Intro to RTO Assessment Validation
Registered Training Organisations are responsible for numerous obligations after becoming registered, such as annual declarations, AVETMISS reporting, and marketing adherence. Among these tasks, assessment validation frequently stands out. While validation has been covered in many publications, let's return to the basics. ASQA describes assessment validation as quality assurance of the assessment procedure.
Essentially, assessment validation is concerned with 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 Standards for RTOs 2015, RTOs must ensure their assessment systems, including RPL, comply with 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 validation of assessments guarantees adherence to the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The second validation ensures that assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence. This indicates that validation is carried out in both pre- and post-assessment stages. This article will discuss the initial type—assessment tool validation.
The Two Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Sometimes called pre-assessment validation or verification, involves the initial part of the regulation, focusing on ensuring all unit requirements are met.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Relates to the conduct, verifying that RTOs conduct assessments according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Steps to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation
When Should Assessment Tool Validation Be Conducted?
The goal of assessment tool validation is to verify that all components, criteria for performance, and performance and knowledge evidence are addressed by your evaluation tools. Therefore, whenever you get new educational resources, you must conduct validation of assessment tools before allowing students to use them. There's no need to wait for your next 5-year cycle validation schedule. Check new tools as soon as possible to ensure they are suitable for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only occasion to do this type of validation. Do assessment tool validation also when you:
- Update your resources
- Incorporate new training products on scope
- Examine your course with training product updates
- Identify potential risks in your learning resources 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?
Remember that this validation guarantees adherence of all learning resources before student use. All RTOs must validate materials for each course unit.
Resources Needed to Start Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your assessment tools, you will need the complete set of your learning resources:
- Mapping Tool: The first document to review. It indicates which assessment items meet subject requirements, helping with 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 instructions for assessors are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each assessment item are provided. Clear benchmarks are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Other Related Resources: These may include checklists, evaluation registers, and evaluation templates designed separately from the student workbook and assessor guide. Validate these to ensure they suit the assessment task and address unit requirements.
Validation Panel
Standard 1.11 specifies the requirements for members of the validation panel. It states validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually ask all educators and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.
Collectively, your assessment validation panel must have:
- Workplace Competencies and Current Professional Skills relevant to the unit being validated.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Education.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE40116 or its successor.
Principles of Assessment
- Fairness: Is equal opportunity and access provided to everyone in the assessment process?
- Adaptability: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on different needs and preferences?
- Relevance: Does the assessment evaluate what it is intended to evaluate?
- Reliability: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?
Rules of Evidence
- Relevance: Does the evidence demonstrate that the candidate has the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements?
- Adequacy: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Authenticity: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- Timeliness: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?
Important Factors in Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the tasks in the unit requirements and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one performance criteria asks students to:
- Perform diaper changes
- Prepare and feed bottles, clean feeding equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- Respond appropriately to baby signs and cues
- Prepare babies for sleep and help them settle
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
Frequent Errors
Describing the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months does not fulfill the unit requirement. Unless the unit requirement is meant to assess theoretical understanding (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be doing the tasks.
Watch Out for the Plurals!
Pay attention to the quantities. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care 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 won’t check it out cut it.
Full Competence or Not Competent
Pay attention to lists. As mentioned earlier, if students only complete half the tasks, it’s not compliant. Each evaluation task must address all requirements, or the student is incompetent, and the assessment method is not compliant.
Can You Be More Specific?
Each evaluation task must have clear and specific reference answers to guide the assessor’s evaluation on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your guidelines do not mislead students or trainers.
Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them
Avoiding double-barrelled questions makes it easier 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 assurances, you must wait for an audit before they assist with noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, so it's better to take a safe and compliant approach.
By following these instructions and understanding the assessment principles and Rules of Evidence, you can ensure that your assessment methods are valid with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.