{Guide to Assessment Validation for Vocational Education Bodies across Australia —

{Guide to Assessment Validation for Vocational Education Bodies across Australia —

Blog Article

Intro to Validating Assessments for RTOs

Registered Training Organisations have multiple tasks following registration, which include yearly reports, AVETMISS data submission, and marketing adherence. Among these tasks, validating assessments is particularly challenging. While we've discussed validation in multiple articles, let's revisit the fundamental principles. ASQA identifies assessment review as quality assurance of the assessment procedure.

Fundamentally, assessment validation is about 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 rules specify two types of validation. The initial type of assessment review checks conformity with the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The subsequent 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 concentrate on the primary type—assessment tool validation.

Understanding Assessment Validation Types

- Assessment Tool Validation: Also referred to as pre-assessment validation or verification, pertains to the first part of the clause, focusing on compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Concerns the execution, ensuring Registered Training Organisations conduct assessments in line with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Methods for Conducting Assessment Tool Validation

Scheduling Assessment Tool Validation

The aim of assessment tool validation is to ensure that all elements, performance standards, and performance and knowledge evidence are covered by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you get new educational resources, you must carry out assessment tool validation before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Validate new resources immediately to verify they are appropriate for students.

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

- Revise your resources
- Incorporate new training products on scope
- Assess your course with training product updates
- Flag 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 to Validate

Note that this validation ensures conformity of all learning resources before use. All RTOs must validate training products for each unit.

Necessary Resources for Assessment Tool Validation

To validate your assessment tools, you will need the complete set of your learning resources:

- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It identifies which assessment tasks meet subject requirements, aiding in faster validation.
- Learner Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment tool during validation. Check if instructions are clear and response areas are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide: Also verify if guidelines for evaluators are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each evaluation item are provided. Clear benchmarks are crucial for reliable assessment results.
- Additional Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, evaluation registers, and templates created separately from the student workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they suit the assessment activity and meet course unit requirements.

Validation Panel

Standard 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 field experts.

Collectively, your validation panel must have:

- Vocational Competencies and Current Professional Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Updated Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Teaching and Learning.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE40116 or its successor.

Principles Guiding Assessment

- Impartiality: Is the assessment process fair and equitable for all candidates?
- Versatility: Are there multiple ways to demonstrate competence, accommodating different needs and preferences?
- Accuracy: Does the assessment evaluate what it is intended to evaluate?
- Dependability: Will different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?

Rules of Evidence

- Relevance: 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: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- Currency: Is the evidence up-to-date with current industry practices?

Key Considerations for Assessment Validation

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

- Change diapers
- Prepare and feed bottles, clean feeding equipment
- Prepare solid food and feed babies
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- 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 more info the unit requirement. Unless the unit requirement is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., evidence of knowledge), 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 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 is not sufficient.

All or Nothing Competence

Pay attention to itemized requirements. As mentioned earlier, if students only complete half the tasks, it’s out of compliance. Each assessment item must address all criteria, or the student is not yet competent, and the assessment tool is out of compliance.

Can You Be More Specific?

Each evaluation 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 assessors.

Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions

Not using double-barrelled questions makes it easier for students to respond and for evaluators 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 help rectify noncompliance. This influences your compliance status, 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 evaluation tools are valid with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.