Intro to Validating Assessments for RTOs
Training Organisations handle numerous obligations after becoming registered, which include yearly reports, AVETMISS compliance, and marketing adherence. Among these tasks, assessment validation often stands out. While validation has been covered in multiple posts, let's revisit the fundamental principles. The Australian Skills Quality Authority describes assessment validation as granular review of the assessment process.
Primarily, assessment validation 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 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 rules mandate two forms of validation. The initial type of assessment review guarantees adherence to the training package assessment requirements within your RTO's scope. The other type verifies that assessments follow the principles of assessment and rules of evidence. This implies that validation is performed both before and after the assessment. This article will concentrate on the first type—assessment tool validation.
Exploring the Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Often termed pre-assessment validation or verification, is related to the first part of the clause, aimed at compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Involves the conduct, ensuring Registered Training Organisations conduct assessments in line with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Guide to Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
Optimal Timing for Assessment Tool Validation
The purpose of assessment tool validation is to verify that all components, performance criteria, and performance and knowledge evidence are included by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you get new educational resources, you must carry out validation of assessment tools before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Review new tools immediately to verify they are fit for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason to perform this type of validation. Perform assessment tool validation also when you:
- Improve your resources
- Include new training products on scope
- Examine your course with training product updates
- Detect 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.
Training Products Needing Validation
Remember that this validation ensures conformity of all educational resources before being used. All RTOs must validate resources for each unit.
Resources Needed to Start Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your evaluation tools, you will need the complete set of your learning resources:
- website Mapping Document: The first document to review. It indicates which assessment tasks meet subject requirements, helping with faster validation.
- Learner/Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment tool during validation. Check if guidelines are clear and response areas are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide: Also ensure if guidelines for trainers are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each evaluation item are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, evaluation registers, and evaluation templates developed separately from the learner workbook and assessor guide. Validate these to ensure they suit the assessment activity and meet subject requirements.
Validation Panel
Standard 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 assessors to participate, sometimes including field experts.
Collectively, your assessment validation panel must have:
- Workplace Competencies and Current Industry Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following credentials for training and assessment:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE40116 or its successor.
Principles of Assessment
- 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?
- Accuracy: Is the assessment an accurate tool for evaluating the required skills and knowledge?
- Consistency: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?
Rules of Evidence
- Validity: Is the evidence relevant to the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency?
- Sufficiency: Is there enough evidence to ensure that the learner has the skills and knowledge required?
- Originality: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Currency: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?
Important Factors in Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the verbs in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the evaluation task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one performance evidence requirement 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
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
Typical Mistakes
Describing the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months does not fulfill the unit requirement. Unless the unit specification is meant to assess theoretical understanding (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be performing the tasks.
Watch Out for the Plurals!
Pay attention to the quantities. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 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.
All or Nothing Competence
Pay attention to enumerated tasks. 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 competent, and the assessment method is out of compliance.
Can You Be More Specific?
Each evaluation task must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the assessor’s evaluation on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your directions do not baffle students or trainers.
Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions
Steering clear of double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for assessors to accurately assess student competence.
Ensuring Audit Compliance
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don’t learning resource developers offer audit guarantees?” However, with these promises, you must wait for an audit before they assist with noncompliance. This affects your compliance history, so it's better to take a preventative and compliant approach.
By following these instructions and understanding the assessment principles and Rules of Evidence, you can ensure that your evaluation tools are reliable with the requirements set by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.