Overview of Assessment Validation
RTOs manage many obligations after becoming registered, which include annual declarations, AVETMISS compliance, and marketing compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments is notably challenging. While we've discussed validation in several posts, let's revisit the fundamental principles. ASQA describes assessment validation as quality assurance of the assessment process.
At its core, assessment review 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 2015 Standards for RTOs, 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 standards require two types 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 verifies that assessments adhere to the principles of assessment and rules of evidence. This suggests that validation is carried out in both pre- and post-assessment stages. This article will discuss the first type—assessment tool validation.
Differentiating Assessment Validation Types
- Assessment Tool Validation: Often termed pre-assessment validation or verification, relates to the primary part of the rule, focusing on meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is concerned with the execution, ensuring Registered Training Organisations conduct assessments in line with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Process of Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
When to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
The aim of validating assessment tools is to make sure that all elements, performance criteria, and performance and knowledge evidence are included by your evaluation tools. Therefore, whenever you get new training materials, you must carry out assessment tool validation before allowing students to use them. There's no need to wait for your next 5-year cycle validation schedule. Check new tools immediately to verify they are suitable for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only occasion to conduct this type of validation. Perform validation of assessment tools also when you:
- Modify your resources
- Introduce new training products on scope
- Audit your course with training product updates
- Spot 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 Need Validation?
Keep in mind that this validation ensures conformity of all educational resources before use. All RTOs must validate materials for each course unit.
Resources Required for Assessment Tool Validation
To start assessment tool validation, you will need the complete set of your learning resources:
- Mapping Tool: The first document to review. It identifies which assessment tasks meet subject requirements, helping with faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment tool during validation. Check if guidelines are clear and input fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Marking Guide: Also check if guidelines for evaluators are sufficient and if clear criteria for each evaluation item are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Additional Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, evaluation registers, and evaluation templates developed separately from the student workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment activity and comply with unit requirements.
Assessment Validation Panel
Clause 1.11 specifies the requirements for panel members. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually mandate all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.
Collectively, your validation panel must have:
- Vocational Skills and Current Professional Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- Updated Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Education.
- 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?
- Reliability: Will different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?
Rules of Evidence
- Appropriateness: Does the evidence demonstrate that the candidate has the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements?
- Completeness: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Authenticity: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- Timeliness: Is the evidence up-to-date with current industry practices?
Important Factors in Assessment Validation
Pay attention website to the verbs in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers, 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 babies for sleep and help them settle
- Monitor and encourage age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills
Typical Mistakes
Describing the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months does not fulfill the unit requirement. Unless the unit criteria is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), students should be performing the tasks.
Mind the Plurals!
Pay attention to the numbers. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care 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.
Full Competence or Not Competent
Pay attention to lists. As mentioned earlier, if students only complete half the tasks, it’s not compliant. Each evaluation task must cover all criteria, or the student is not yet competent, and the assessment tool is non-compliant.
Can You Be More Specific?
Each assessment item must have clear and specific benchmark answers to guide the assessor’s judgment on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your directions do not mislead students or assessors.
Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions
Steering clear of double-barrelled questions makes it more straightforward for students to respond and for evaluators to accurately evaluate student competence.
Assurance During Audits
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don’t learning resource developers offer audit guarantees?” However, with these assurances, you must wait until an audit to address noncompliance. This influences your compliance status, so it's better to take a safe and compliant approach.
By following these recommendations and understanding the assessment principles and rules of evidence, you can ensure that your assessment tools are valid with the requirements set by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.