Introduction
Training Organisations manage many tasks after becoming registered, including annual declarations, AVETMISS reporting, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, assessment validation is particularly challenging. While validation has been covered in multiple posts, a review of the basics is necessary. ASQA describes validation of assessments as a quality review of the assessment procedure.
At its core, assessment validation is focused on identifying 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 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 standards mandate two types of validation. The initial type of assessment validation ensures compliance with the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The second validation guarantees that assessments follow the principles of assessment and rules of evidence. This indicates that we perform validation pre- and post-assessment. This article will discuss the first type—assessment tool validation.
Two Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Commonly called pre-assessment validation or verification, pertains to the primary part of the regulation, ensuring compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is related to the execution, ensuring RTOs conduct assessments in line with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Steps to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
Best Time for Conducting Assessment
The goal of validating assessment tools is to make sure that all components, criteria for performance, and evidence of performance and knowledge are covered by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you acquire new learning resources, you must perform assessment tool validation prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next scheduled validation. Validate new tools right away to confirm they are fit for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason to conduct this type of validation. Do assessment tool validation also when you:
- Modify your resources
- Include new training products on 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.
Which Training Products Should You Validate?
Note that this validation ensures conformity of all learning resources before student use. All RTOs must validate resources for each course unit.
Resources Required for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your evaluation tools, you will need the complete set of your learning resources:
- Mapping Tool: The first document to review. It shows which assessment tasks meet unit requirements, aiding in faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if these guys directions are clear and input fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also ensure if guidelines for evaluators are sufficient and if clear standards for each evaluation item are provided. Clear benchmarks are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Additional Resources: These may include checklists, evaluation registers, and evaluation templates created separately from the workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment task and comply with course unit requirements.
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 ask all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including field experts.
Collectively, your validation panel must have:
- Workplace Competencies and Up-to-date Industry Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following credentials for training and assessment:
- TAE40116 Training and Assessment Certificate IV or its successor.
Principles of Assessment
- Fairness: Is the assessment process fair and equitable for all candidates?
- Versatility: Is the assessment adaptable to different needs and preferences of candidates?
- Accuracy: Is the assessment an accurate tool for evaluating the required skills and knowledge?
- Consistency: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?
Guidelines for Evidence
- Validity: Does the evidence demonstrate that the candidate has the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements?
- Adequacy: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Originality: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Currency: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the action words in the unit requirements and ensure they are addressed by the evaluation task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care, one performance evidence requirement asks students to:
- Change nappies
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Prepare solid food and feed babies
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
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 criteria is meant to evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be doing the tasks.
Be Careful with Plurals!
Pay attention to the frequency. 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 enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students only complete half the tasks, it’s not compliant. Each assessment item must meet all specifications, or the student is incompetent, and the evaluation tool is non-compliant.
Can You Be More Specific?
Each assessment task 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 baffle students or assessors.
Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them
Steering clear of double-barrelled questions makes it easier for students to respond and for evaluators to accurately assess student competence.
Audit Guarantees
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don't resource developers provide audit guarantees?” However, with these promises, you must wait until an audit to address noncompliance. This affects your compliance history, 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 evaluation tools are valid with the requirements set by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.