Intro to Validating Assessments for RTOs
Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) handle various responsibilities after becoming registered, such as yearly reports, AVETMISS reporting, and marketing compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments is notably challenging. While validation has been reviewed in multiple publications, let's revisit the fundamental principles. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) identifies assessment review as a quality review of the assessment procedure.
Primarily, assessment validation is dedicated to identifying which parts of an RTO’s assessment procedures 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 require two types of validation. The primary type of validation of assessments ensures compliance 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 suggests that we perform validation pre- and post-assessment. This article will concentrate on the first type—assessment tool validation.
Two Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Commonly called pre-assessment validation or verification, deals with the primary part of the clause, ensuring compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Pertains to the conduct, making sure RTOs conduct assessments according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Conducting Validation of Assessment Tools
Scheduling Assessment Tool Validation
The purpose of assessment tool validation is to make sure that all aspects, performance criteria, and evidence of performance and knowledge are addressed by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you acquire new learning resources, you must conduct assessment tool validation before allowing students to use them. There's no need to wait for your next scheduled validation. Check new resources as soon as possible to verify they are appropriate for students.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only time to perform this type of validation. Perform assessment tool validation also when you:
- Modify your resources
- Add new training products on scope
- Check your course against 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.
Training Products Requiring Validation
Bear in mind that this validation ensures compliance of all learning resources before use. All RTOs must validate training products for each subject unit.
Necessary Resources for Assessment Tool Validation
To start assessment tool validation, you will need the complete set of your training materials:
- Mapping Tool: The first document to review. It identifies which assessment items meet course unit requirements, aiding in faster validation.
- Learner Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment resource during validation. Check if guidelines are clear and input fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also check if guidelines for assessors are sufficient and if clear criteria for each assessment task are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Other Related Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, evaluation registers, and evaluation find it here templates developed separately from the learner workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the evaluation task and meet course unit requirements.
Assessment Validation Panel
Standard 1.11 specifies the requirements for validation panel members. 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 validation panel must have:
- Vocational Skills and Current Professional Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Education.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- TAE40116 Training and Assessment Certificate IV or its successor.
Assessment Principles
- Fairness: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Flexibility: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on different needs and preferences?
- Accuracy: Does the assessment evaluate what it is intended to evaluate?
- Dependability: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?
Rules of Evidence
- Appropriateness: 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?
- Authenticity: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Relevance: Is the evidence up-to-date with current industry practices?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the tasks in the unit specifications 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:
- Perform diaper changes
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- Respond to baby signs and cues properly
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
Common Pitfalls
Having students describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old doesn’t directly meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit criteria is meant to assess theoretical understanding (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be doing the tasks.
Be Careful with Plurals!
Pay attention to the numbers. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers 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.
All or Nothing Competence
Pay attention to enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s out of compliance. Each evaluation task must meet all requirements, or the student is not competent, and the assessment method is non-compliant.
Provide Specific Details
Each assessment task must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the assessor’s judgment on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not confuse students or assessors.
Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions
Steering clear of double-barrelled questions makes it more straightforward for students to respond and for assessors to accurately evaluate 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 until an audit to address noncompliance. This influences your compliance status, so it's better to take a preventative and compliant approach.
By following these recommendations and understanding the assessment principles and Rules of Evidence, you can ensure that your assessment tools are reliable with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.