{Assessment Validation Guide for Vocational Education Bodies in the Australian landscape An Authoritative Guide

{Assessment Validation Guide for Vocational Education Bodies in the Australian landscape An Authoritative Guide

Blog Article

Intro to Validating Assessments for RTOs

Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) handle multiple duties following registration, which include yearly reports, AVETMISS data submission, and marketing compliance. Among these tasks, assessment validation often stands out. While validation has been covered in many posts, let's return to the basics. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) defines assessment review as quality assurance of the assessment procedure.

Primarily, assessment validation is focused on identifying which parts of an RTO's assessment process 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 require two forms of validation. The primary type of assessment validation checks conformity with the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The other type ensures that assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence. This implies that validation is performed pre- and post-assessment. This article will discuss the primary type—assessment tool validation.

Overview of Assessment Validation Types

- Assessment Tool Validation: Commonly called pre-assessment validation or verification, pertains to the initial part of the rule, aimed at compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Deals with the conduct, verifying that RTOs conduct assessments according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Guide to Conducting Assessment Tool Validation

When to Validate Assessment Tools

The aim of validating assessment tools is to ensure that all aspects, criteria for performance, and performance and knowledge evidence are addressed by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you get new educational resources, you must carry out validation of assessment tools prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next scheduled validation. Check new resources as soon as possible to verify they are appropriate for students.

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

- Upgrade your resources
- Introduce new training products on scope
- Compare your course with training product updates
- Identify 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

Bear in mind that this validation guarantees adherence of all educational resources before 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 training materials:

- Mapping Tool: The first document to review. It shows which assessment items meet course unit requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment resource during validation. Check if instructions are clear and response areas are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Marking Guide: Also ensure if instructions for evaluators are sufficient and if clear standards for each assessment task are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Additional Resources: These may include lists, logs, and templates developed separately from the workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment activity and meet course unit requirements.

Assessment Validation Panel

Standard 1.11 specifies the requirements for members of the validation panel. It states validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually mandate all educators and assessors to participate, sometimes including sector experts.

Collectively, your validation panel must have:

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

Assessment Principles

- Equity: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Versatility: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on different needs and preferences?
- Accuracy: Does the assessment evaluate what it is intended to evaluate?
- Reliability: Are the assessment results consistent regardless of who conducts the training?

Guidelines for 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?
- Completeness: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Authenticity: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- Relevance: Is the evidence up-to-date with current industry practices?

Important Factors in Assessment Validation

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

- Change nappies
- Prepare and feed bottles, clean feeding equipment
- Prepare solid food and feed babies
- Respond to baby signs and read more cues properly
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- Monitor and encourage age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills

Common Pitfalls

Asking students to describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old does not meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit criteria is meant to evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be carrying out the tasks.

Watch Out for the Plurals!

Pay attention to the quantities. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers 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 only complete half the tasks, it’s not compliant. Each assessment task must address all criteria, or the student is not competent, and the evaluation tool is not compliant.

Provide Specific Details

Each assessment task must have clear and specific reference answers to guide the assessor’s judgment on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not baffle students or trainers.

Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions

Not using double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for assessors to accurately evaluate student competence.

Ensuring Audit Compliance

Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don't resource developers provide audit guarantees?” However, with these guarantees, you must wait until an audit to address noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, 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 reliable with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.