{Guide to Assessment Validation for Vocational Training Bodies throughout the Australian landscape A Reliable Guide

{Guide to Assessment Validation for Vocational Training Bodies throughout the Australian landscape A Reliable Guide

Blog Article

Overview of Assessment Validation

Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) handle many obligations post-registration, including annual declarations, AVETMISS reporting, and marketing adherence. Among these tasks, validating assessments is particularly challenging. While we've discussed validation in multiple discussions, a review of the basics is necessary. ASQA defines validation of assessments as granular review of the assessment process.

Essentially, assessment validation is about 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 SRTOs 2015 regulations, 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 rules mandate two types of validation. The first type of assessment review guarantees adherence to the requirements of the training package within your organisation's scope. The other type guarantees that assessments adhere to the principles of assessment and rules of evidence. This indicates that we perform validation pre- and post-assessment. This article will discuss the initial type—validation of assessment tools.

Two Types of Assessment Validation

- Assessment Tool Validation: Commonly called pre-assessment validation or verification, concerns the primary part of the regulation, aimed at meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Relates to the execution, ensuring Registered Training Organisations conduct assessments in line with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Guide to Conducting Assessment Tool Validation

When to Validate Assessment Tools

The aim of validating assessment tools is to ensure that all elements, criteria for performance, and evidence of performance and knowledge are addressed by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you obtain new educational resources, 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 tools as soon as possible to verify they are appropriate for students.

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

- Update your resources
- Include new training products on scope
- Assess your course with training product updates
- Recognise 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.

Identifying Training Products for Validation

Bear in mind that this validation ensures conformity of all training materials before use. All RTOs must validate materials for each unit.

Necessary Resources for Assessment Tool Validation

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

- Mapping Tool: The first document to review. It indicates which assessment items meet course unit requirements, assisting 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/Marking Guide: Also ensure if directions for evaluators are sufficient and if clear criteria for each assessment task are provided. Clear benchmarks are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include checklists, logs, and forms developed separately from the learner workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment task and meet subject requirements.

Validation Panel

Clause 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 ask all trainers and evaluators to participate, sometimes including industry experts.

Collectively, your 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 more info Assessment or its successor.

Assessment Principles

- Fairness: Is equal opportunity and access provided to everyone in the assessment process?
- Versatility: Is the assessment adaptable to different needs and preferences of candidates?
- Validity: Is the assessment relevant to the skills and knowledge it aims to evaluate?
- Consistency: Are the assessment results consistent regardless of who conducts the training?

Guidelines for Evidence

- Appropriateness: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Adequacy: Is there enough evidence to ensure that the learner has the skills and knowledge required?
- Authenticity: Is the evidence genuine and truly representative of the candidate's abilities?
- Relevance: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?

Key Considerations for Assessment Validation

Pay attention to the tasks in the unit requirements and ensure they are addressed by the evaluation task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one performance evidence requirement asks students to:

- Perform diaper changes
- Feed babies with bottles 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

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 criteria is meant to assess theoretical understanding (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), students should be doing the tasks.

Mind the Plurals!

Pay attention to the numbers. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 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 Nothing Competence

Pay attention to enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students do not complete all the tasks listed, it’s out of compliance. Each assessment item must address all requirements, or the student is not yet competent, and the evaluation tool is not compliant.

Provide Specific Details

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

Not using 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, “Don't resource developers provide audit guarantees?” However, with these guarantees, you must wait until an audit to address noncompliance. This influences your compliance status, so it's better to take a proactive and compliant approach.

By following these instructions and understanding the Principles of Assessment and evidence rules, you can ensure that your assessment tools are reliable with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.