methods are compliant with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.