{Guide to Assessment Validation regarding Vocational Education and Training across Australia's training sector An Ultimate Guide

{Guide to Assessment Validation regarding Vocational Education and Training across Australia's training sector An Ultimate Guide

Blog Article

Overview

Training Organisations have numerous tasks post-registration, which include yearly declarations, AVETMISS reporting, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments is notably challenging. While validation has been reviewed in multiple posts, let's return to the basics. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) defines validation of assessments as granular review of the assessment process.

Principally, assessment review is intended to identify 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 SRTOs 2015, 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 require two forms of validation. The first type of assessment review ensures compliance with the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The other type verifies that assessments follow the principles of assessment and Rules of Evidence. This indicates that validation is performed both before and after the assessment. This article will focus on the initial type—validation of assessment tools.

What are the Two Types of Assessment Validation?

- Assessment Tool Validation: Commonly called pre-assessment validation or verification, concerns the initial part of the regulation, focusing on compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Pertains to the implementation, confirming that RTO assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Guide to Conducting Assessment Tool Validation

When Should Assessment Tool Validation Be Conducted?

The purpose of assessment tool validation is to verify that all aspects, performance criteria, and performance and knowledge evidence are addressed by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you get new learning resources, you must conduct validation of assessment tools before allowing students to use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Check new tools as soon as possible to ensure they are suitable for student use.

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

- Modify your resources
- Introduce new training products on scope
- Examine your course with training product updates
- Note 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.

Which Training Products Should You Validate?

Bear in mind that this validation ensures compliance of all training materials before use. All RTOs must validate materials for each course 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 identifies which assessment tasks meet course unit requirements, helping with faster validation.
- Learner/Student 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.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also check if guidelines for evaluators are sufficient and if clear criteria for each assessment item are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable assessment results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include lists, logs, and templates created separately from the student workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they suit the evaluation task and meet subject requirements.

Assessment 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 mandate all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including field experts.

Collectively, read more your panel must have:

- Workplace Competencies and Up-to-date Industry Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.

Principles of Assessment

- Impartiality: Is the assessment process fair and equitable for all candidates?
- Flexibility: Are there multiple ways to demonstrate competence, accommodating different needs and preferences?
- Relevance: Is the assessment an accurate tool for evaluating the required skills and knowledge?
- Consistency: Will different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?

Rules of Evidence

- Validity: Is the evidence relevant to the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency?
- Adequacy: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Genuineness: Is the evidence genuine and truly representative of the candidate's abilities?
- Currency: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?

Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation

Pay attention to the action words in the unit requirements and ensure they are addressed by the assessment task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care, one required performance evidence asks students to:

- Perform diaper changes
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Observe and promote suitable physical activities and motor skills for babies

Frequent Errors

Describing the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months does not fulfill the unit requirement. Unless the unit specification is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), students should be carrying out the tasks.

Watch Out for the Plurals!

Pay attention to the quantities. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 demands 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.

All or Not Competent

Pay attention to itemized requirements. As mentioned earlier, if students do not complete all the tasks listed, it’s non-compliant. Each evaluation task must cover all criteria, or the student is not competent, and the assessment tool is non-compliant.

Be Specific!

Each assessment item must have clear and specific reference answers to guide the assessor’s judgment on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your directions do not mislead students or assessors.

Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them

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

Ensuring Audit Compliance

Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don’t learning resource developers offer audit guarantees?” However, with these promises, you must wait for an audit before they help rectify noncompliance. This affects your compliance history, so it's better to take a preventative and compliant approach.

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