Intro to RTO Assessment Validation
Registered Training Organisations manage multiple responsibilities following registration, including yearly reports, AVETMISS compliance, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments is notably challenging. While validation has been covered in several publications, let's return to the basics. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) identifies validation of assessments as granular review of the assessment process.
Fundamentally, validation of assessments is intended 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 regulations specify two types of validation. The initial type of validation of assessments ensures compliance with the requirements of the training package within your organisation's scope. The subsequent validation guarantees that assessments follow the principles of assessment and rules of evidence. This implies that validation is performed both before and after the assessment. This article will concentrate on the first type—assessment tool validation.
What are the Two Types of Assessment Validation?
- Assessment Tool Validation: Also referred to as pre-assessment validation or verification, concerns the first part of the rule, focusing on ensuring all unit requirements are met.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Deals with the conduct, confirming that RTO assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
When to Validate Assessment Tools
The goal of assessment tool validation is to verify that all elements, performance criteria, and evidence of performance and knowledge are included by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you purchase new learning resources, you must perform assessment tool validation before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Check new resources right away to confirm they are appropriate for students.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only time to perform this type of validation. Conduct assessment tool validation also when you:
- Amend your resources
- Integrate new training products on scope
- Review your course against 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.
Identifying Training Products for Validation
Note that this validation guarantees adherence of all learning resources before use. All RTOs must validate training products for each subject unit.
Necessary Resources for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your assessment tools, you will need the complete set of your training materials:
- Mapping Document: The first document to review. It shows which assessment tasks meet subject requirements, helping with faster validation.
- Learner Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment resource during validation. Check if directions are clear and answer fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also check if directions for trainers are sufficient and if clear standards for each assessment item are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Other Related Resources: These may include lists, logs, and evaluation templates designed separately from the workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment activity and comply with subject requirements.
Panel for Validation
Standard 1.11 specifies the requirements for panel members. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually require all educators and assessors to participate, sometimes including field experts.
Collectively, your assessment validation panel must have:
- Vocational Competencies and Up-to-date Industry Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- 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?
- Adaptability: 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?
- Consistency: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?
Rules of Evidence
- Relevance: Is the evidence relevant to the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency?
- Completeness: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Genuineness: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- Relevance: Are the assessment tools based on current units of competency and up-to-date industry practices?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the action words in the unit specifications and ensure they are addressed by the assessment task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers, one performance criteria asks students to:
- Change nappies
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- Prepare babies for sleep and help them settle
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
Frequent Errors
Having students describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old doesn’t directly meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit requirement is meant to assess theoretical understanding (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), students should be doing the tasks.
Mind the Plurals!
Pay attention to the numbers. 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 does not fulfill the requirement.
Full Competence or Not Competent
Pay attention to itemized requirements. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s non-compliant. Each assessment task must cover all specifications, or the student is not yet competent, and the assessment method is non-compliant.
Be Specific!
Each assessment 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 guidelines do not mislead students or evaluators.
Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions
Not using double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for assessors to accurately evaluate student competence.
Audit Guarantees
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don’t learning resource developers offer audit guarantees?” However, with these promises, you must wait for an audit before they assist with noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, so it's better to take a proactive and compliant approach.
By following these instructions and understanding the assessment principles and Rules of Evidence, you can ensure that your assessment methods are valid with the standards established by this site ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.