Intro to Assessment Validation
Registered Training Organisations manage numerous duties following registration, like yearly declarations, AVETMISS reporting, and marketing compliance. Among these tasks, validating assessments frequently stands out. While validation has been reviewed in several publications, let's return to the basics. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) identifies assessment validation as quality assurance of the assessment procedure.
Primarily, validation of assessments is designed 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, meet the training package requirements and are conducted according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
The rules mandate two forms of validation. The initial type of assessment validation guarantees adherence to the training package assessment requirements within your RTO's scope. The subsequent validation ensures that assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence. This indicates that validation is performed both before and after the assessment. This article will discuss the first type—validation of assessment tools.
Two Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Sometimes called pre-assessment validation or verification, involves the first part of the rule, focusing on ensuring all unit requirements are met.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is related to the execution, guaranteeing that RTO assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Methods for Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
When to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
The purpose of validating assessment tools is to verify that all aspects, criteria for performance, and evidence of performance and knowledge are addressed by your evaluation tools. Therefore, whenever you acquire new learning resources, you must perform validation of assessment tools prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next 5-year cycle validation schedule. Review new materials immediately to confirm they are fit for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only time to perform this type of validation. Conduct assessment tool validation also when you:
- Amend your resources
- Include new training products on scope
- Compare your course with training product updates
- Spot 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.
What Training Products Need Validation?
Keep in mind that this validation ensures compliance of all training materials before use. All RTOs must validate training products for each subject unit.
Resources Needed to Start Assessment Tool Validation
To start assessment tool validation, you will need the complete set of your educational resources:
- Mapping Document: The first document to review. It indicates which evaluation items meet unit requirements, aiding in faster validation.
- Learner Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if instructions 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 criteria for each evaluation item are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Additional Resources: These may include checklists, registers, and evaluation templates created separately from the workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment task and comply with subject requirements.
Panel for Validation
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 industry experts.
Collectively, your panel must have:
- Workplace Competencies and Current Professional Skills relevant to the unit being validated.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Teaching and Learning.
- Either of the following training here and assessment credentials:
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.
Principles Guiding Assessment
- Impartiality: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- 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?
- Reliability: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?
Guidelines for Evidence
- Relevance: Is the evidence relevant to the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency?
- Completeness: Is there enough evidence to ensure that the learner has the skills and knowledge required?
- Genuineness: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- Currency: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the verbs in the unit requirements and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. 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 babies for sleep and help them settle
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
Frequent Errors
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.
Watch Out for the 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 does not fulfill the requirement.
Full Competence or Not Competent
Pay attention to itemized requirements. As mentioned earlier, if students do not complete all the tasks listed, it’s out of compliance. Each assessment item must meet all specifications, or the student is not yet competent, and the evaluation tool is non-compliant.
Be Specific!
Each evaluation task must have clear and specific reference answers to guide the assessor’s judgment on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not baffle students or evaluators.
Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them
Avoiding double-barrelled questions makes it more straightforward for students to respond and for evaluators 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 help rectify noncompliance. This influences your compliance status, so it's better to take a safe and compliant approach.
By following these recommendations and understanding the principles of assessment and rules of evidence, you can ensure that your assessment methods are reliable with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.