Intro to RTO Assessment Validation
Registered Training Organisations handle multiple responsibilities post-registration, such as yearly reports, AVETMISS reporting, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, validating assessments frequently stands out. While validation has been covered in many articles, let's return to the basics. The Australian Skills Quality Authority defines validation of assessments as granular review 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 SRTOs 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 regulations specify two forms of validation. The first type of assessment validation guarantees adherence to the requirements of the training package within your organisation's scope. The subsequent validation ensures that assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence. This indicates that validation is carried out both before and after the assessment. This article will focus on the initial type—validation of assessment tools.
Differentiating Assessment Validation Types
- Assessment Tool Validation: Also called pre-assessment validation or verification, involves the primary part of the clause, ensuring meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is concerned with the implementation, ensuring that RTO assessments align with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Process of Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
When Should Assessment Tool Validation Be Conducted?
The purpose of assessment tool validation is to verify that all elements, performance standards, and performance and knowledge evidence are included by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you obtain new educational resources, you must carry out assessment tool validation before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Check new tools as soon as possible to confirm they are suitable for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason to do this type of validation. Do assessment tool validation also when you:
- Improve your resources
- Introduce new training products on scope
- Audit 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?
Remember that this validation guarantees adherence of all educational resources before being used. All RTOs must validate resources for each unit.
Necessary Resources for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your evaluation tools, you will need the complete set of your training materials:
- Mapping Document: The first document to review. It shows which assessment tasks meet subject requirements, aiding in faster validation.
- Learner/Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if instructions are clear and input fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide: Also verify if guidelines for assessors are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each assessment item are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include checklists, evaluation registers, and evaluation templates created separately from the learner workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they suit the assessment task and comply with course unit requirements.
Assessment Validation Panel
Regulation 1.11 specifies the requirements for validation panel members. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually check it out ask all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.
Collectively, your assessment validation panel must have:
- Workplace Competencies and Current Industry Skills relevant to the unit being validated.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Teaching and Learning.
- Either of the following credentials for training and assessment:
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.
Principles of Assessment
- Equity: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Adaptability: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on different needs and preferences?
- Accuracy: Is the assessment relevant to the skills and knowledge it aims to evaluate?
- Dependability: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?
Evidence Rules
- Relevance: Does the evidence demonstrate that the candidate has the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements?
- Completeness: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Authenticity: Is the evidence genuine and truly representative of the candidate's abilities?
- Currency: Are the assessment tools based on current units of competency and up-to-date industry practices?
Important Factors in Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the verbs in the unit specifications and ensure they are addressed by the assessment task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one performance evidence requirement asks students to:
- Change nappies
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- Respond to baby signs and cues properly
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- Monitor and encourage age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills
Common Pitfalls
Asking students to describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old does not meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit requirement is meant to evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., knowledge evidence), students should be doing the tasks.
Be Careful with Plurals!
Pay attention to the frequency. 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 only complete half the tasks, it’s non-compliant. Each assessment task must cover all specifications, or the student is incompetent, and the evaluation tool is out of compliance.
Provide Specific Details
Each assessment task must have clear and specific benchmark answers to guide the assessor’s evaluation on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your directions do not confuse students or trainers.
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, “Do resource developers offer guarantees for audits?” However, with these guarantees, 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 recommendations and understanding the Principles of Assessment and evidence rules, you can ensure that your evaluation tools are reliable with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.