Assessment Validation Overview
Registered Training Organisations are responsible for numerous responsibilities upon registration, including annual declarations, AVETMISS data submission, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments is particularly challenging. While validation has been covered in multiple discussions, let's revisit the fundamental principles. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) identifies validation of assessments as a quality review of the assessment procedure.
Fundamentally, 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 Standards for RTOs 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 rules require two types of validation. The initial type of assessment validation guarantees adherence to the requirements of the training package within your organisation's scope. The second validation guarantees that assessments are conducted according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence. This implies that validation is carried out both before and after the assessment. This article will focus on the primary type—assessment tool validation.
Understanding Assessment Validation Types
- Assessment Tool Validation: Also referred to as pre-assessment validation or verification, pertains to the primary part of the regulation, ensuring meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is related to the execution, ensuring that RTO assessments align with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Steps to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
Optimal Timing for Assessment Tool Validation
The purpose of validating assessment tools is to verify that all aspects, performance standards, and evidence of performance and knowledge are included by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you purchase new educational resources, you must conduct assessment tool validation prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next 5-year cycle validation schedule. Review new materials immediately to verify they are appropriate for students.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason to do this type of validation. Do assessment tool validation also when you:
- Modify your resources
- Integrate new training products on 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.
Which Training Products Should You Validate?
Note that this validation ensures conformity of all educational resources before being used. All RTOs must validate training products for each subject unit.
Resources Needed to Start Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your evaluation tools, you will need the complete set of your learning resources:
- Mapping Document: The first document to review. It shows which assessment items meet subject requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Learner Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment tool during validation. Check if instructions are clear and response areas are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also check if directions for trainers are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each evaluation item are provided. Clear benchmarks are crucial for reliable assessment results.
- Other Related Resources: These may include lists, registers, and templates developed separately from the student workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they match the evaluation task and address unit requirements.
Validation Panel
Regulation 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 educators and assessors to participate, sometimes including field experts.
Collectively, your panel must have:
- Vocational Skills and Up-to-date Industry Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following certifications for training and assessment:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE40116 or its successor.
Assessment Principles
- Equity: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Versatility: 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: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?
Rules of Evidence
- Appropriateness: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Sufficiency: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Originality: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Relevance: Are the assessment tools based on current units of competency and up-to-date industry practices?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the action words in the unit requirements and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. 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
- Respond to baby signs and cues properly
- Prepare babies for sleep and these guys help them settle
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
Frequent Errors
Describing the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months does not fulfill the unit requirement. Unless the unit criteria is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), students should be carrying out the tasks.
Mind the Plurals!
Pay attention to the numbers. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care 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.
Full Competence or Not Competent
Pay attention to itemized requirements. As mentioned earlier, if students only complete half the tasks, it’s out of compliance. Each assessment item must address all requirements, or the student is not yet competent, and the assessment tool is non-compliant.
Can You Be More Specific?
Each assessment item must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the assessor’s evaluation on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your guidelines do not confuse students or trainers.
Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them
Not using double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for trainers to accurately assess student competence.
Audit Guarantees
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don’t learning resource developers offer audit guarantees?” 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 instructions 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.