{Validation of Assessment concerning Educational Institutions throughout Australia's training sector -
Intro to Assessment ValidationRegistered Training Organisations have various duties upon registration, including yearly reports, AVETMISS reporting, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, assessment validation often stands out. While validation has been covered in multiple publications, a review of the basics is necessary. ASQA identifies assessment review as quality assurance of the assessment procedure.
Principally, validation of assessments is focused on identifying 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 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 forms of validation. The initial type of assessment review guarantees adherence to the training package assessment requirements within your organisation'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 focus on the primary type—assessment tool validation.
Exploring the Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Referred to as pre-assessment validation or verification, involves the first part of the regulation, ensuring compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Pertains to the conduct, guaranteeing that RTO assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Conducting Validation of Assessment Tools
Best Time for Conducting Assessment
The purpose of validating assessment tools is to ensure that all aspects, performance criteria, and performance and knowledge evidence are covered by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you get new training materials, you must perform validation of assessment tools before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Validate new materials immediately to confirm they are appropriate for students.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason to conduct this type of validation. Do assessment tool validation also when you:
- Update your resources
- Integrate new training products on scope
- Evaluate your course with training product updates
- Identify 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 Need Validation?
Remember that this validation ensures compliance of all educational resources before use. All RTOs must validate training products for each unit.
Necessary Resources for 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 indicates which evaluation items meet subject requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Learner/Student 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: Also check if directions for assessors are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each assessment item are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable assessment results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, logs, and templates developed separately from the student workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they suit the assessment task and meet course unit requirements.
Validation Panel
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 require all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including field experts.
Collectively, your validation panel must have:
- Vocational Competencies and Current Professional Skills relevant to the unit being validated.
- Current Expertise 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: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on different needs and preferences?
- Validity: Does the assessment evaluate what it is intended to evaluate?
- Dependability: Will different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?
Evidence Rules
- Validity: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit check here of competency?
- Sufficiency: Is there enough evidence to ensure that the learner has the skills and knowledge required?
- Genuineness: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- 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 specifications and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care, one performance criteria asks students to:
- Perform diaper changes
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Prepare and give solid food to babies
- Respond to baby signs and cues properly
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Monitor and encourage age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills
Typical Mistakes
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 assess theoretical understanding (i.e., knowledge evidence), students should be carrying out the tasks.
Mind the Plurals!
Pay attention to the quantities. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care 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 does not fulfill the requirement.
All or Not Competent
Pay attention to enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students only complete half the tasks, it’s non-compliant. Each assessment item must cover all requirements, or the student is not yet competent, and the assessment method is not compliant.
Be Specific!
Each assessment item must have clear and specific reference answers to guide the assessor’s evaluation on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not mislead students or assessors.
Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions
Avoiding 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 promises, 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 instructions and understanding the Principles of Assessment and evidence rules, you can ensure that your assessment methods are compliant with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.