Intro to Validating Assessments for RTOs
Training Organisations manage numerous tasks upon registration, such as yearly declarations, AVETMISS data submission, and marketing adherence. Among these tasks, assessment validation is particularly challenging. While validation has been covered in several publications, a review of the basics is necessary. The Australian Skills Quality Authority identifies assessment validation as a quality review of the evaluation process.
Principally, assessment validation is intended to identify which parts of an RTO’s evaluation 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 Standards for RTOs 2015, 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 standards mandate two types of validation. The initial type of assessment validation guarantees adherence to the training package assessment requirements within your RTO's scope. The other type verifies that assessments adhere to the principles of assessment and rules of evidence. This suggests that we perform validation pre- and post-assessment. This article will focus on the initial type—validation of assessment tools.
Two Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Also referred to as pre-assessment validation or verification, is related to the initial part of the regulation, focusing on meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Concerns the conduct, confirming that RTO assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
How to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
When Should Assessment Tool Validation Be Conducted?
The purpose of assessment tool validation is to ensure that all elements, performance standards, and performance and knowledge evidence are covered by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you obtain new educational resources, you must carry out validation of assessment tools before allowing students to use them. There's no need to wait for your next scheduled validation. Check new resources immediately to confirm they are fit for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only occasion to do this type of validation. Do validation of assessment tools also when you:
- Revise your resources
- Add new qualifications to scope
- Check your course against training product updates
- Note 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.
What Training Products Need Validation?
Remember that this validation ensures conformity of all training materials before use. All RTOs must validate materials for each unit.
Necessary Resources for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your assessment tools, you will need the complete set of your educational resources:
- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It indicates which assessment tasks meet unit requirements, helping with faster validation.
- Learner/Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment resource during validation. Check if guidelines are clear and answer fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also verify if instructions for assessors are sufficient and if clear standards for each evaluation item are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Additional Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, evaluation registers, and evaluation templates designed separately from the student workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment activity and meet course unit requirements.
Assessment Validation Panel
Regulation 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 require all trainers and evaluators to participate, sometimes including field experts.
Collectively, your validation panel must have:
- Vocational Skills and Current Professional Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Teaching and Learning.
- Either of the following certifications for training and assessment:
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.
Principles of Assessment
- Fairness: Is equal opportunity and access provided to everyone in the assessment process?
- Flexibility: Are there multiple ways to demonstrate competence, accommodating different needs and preferences?
- Relevance: Is the assessment relevant to the skills and knowledge it aims to evaluate?
- Consistency: Are the assessment results consistent regardless of who conducts the training?
Rules of Evidence
- Validity: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Adequacy: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Genuineness: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Relevance: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?
Important Factors in Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the action words in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the evaluation task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers, one required performance evidence asks students to:
- Change diapers
- Prepare and feed bottles, clean feeding equipment
- Prepare solid food and feed babies
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Monitor and encourage age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills
Typical Mistakes
Having students describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old doesn’t directly meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit criteria is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., knowledge evidence), students should be doing the tasks.
Watch Out for the Plurals!
Pay attention to the quantities. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 calls for 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, Assessment validation if students do not complete all the tasks listed, it’s out of compliance. Each assessment task must meet all criteria, or the student is not competent, and the evaluation tool is not compliant.
Be Specific!
Each assessment item must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the evaluator’s decision on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your guidelines do not baffle students or evaluators.
Steer Clear of Double-Barrelled Questions
Avoiding double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for trainers to accurately judge student competence.
Audit Guarantees
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don’t learning resource developers offer audit guarantees?” However, with these guarantees, you must wait for an audit before they assist with noncompliance. This influences your compliance status, so it's better to take a safe and compliant approach.
By following these recommendations and understanding the assessment principles and evidence rules, you can ensure that your assessment tools are valid with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.