Intro to RTO Assessment Validation
Training Organisations handle various obligations after becoming registered, such as yearly declarations, AVETMISS data submission, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments often stands out. While validation has been reviewed in multiple articles, let's return to the basics. ASQA describes assessment validation as quality assurance of the assessment procedure.
Essentially, validation of assessments is aimed at 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 first type of assessment validation guarantees adherence to the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The second validation guarantees that assessments adhere to the principles of assessment and rules of evidence. This implies that validation is performed both before and after the assessment. This article will focus on the initial type—validation of assessment tools.
What are the Two Types of Assessment Validation?
- Assessment Tool Validation: Often termed pre-assessment validation or verification, deals with the initial part of the clause, ensuring compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Relates to the conduct, ensuring Registered Training Organisations conduct assessments in line with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Process of Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
Best Time for Conducting Assessment
The purpose of validating assessment tools is to make sure that all components, criteria for performance, and performance and knowledge evidence are covered by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you get new learning resources, you must carry out assessment tool validation prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Review new materials as soon as possible to ensure they are fit for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason to do this type of validation. Do assessment tool validation also when you:
- Revise your resources
- Expand with new training products on scope
- Evaluate your course with training product updates
- Identify potential risks in your learning resources 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.
Which Training Products Should You Validate?
Note that this validation ensures conformity of all educational resources before use. All RTOs must validate training products for each unit.
Necessary Resources for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your assessment tools, you will need the complete set of your training materials:
- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It identifies which assessment items meet unit requirements, aiding in faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if directions are clear and response areas are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Marking Guide: Also check if guidelines for evaluators are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each assessment item are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable assessment results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include lists, registers, and evaluation templates created separately from the workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment task and meet unit requirements.
Validation Panel
Standard 1.11 specifies the requirements for validation panel members. 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 assessment validation panel must have:
- Vocational Skills and Current Professional Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- Updated Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following certifications for training and assessment:
- TAE40116 Training and Assessment Certificate IV or its successor.
Principles Guiding Assessment
- Impartiality: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Flexibility: Is the assessment adaptable to different needs and preferences of candidates?
- Accuracy: Is the assessment relevant to the skills and knowledge it aims to evaluate?
- Reliability: 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: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Originality: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- Currency: Is the evidence up-to-date with current industry practices?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the verbs in the unit requirements and ensure they are addressed by the assessment task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers, one required performance evidence asks students to:
- Change nappies
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- Respond to baby signs and cues properly
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Monitor and encourage age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills
Frequent Errors
Asking students to describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old does not meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit specification is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be doing the tasks.
Mind the Plurals!
Pay attention to the frequency. 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 does not fulfill the requirement.
All or Not Competent
Pay attention to enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s non-compliant. Each assessment task must address all specifications, or the student is not competent, and the assessment tool is out of compliance.
Be Specific!
Each assessment item must have clear and specific reference answers to guide the evaluator’s decision on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not mislead students or evaluators.
Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them
Steering clear of double-barrelled questions makes it more straightforward for students to respond and for assessors to accurately judge student competence.
Ensuring check it out 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 help rectify noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, so it's better to take a preventative and compliant approach.
By following these instructions and understanding the principles of assessment and rules of evidence, you can ensure that your assessment tools are compliant with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.