Intro to Validating Assessments for RTOs
RTOs manage many duties post-registration, including yearly reports, AVETMISS compliance, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, validating assessments is notably challenging. While validation has been reviewed in several discussions, let's return to the basics. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) defines validation of assessments as a quality review of the assessment process.
In essence, assessment validation is intended to identify 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 standards mandate two forms of validation. The first type of assessment review checks conformity with the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The other type 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.
Two Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Also referred to as pre-assessment validation or verification, pertains to the primary part of the rule, ensuring compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Deals with the execution, verifying that RTOs conduct assessments according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Conducting Validation of Assessment Tools
Best Time for Conducting Assessment
The purpose of assessment tool validation is to make sure that all aspects, criteria for performance, and performance and knowledge evidence are included by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you purchase new learning resources, you must perform validation of assessment tools prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next 5-year cycle validation schedule. Validate new materials right away to confirm they are fit for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only time to perform this type of validation. Perform assessment tool validation also when you:
- Modify your resources
- Incorporate new training products on scope
- Evaluate your course with training product updates
- Identify potential risks in your learning resources 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
Keep in mind that this validation ensures conformity of all educational resources before being used. All RTOs must validate materials for each course unit.
Resources Needed to Start 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 shows which evaluation items meet unit requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Student 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.
- Marking Guide: Also check if instructions for assessors are sufficient and if clear standards for each evaluation item are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable assessment results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include lists, evaluation registers, and templates designed separately from the learner workbook and assessor guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment activity and meet subject requirements.
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 here participate, sometimes including sector experts.
Collectively, your validation panel must have:
- Vocational Skills and Current Professional Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Teaching and Learning.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- TAE40116 Training and Assessment Certificate IV or its successor.
Principles of Assessment
- Equity: Is equal opportunity and access provided to everyone in the assessment process?
- Adaptability: Is the assessment adaptable to different needs and preferences of candidates?
- Relevance: Is the assessment an accurate tool for evaluating the required skills and knowledge?
- Consistency: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?
Rules of Evidence
- Appropriateness: 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?
- Currency: Are the assessment tools based on current units of competency and up-to-date industry practices?
Key Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the verbs in the unit specifications and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one performance criteria asks students to:
- Perform diaper changes
- Prepare and feed bottles, clean feeding 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
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 underpinning knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), students should be carrying out the tasks.
Be Careful with Plurals!
Pay attention to the frequency. 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.
Full Competence or Not Competent
Pay attention to lists. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s not compliant. Each assessment task must meet all criteria, or the student is not competent, and the evaluation tool is out of compliance.
Can You Be More Specific?
Each evaluation task must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the assessor’s evaluation on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your directions do not baffle students or assessors.
Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them
Not using double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for evaluators to accurately assess student competence.
Audit Guarantees
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 affects your compliance history, so it's better to take a proactive and compliant approach.
By following these recommendations and understanding the principles of assessment and rules of evidence, you can ensure that your assessment methods are valid with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.