{Guide to Assessment Validation for Vocational Education Centres across the context of Australia An Exhaustive Guide

Intro to RTO Assessment Validation

Training Organisations have many tasks after becoming registered, like yearly reports, AVETMISS reporting, and marketing adherence. Among these tasks, assessment validation often stands out. While validation has been covered in many articles, let's return to the basics. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) defines assessment review as a quality review of the evaluation process.

In essence, assessment review is about identifying which parts of an RTO's assessment 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 regulations, 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 mandate two forms of validation. The initial type of assessment review ensures compliance with 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 performed in both pre- and post-assessment stages. This article will discuss the primary type—validation of assessment tools.

Understanding Assessment Validation Types

- Assessment Tool Validation: Also called pre-assessment validation or verification, relates to the first part of the clause, aimed at compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Relates to the implementation, confirming that RTO assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Guide to Conducting Assessment Tool Validation

Best Time for Conducting Assessment

The purpose of assessment tool validation is to ensure that all elements, performance standards, and performance and knowledge evidence are covered by your evaluation tools. Therefore, whenever you obtain new training materials, you must conduct validation of assessment tools before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Validate new tools as soon as possible to verify they are suitable for student use.

Nevertheless, this isn't the only time to perform this type of validation. Perform assessment tool validation also when you:

- Amend your resources
- Add new training products on scope
- Review your course against 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?

Keep in mind that this validation guarantees adherence of all educational resources before use. All RTOs must validate resources for each course unit.

Resources Required for Assessment Tool Validation

To start assessment tool validation, you will need the complete set of your training materials:

- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It identifies which assessment 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: Also check if instructions for assessors are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each assessment task are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable assessment results.
- Other Related Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, evaluation registers, and forms created separately from the workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment task and comply with course unit requirements.

Panel for Validation

Clause 1.11 specifies the requirements for panel members. It states validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually mandate all trainers and evaluators to participate, sometimes including industry experts.

Collectively, your panel must have:

- Vocational Competencies and Current Professional Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Education.
- Either of the following credentials for training and read more assessment:
- TAE40116 Training and Assessment Certificate IV or its successor.

Principles of Assessment

- Fairness: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Adaptability: Are there multiple ways to demonstrate competence, accommodating different needs and preferences?
- Accuracy: Is the assessment an accurate tool for evaluating the required skills and knowledge?
- Reliability: Are the assessment results consistent regardless of who conducts the training?

Rules of Evidence

- Relevance: Is the evidence relevant to the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit 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?
- Timeliness: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?

Key Considerations for Assessment Validation

Pay attention to the action words in the unit specifications and ensure they are addressed by the evaluation task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers, one performance evidence requirement 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
- Observe and promote suitable physical activities and motor skills for babies

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 requirement is meant to evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., knowledge evidence), students should be carrying out the tasks.

Watch Out for the Plurals!

Pay attention to the numbers. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care calls for 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 lists. As mentioned earlier, if students only complete half the tasks, it’s not compliant. Each assessment item must meet all criteria, or the student is not 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 evaluators.

Steer Clear of Double-Barrelled Questions

Not using double-barrelled questions makes it easier for students to respond and for evaluators to accurately evaluate student competence.

Audit Guarantees

Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Do resource developers offer guarantees for audits?” However, with these promises, you must wait for an audit before they help rectify noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, so it's better to take a safe and compliant approach.

By following these guidelines and understanding the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence, you can ensure that your assessment methods are reliable with the requirements set by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.