Assessment Validation Overview
Registered Training Organisations have various responsibilities following registration, like yearly declarations, AVETMISS data submission, and marketing compliance. Among these tasks, validating assessments is particularly challenging. While validation has been reviewed in several discussions, a review of the basics is necessary. The Australian Skills Quality Authority defines validation of assessments as granular review of the assessment procedure.
Basically, assessment review is focused on 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 2015 Standards for RTOs, 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 standards require 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 ensures that assessments adhere to the principles of assessment and rules of evidence. This implies that validation is carried out in both pre- and post-assessment stages. This article will concentrate on the first type—validation of assessment tools.
Differentiating Assessment Validation Types
- Assessment Tool Validation: Also called pre-assessment validation or verification, involves the first part of the regulation, focusing on meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is related to the implementation, guaranteeing that RTO assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Process of Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
When Should Assessment Tool Validation Be Conducted?
The goal of validating assessment tools is to make sure that all components, criteria for performance, and performance and knowledge evidence are covered by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you acquire new educational resources, you must perform assessment tool validation before allowing students to use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Validate new resources as soon as possible to confirm they are fit for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only time to perform this type of validation. Do validation of assessment tools also when you:
- Upgrade your resources
- Add new qualifications to scope
- Audit your course with training product updates
- Recognise 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 Requiring Validation
Note that this validation ensures conformity of all learning resources before student use. All RTOs must validate resources for each course unit.
Resources Required for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your evaluation tools, you will need the complete set of your educational resources:
- Mapping Tool: The first document to review. It indicates which evaluation items meet course unit requirements, helping with faster validation.
- Learner Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment tool during validation. Check if instructions are clear and answer fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also verify if guidelines for trainers are sufficient and if clear criteria for each assessment task are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include lists, logs, and templates designed separately from the learner workbook and assessor guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment activity and meet subject requirements.
Panel for Validation
Standard 1.11 specifies the requirements for members of the validation panel. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually mandate all educators and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.
Collectively, your assessment validation panel must have:
- Vocational Skills and Current Industry Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Education.
- Either of the following credentials for training and assessment:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE40116 or its successor.
Principles Guiding Assessment
- Impartiality: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Adaptability: Are there multiple ways to demonstrate competence, accommodating different needs and preferences?
- Validity: 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
- Validity: Does the evidence demonstrate that the candidate has the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements?
- Adequacy: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Originality: Is the evidence genuine and truly representative of the candidate's abilities?
- Timeliness: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?
Important Factors in Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the action words in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the evaluation task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers, one required performance evidence 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
Asking students to describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old does not meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit specification is meant to evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), students should be performing 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 check it out 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 itemized requirements. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s non-compliant. Each assessment item must meet all criteria, or the student is not yet competent, and the assessment tool is out of compliance.
Provide Specific Details
Each evaluation task must have clear and specific benchmark answers to guide the assessor’s judgment on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your directions do not confuse students or trainers.
Steer Clear of Double-Barrelled Questions
Not using double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for trainers to accurately evaluate student competence.
Assurance During Audits
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 influences your compliance status, so it's better to take a safe and compliant approach.
By following these recommendations and understanding the assessment principles and evidence rules, you can ensure that your assessment methods are reliable with the requirements set by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.