Intro to RTO Assessment Validation
RTOs manage multiple responsibilities upon registration, like yearly reports, AVETMISS compliance, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments is particularly challenging. While validation has been covered in many discussions, let's revisit the fundamental principles. The Australian Skills Quality Authority defines assessment review as quality assurance of the assessment procedure.
Fundamentally, assessment review is aimed at identifying 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, meet the training package requirements and are conducted according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
The rules require two types of validation. The initial type of assessment review checks conformity with the requirements of the training package within your RTO's scope. The second validation guarantees that assessments are conducted according to the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence. This indicates that validation is carried out both before and after the assessment. This article will concentrate on the primary type—assessment tool validation.
Differentiating Assessment Validation Types
- Assessment Tool Validation: Also called pre-assessment validation or verification, concerns the initial part of the clause, aimed at ensuring all unit requirements are met.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is related to the execution, ensuring that RTO assessments align with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Methods for Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
Scheduling Assessment Tool Validation
The purpose of validating assessment tools is to verify that all aspects, performance criteria, and performance and knowledge evidence are covered by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you purchase 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 five-year validation cycle. Review new materials immediately to verify they are appropriate for students.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only time to perform this type of validation. Do assessment tool validation also when you:
- Amend your resources
- Add new qualifications to scope
- Review your course against training product updates
- Recognise your learning resources as a risk 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
Remember that this validation guarantees adherence of all training materials before use. All RTOs must validate training products for each unit.
Resources Required for Assessment Tool Validation
To start assessment tool validation, you will need the complete set of your training materials:
- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It indicates which evaluation items meet subject requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Learner/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 ensure if directions for evaluators are sufficient and if clear standards for each evaluation item are provided. Clear benchmarks are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Other Related Resources: These may include checklists, evaluation registers, and evaluation templates created separately from the learner workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment activity and meet unit requirements.
Validation Panel
Standard 1.11 specifies the requirements for members of the validation panel. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually ask all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including sector experts.
Collectively, your panel must have:
- Vocational Competencies and Current Professional Skills relevant to the unit being validated.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Education.
- Either of the following credentials for training and assessment:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE40116 or its successor.
Principles Guiding Assessment
- Impartiality: Is the assessment process fair and equitable for all candidates?
- Adaptability: Are there multiple ways to demonstrate competence, accommodating different needs and preferences?
- Validity: Is the assessment an accurate tool for evaluating the required skills and knowledge?
- Consistency: Are the assessment results consistent regardless of who conducts the training?
Rules of Evidence
- Appropriateness: awesome site Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Sufficiency: Is there enough evidence to ensure that the learner has the skills and knowledge required?
- Authenticity: 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 verbs in the unit specifications and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers, one performance criteria asks students to:
- Perform diaper changes
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
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 requirement is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), 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 Nurture babies and toddlers requires 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 won’t cut it.
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 evaluation task must cover all criteria, or the student is not yet competent, and the assessment 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 directions do not mislead students or assessors.
Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them
Avoiding double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for assessors to accurately evaluate student competence.
Ensuring Audit Compliance
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Do resource developers offer guarantees for audits?” However, with these assurances, you must wait for an audit before they help rectify noncompliance. This affects your compliance history, so it's better to take a preventative and compliant approach.
By following these guidelines and understanding the assessment principles and evidence rules, you can ensure that your evaluation tools are reliable with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.