Overview of Assessment Validation
Registered Training Organisations manage multiple duties upon registration, such as yearly declarations, AVETMISS compliance, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, validating assessments often stands out. While validation has been covered in many posts, let's return to the basics. ASQA defines assessment review as quality assurance of the evaluation process.
Principally, validation of assessments is dedicated to identifying 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 rules require two forms of validation. The primary type of validation of assessments checks conformity with the requirements of the training package within your RTO's scope. The other type verifies that assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence. This implies that validation is carried out both before and after the assessment. This article will discuss the first type—validation of assessment tools.
Overview of Assessment Validation Types
- Assessment Tool Validation: Commonly called pre-assessment validation or verification, pertains to the initial part of the regulation, focusing on ensuring all unit requirements are met.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Pertains to the implementation, making sure RTOs conduct assessments according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Conducting Validation of Assessment Tools
Optimal Timing for Assessment Tool Validation
The goal of validating assessment tools is to verify that all aspects, criteria for performance, and performance and knowledge evidence are included by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you purchase new educational resources, you must perform assessment tool validation prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next scheduled validation. Validate new tools right away to verify they are suitable for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only time to do this type of validation. Do validation of assessment tools also when you:
- Upgrade your resources
- Include new training products on scope
- Examine your course with training product updates
- Detect 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.
Selecting Training Products for Validation
Remember that this validation ensures compliance of all educational resources before student use. All RTOs must validate resources for each subject unit.
Resources Needed to Start Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your evaluation tools, you will need the complete set of your educational resources:
- Mapping Tool: The first document to review. It shows which evaluation items meet unit requirements, helping with faster validation.
- Learner/Student 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 verify if instructions for assessors are sufficient and if clear criteria for each assessment task are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Additional Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, logs, and evaluation templates created separately from the student workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they suit the evaluation task and comply with unit requirements.
Panel for Validation
Regulation 1.11 specifies the requirements for validation panel members. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually require all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.
Collectively, your panel must have:
- Workplace Competencies and Current Industry Skills relevant to the unit being validated.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Teaching and Learning.
- Either of the following certifications for training and assessment:
- TAE40116 Training and Assessment Certificate IV or its successor.
Principles Guiding Assessment
- Fairness: Is equal opportunity and access provided to everyone in the assessment process?
- Versatility: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on different needs and preferences?
- Accuracy: Is the assessment an accurate tool for evaluating the required skills and knowledge?
- Dependability: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?
Evidence Rules
- 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: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Genuineness: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Timeliness: Is the evidence up-to-date with current industry practices?
Important Factors in Assessment Validation
Pay attention 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 performance criteria asks students to:
- Change nappies
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- Respond to baby signs and cues properly
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- Monitor and encourage age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills
Common Pitfalls
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.
Mind 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 enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s check here non-compliant. Each assessment item must address all specifications, or the student is incompetent, and the evaluation tool is non-compliant.
Can You Be More Specific?
Each assessment 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 directions do not confuse students or trainers.
Steer Clear of Double-Barrelled Questions
Not using double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for trainers to accurately evaluate student competence.
Assurance During Audits
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 help rectify noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, so it's better to take a safe and compliant approach.
By following these guidelines and understanding the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence, you can ensure that your evaluation tools are reliable with the requirements set by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.