{Guide to Assessment Validation for the Education Providers across the Australian context A Detailed Manual

{Guide to Assessment Validation for the Education Providers across the Australian context A Detailed Manual

Blog Article

Overview of Assessment Validation

RTOs have many tasks after becoming registered, including annual statements, AVETMISS compliance, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, validating assessments often stands out. While validation has been covered in multiple posts, a review of the basics is necessary. ASQA identifies assessment validation as quality assurance of the assessment procedure.

Principally, validation of assessments is aimed at identifying 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 Standards for RTOs 2015, RTOs must ensure their assessment systems, including RPL, adhere to the training package requirements and are conducted according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

The regulations specify two types of validation. The primary type of assessment validation guarantees adherence to the requirements of the training package within your organisation's scope. The subsequent validation guarantees that assessments follow the principles of assessment and Rules of Evidence. This suggests that validation is carried out pre- and post-assessment. This article will focus on the first type—validation of assessment tools.

Understanding Assessment Validation Types

- Assessment Tool Validation: Also known as pre-assessment validation or verification, involves the first part of the rule, aimed at compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is concerned with the execution, verifying that RTOs conduct assessments according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Process of Conducting Assessment Tool Validation

When to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation

The purpose of validating assessment tools is to verify that all aspects, performance criteria, and performance and knowledge evidence are covered by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you purchase new learning resources, you must perform assessment tool validation before allowing students to use them. There's no need to wait for your next scheduled validation. Validate new tools as soon as possible to confirm they are appropriate for students.

Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason to conduct this type of validation. Do validation of assessment tools also when you:

- Revise your resources
- Expand with new training products on scope
- Compare your course with training product updates
- Flag 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.

What Training Products Require Validation

Note that this validation ensures compliance of all training materials before student use. All RTOs must validate training products for each subject unit.

Resources Needed to Start Assessment Tool Validation

To validate your evaluation tools, you will need the complete set of your learning resources:

- Mapping Tool: The first document to review. It identifies which assessment tasks meet subject requirements, helping with faster validation.
- Learner Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment resource during validation. Check if directions are clear and answer fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Marking Guide: Also ensure if guidelines for assessors are sufficient and if clear standards for each assessment task are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Other Related Resources: These may include lists, evaluation registers, and templates designed separately from the student workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment activity and comply with course unit requirements.

Panel for Validation

Standard 1.11 specifies the requirements for panel members. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs check it out usually ask all educators and assessors to participate, sometimes including field experts.

Collectively, your panel must have:

- Vocational Skills and Current Industry Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- 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

- Impartiality: Is the assessment process fair and equitable for all candidates?
- Adaptability: Is the assessment adaptable to different needs and preferences of candidates?
- Validity: Does the assessment evaluate what it is intended to evaluate?
- Reliability: Will different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?

Guidelines for Evidence

- Appropriateness: 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: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- Relevance: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?

Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation

Pay attention to the tasks in the unit requirements 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:

- Perform diaper changes
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Prepare and give solid food to babies
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- 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 criteria is meant to evaluate underlying knowledge (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 is not sufficient.

Full Competence or Not Competent

Pay attention to lists. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s not compliant. Each assessment task must address all requirements, or the student is not competent, and the assessment tool is non-compliant.

Be Specific!

Each assessment 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 guidelines 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 assessors to accurately evaluate student competence.

Ensuring Audit Compliance

Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Do resource developers offer guarantees for audits?” However, with these guarantees, you must wait until an audit to address noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, so it's better to take a safe 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 standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.