{Validation of Assessment concerning RTOs across the Australian context —

{Validation of Assessment concerning RTOs across the Australian context —

Blog Article

Overview of Assessment Validation

Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) manage numerous responsibilities upon registration, which include annual declarations, AVETMISS reporting, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, validating assessments is notably challenging. While validation has been reviewed in many posts, let's return to the basics. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) identifies assessment review as a quality review of the assessment process.

Essentially, assessment validation is designed to identify 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 SRTOs 2015 regulations, 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 standards require two types of validation. The primary type of assessment review guarantees adherence to the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The subsequent validation 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 focus on the primary type—assessment tool validation.

Exploring the Types of Assessment Validation

- Assessment Tool Validation: Also known as pre-assessment validation or verification, involves the first part of the regulation, ensuring compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Relates to the implementation, ensuring that RTO assessments align with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Conducting Validation of Assessment Tools

When to Validate Assessment Tools

The purpose of assessment tool validation is to ensure that all elements, criteria for performance, and evidence of performance and knowledge are addressed by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you purchase new educational resources, you must perform validation of assessment tools before students use them. 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 reason to do this type of validation. Perform assessment tool validation also when you:

- Modify your resources
- Expand with new training products on scope
- Evaluate your course with training product updates
- Identify 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.

Identifying Training Products for Validation

Keep in mind that this validation ensures compliance of all educational resources before use. All RTOs must validate resources for each subject unit.

Resources Needed to Start Assessment Tool Validation

To validate your assessment tools, you will need the complete set of your educational resources:

- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It shows which assessment items meet course unit requirements, helping with faster validation.
- Learner/Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if directions are clear and input fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also verify if instructions for assessors are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each assessment item are provided. Clear benchmarks are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Other Related Resources: These may include checklists, registers, and evaluation templates designed separately from the student workbook and assessor guide. Validate these to ensure they suit the assessment task and comply with subject requirements.

Assessment Validation Panel

Standard 1.11 specifies the requirements for validation panel members. It states assessment 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 panel must have:

- Vocational Competencies and Current Industry Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following certifications for training and assessment:
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.

Assessment Principles

- Equity: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Adaptability: Are there multiple ways to demonstrate competence, accommodating different needs and preferences?
- Accuracy: Is the assessment relevant to the skills and knowledge it aims to evaluate?
- Consistency: Will different assessors make the Assessment validation RTO same decision on skill competence?

Evidence Rules

- Validity: Does the evidence demonstrate that the candidate has the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements?
- Completeness: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Authenticity: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Currency: Is the evidence up-to-date with current industry practices?

Key Considerations for Assessment Validation

Pay attention to the action words in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the assessment task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one required performance evidence asks students to:

- Change diapers
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- Respond appropriately to baby signs and cues
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development

Common Pitfalls

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., knowledge evidence), students should be doing the tasks.

Be Careful with Plurals!

Pay attention to the quantities. 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 is not sufficient.

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 task must cover all criteria, or the student is not yet competent, and the assessment tool is non-compliant.

Provide Specific Details

Each assessment task must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the evaluator’s decision on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your guidelines do not baffle students or evaluators.

Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them

Not using double-barrelled questions makes it easier for students to respond and for trainers to accurately judge student competence.

Assurance During Audits

Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don’t learning resource developers offer audit guarantees?” However, with these assurances, you must wait until an audit to address noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, so it's better to take a preventative and compliant approach.

By following these guidelines and understanding the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence, you can ensure that your assessment methods are compliant with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.