{Tools for Assessment Validation for Registered Training Organizations across the Australian landscape A Thorough Guide

{Tools for Assessment Validation for Registered Training Organizations across the Australian landscape A Thorough Guide

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Intro to Assessment Validation

Training Organisations have numerous duties upon registration, which include annual declarations, AVETMISS reporting, and marketing compliance. Among these tasks, assessment validation is particularly challenging. While validation has been reviewed in multiple discussions, let's revisit the fundamental principles. ASQA defines assessment validation as granular review of the assessment procedure.

Principally, assessment validation is focused on 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 SRTOs 2015 regulations, 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 rules require two types of validation. The initial type of assessment validation guarantees adherence to the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The second validation verifies 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 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 initial part of the clause, aimed at compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Pertains to the conduct, verifying that RTOs conduct assessments according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Process of Conducting Assessment Tool Validation

When to Validate Assessment Tools

The goal of validating assessment tools is to verify that all elements, performance criteria, and evidence of performance and knowledge are included by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you get new training materials, you must perform validation of assessment tools before allowing students to use them. There's no need to wait for your next 5-year cycle validation schedule. Review new resources right away to ensure they are fit for student use.

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

- Revise your resources
- Integrate new training products on scope
- Audit your course with training product updates
- Identify 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 Requiring Validation

Remember that this validation guarantees adherence of all learning resources before student use. All RTOs must validate training products for each subject unit.

Necessary Resources for Assessment Tool Validation

To validate your evaluation tools, you will need the complete set of your training materials:

- Mapping Tool: The first document to review. It identifies which assessment tasks meet unit requirements, aiding in faster validation.
- Learner Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if instructions are clear and answer fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide/Marking Guide: Also check if instructions for evaluators are sufficient and if clear criteria for each evaluation item are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable assessment results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include checklists, logs, and evaluation templates created separately from the student workbook and assessor guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment activity and meet unit requirements.

Panel for Validation

Standard 1.11 specifies the requirements for panel members. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually mandate all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.

Collectively, your validation panel must have:

- Vocational Skills and Current Professional Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Education.
- 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: 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?
- Reliability: 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: Is there enough evidence to ensure that the learner has the skills and knowledge required?
- Originality: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Relevance: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?

Important Factors in Assessment Validation

Pay attention to the verbs in the unit requirements and ensure they are addressed by the evaluation task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers, one performance evidence requirement asks students to:

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

Frequent Errors

Asking students to describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old does not meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit criteria is meant to assess theoretical understanding (i.e., evidence of knowledge), 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 Nurture babies and toddlers 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 enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students only complete half the tasks, it’s out of compliance. Each evaluation task must address all criteria, or the student is incompetent, and the assessment method is not compliant.

Be Specific!

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

Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions

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

Assurance During Audits

Considering these requirements, you How to validate assessment tools Australia might wonder, “Don't resource developers provide audit guarantees?” However, with these promises, 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 rules of evidence, you can ensure that your evaluation tools are reliable with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.