{Assessment Validation Process for the Vocational Education and Training in Australia's training sector A Detailed Manual

{Assessment Validation Process for the Vocational Education and Training in Australia's training sector A Detailed Manual

Blog Article

Overview of Assessment Validation

RTOs have many tasks upon registration, like yearly reports, AVETMISS reporting, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, validating assessments frequently stands out. While validation has been covered in many posts, let's revisit the fundamental principles. The Australian Skills Quality Authority describes assessment review as granular review of the assessment process.

Fundamentally, assessment review is dedicated to 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, 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 rules mandate two types of validation. The initial type of validation of assessments guarantees adherence to the training package assessment requirements within your RTO's scope. The second validation verifies that assessments are conducted according to the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence. This indicates that validation is carried out both before and after the assessment. This article will focus on the first type—assessment tool validation.

What are the Two Types of Assessment Validation?

- Assessment Tool Validation: Also called pre-assessment validation or verification, involves the first part of the regulation, ensuring compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Involves the conduct, ensuring RTOs conduct assessments in line with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

How to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation

When to Validate Assessment Tools

The aim of assessment tool validation is to ensure that all elements, performance criteria, and performance and knowledge evidence are covered by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you get new educational resources, you must perform validation of assessment tools prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next scheduled validation. Check new resources as soon as possible to verify they are suitable for student use.

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

- Enhance your resources
- Expand with new training products on scope
- Audit your course with training product updates
- Detect your learning resources as a risk during your risk assessment

The Australian Skills Quality Authority employs a risk-based approach for regulating RTOs and expects regular risk assessments. Therefore, student complaints about learning resources are an ideal time to conduct assessment tool validation.

What Training Products Require Validation

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

Resources Required for Assessment Tool Validation

To validate your assessment tools, check it out you will need the complete set of your educational resources:

- Mapping Document: The first document to review. It indicates which assessment items meet unit requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment tool during validation. Check if guidelines are clear and response areas are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also ensure if instructions for trainers are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each assessment task are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Other Related Resources: These may include lists, evaluation registers, and templates created separately from the student workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they suit the evaluation task and meet subject requirements.

Validation Panel

Clause 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 require all trainers and evaluators to participate, sometimes including sector experts.

Collectively, your panel must have:

- Vocational Skills and Current Professional Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Teaching and Learning.
- Either of the following certifications for training and assessment:
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.

Principles of Assessment

- Equity: Is the assessment process fair and equitable for all candidates?
- Flexibility: Is the assessment adaptable to different needs and preferences of candidates?
- Relevance: Is the assessment relevant to the skills and knowledge it aims to evaluate?
- Dependability: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?

Guidelines for Evidence

- Relevance: 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: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Timeliness: Are the assessment tools based on current units of competency and up-to-date industry practices?

Key Considerations for Assessment Validation

Pay attention to the action words in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers, one performance criteria asks students to:

- Change diapers
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Prepare and give solid food to babies
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- Monitor and encourage age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills

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 assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), 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 requires 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 only complete half the tasks, it’s non-compliant. Each assessment task must address all specifications, or the student is incompetent, and the assessment tool is non-compliant.

Provide Specific Details

Each assessment task must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the assessor’s evaluation on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your directions do not confuse students or evaluators.

Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them

Avoiding double-barrelled questions makes it more straightforward for students to respond and for trainers to accurately assess student competence.

Audit Guarantees

Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don't resource developers provide audit guarantees?” However, with these guarantees, 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 guidelines 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.