{Assessment Validation Guide regarding Educational Institutions in the Australian context -
{Assessment Validation Guide regarding Educational Institutions in the Australian context -
Blog Article
Intro to Assessment Validation
Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) have numerous duties upon registration, which include yearly reports, AVETMISS compliance, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments is particularly challenging. While validation has been reviewed in several discussions, let's return to the basics. ASQA describes assessment review as quality assurance of the evaluation process.
Essentially, assessment validation is about identifying which parts of an RTO’s assessment procedures 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 rules require two forms of validation. The primary type of validation of assessments ensures compliance with the requirements of the training package within your organisation's scope. The second validation verifies that assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence. This suggests that validation is carried out both before and after the assessment. This article will concentrate on the initial type—validation of assessment tools.
Exploring the Types of Assessment Validation
- Assessment Tool Validation: Often termed pre-assessment validation or verification, is concerned with the primary part of the clause, aimed at ensuring all unit requirements are met.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is related to the implementation, verifying that RTOs conduct assessments according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
When Should Assessment Tool Validation Be Conducted?
The purpose of assessment tool validation is to verify that all aspects, performance standards, and performance and knowledge evidence are addressed by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you purchase new learning resources, you must conduct assessment tool validation before allowing students to use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Check new materials immediately to confirm they are suitable for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only occasion to do this type of validation. Conduct validation of assessment tools also when you:
- Enhance your resources
- Integrate new training products on scope
- Audit your course with training product updates
- Flag 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.
Training Products to Validate
Bear in mind that this validation guarantees adherence of all educational resources before being used. 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 Document: The first document to review. It identifies which assessment items meet course unit requirements, helping with faster validation.
- Learner Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment tool during validation. Check if instructions are clear and input fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide: Also check if directions for evaluators are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each assessment item are provided. Clear benchmarks are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Additional Resources: These may include lists, registers, and evaluation templates designed separately from the learner workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment activity and address course unit requirements.
Assessment 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 educators and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.
Collectively, your assessment validation panel must have:
- Vocational Skills and Current Industry Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Teaching and Learning.
- Either of the following credentials for training and assessment:
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.
Assessment Principles
- Fairness: 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?
- Consistency: Will different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?
Evidence Rules
- Validity: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Adequacy: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Originality: Is the evidence genuine and truly representative of the candidate's abilities?
- Timeliness: Are the assessment tools based on current units of competency and up-to-date industry practices?
Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the verbs in the unit specifications 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 appropriately to baby signs and cues
- Prepare babies for sleep and help them settle
- Monitor and encourage age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills
Common Pitfalls
Asking students to describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old does not meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit specification is meant to assess theoretical understanding (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be performing the tasks.
Be Careful with Plurals!
Pay attention to the frequency. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care requires the students to complete the this site 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 cut it.
All or Nothing Competence
Pay attention to enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s non-compliant. Each evaluation task must cover all requirements, or the student is not competent, and the evaluation tool is out of compliance.
Be Specific!
Each evaluation task must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the assessor’s judgment on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your guidelines do not baffle 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 assess student competence.
Assurance During Audits
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 methods are compliant with the requirements set by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.