{Assessment Validation Guide concerning Vocational Training Institutes across Australia's training sector An Authoritative Guide

{Assessment Validation Guide concerning Vocational Training Institutes across Australia's training sector An Authoritative Guide

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Introduction

Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) handle numerous responsibilities after becoming registered, like annual declarations, AVETMISS compliance, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, assessment validation is notably challenging. While validation has been covered in multiple articles, let's return to the basics. ASQA identifies validation of assessments as a quality review of the assessment procedure.

Principally, assessment review is aimed at 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, 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 rules require two forms of validation. The first type of assessment validation ensures compliance with the requirements of the training package within your RTO's scope. The second validation guarantees that assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence. This implies that we perform validation pre- and post-assessment. This article will discuss the first type—assessment tool validation.

Exploring the Types of Assessment Validation

- Assessment Tool Validation: Also referred to as pre-assessment validation or verification, is concerned with the primary part of the regulation, ensuring compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Concerns the implementation, confirming that RTO assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Guide to Conducting Assessment Tool Validation

Scheduling Assessment Tool Validation

The purpose of assessment tool validation is to verify that all aspects, performance standards, and evidence of performance and knowledge are addressed by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you acquire 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 materials immediately to verify they are appropriate for students.

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

- Upgrade your resources
- Add new qualifications to scope
- Review your course against training product updates
- Identify 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.

Training Products to Validate

Keep in mind that this validation ensures compliance of all educational resources before student use. All RTOs must validate training products for each course 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 indicates which assessment items meet subject requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Learner/Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment resource during validation. Check if guidelines are clear and input fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also check if guidelines for assessors are sufficient and if clear standards for each assessment item are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Additional Resources: These may include lists, registers, and templates created separately from the workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment activity and comply with unit requirements.

Validation Panel

Clause 1.11 specifies the requirements for validation 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 check it out panel must have:

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

Assessment Principles

- Fairness: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Flexibility: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on different needs and preferences?
- Validity: Is the assessment an accurate tool for evaluating the required skills and knowledge?
- Consistency: Will different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?

Guidelines for Evidence

- Relevance: Is the evidence relevant to the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency?
- Sufficiency: 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?
- Relevance: Is the evidence up-to-date with current industry practices?

Key Considerations for Assessment Validation

Pay attention to the action words in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the assessment task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one performance criteria asks students to:

- Perform diaper changes
- 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
- 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 evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., evidence of knowledge), 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 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 one baby is not sufficient.

All or Not Competent

Pay attention to lists. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s non-compliant. Each assessment item must meet all specifications, or the student is incompetent, and the assessment method is non-compliant.

Provide Specific Details

Each evaluation task must have clear and specific benchmark answers to guide the evaluator’s decision on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not baffle students or assessors.

Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions

Steering clear of 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, “Do resource developers offer guarantees for audits?” However, with these guarantees, 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 instructions and understanding the Principles of Assessment and evidence rules, you can ensure that your assessment tools are valid with the requirements set by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.