Overview of Assessment Validation
Training Organisations handle many duties after becoming registered, including yearly declarations, AVETMISS compliance, and marketing compliance. Among these tasks, validating assessments is particularly challenging. While validation has been covered in several posts, let's revisit the fundamental principles. The Australian Skills Quality Authority defines assessment review as quality assurance of the evaluation process.
Basically, validation of assessments is dedicated to 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 2015 Standards for RTOs, 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 standards mandate two types of validation. The initial type of validation of assessments checks conformity with the requirements of the training package within your organisation's scope. The subsequent validation ensures that assessments are conducted according to the principles of assessment and Rules of Evidence. This indicates that validation is carried out pre- and post-assessment. This article will discuss the first type—assessment tool validation.
What are the Two Types of Assessment Validation?
- Assessment Tool Validation: Commonly called pre-assessment validation or verification, concerns the first part of the clause, ensuring ensuring all unit requirements are met.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Relates to the execution, ensuring that RTO assessments align with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Conducting Validation of Assessment Tools
Best Time for Conducting Assessment
The purpose of assessment tool validation is to ensure that all components, criteria for performance, and performance and knowledge evidence are included by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you purchase new learning resources, you must perform assessment tool validation before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Validate new materials right away to ensure they are fit for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only time to do this type of validation. Conduct assessment tool validation also when you:
- Upgrade your resources
- Expand with new training products on scope
- Compare your course with 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.
Selecting Training Products for Validation
Note that this validation ensures compliance of all educational resources before use. All RTOs must validate training products for each unit.
Resources Required for Assessment Tool Validation
To start assessment tool validation, you will need the complete set of your learning resources:
- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It identifies which assessment tasks meet course unit requirements, aiding in faster validation.
- Learner Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment tool during validation. Check if instructions are clear and response areas are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also verify if directions for trainers are sufficient and if clear criteria for each assessment task are provided. Clear benchmarks are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Additional Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, evaluation registers, and templates designed separately from the student workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the evaluation task and address 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 ask all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including field experts.
Collectively, your validation panel must have:
- Workplace Competencies and Current Industry Skills relevant to the validated unit.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following certifications for training and assessment:
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.
Assessment Principles
- Equity: Is equal opportunity and access provided to everyone in the assessment process?
- Flexibility: Is the assessment adaptable to different needs and preferences of candidates?
- Accuracy: Is the assessment relevant to the skills and knowledge it aims to evaluate?
- Dependability: Will different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?
Evidence Rules
- Validity: Is the evidence relevant to the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency?
- Completeness: Is there enough evidence to ensure that the learner has the skills and knowledge required?
- Originality: Is the evidence genuine and truly representative of the candidate's abilities?
- Relevance: Is the evidence up-to-date with current industry practices?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the verbs in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for 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 and settle babies for sleep
- Monitor and encourage age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills
Typical Mistakes
Having students describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old doesn’t directly meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit specification is meant to assess theoretical understanding (i.e., knowledge evidence), students should be doing the tasks.
Be Careful with 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 itemized requirements. As mentioned earlier, if students do not complete all the tasks listed, it’s non-compliant. Each assessment task must cover all specifications, or the student is incompetent, and the assessment method is not compliant.
Be Specific!
Each evaluation task must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the evaluator’s decision on find it here the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your directions do not mislead students or evaluators.
Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them
Not using double-barrelled questions makes it easier for students to respond and for trainers to accurately judge student competence.
Assurance During Audits
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don’t learning resource developers offer audit guarantees?” However, with these assurances, you must wait until an audit to address noncompliance. This affects your compliance history, so it's better to take a proactive and compliant approach.
By following these instructions and understanding the principles of assessment and rules of evidence, you can ensure that your evaluation tools are reliable with the requirements set by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.