{Guide to Assessment Validation for Education Providers in Australia An Authoritative Guide

{Guide to Assessment Validation for Education Providers in Australia An Authoritative Guide

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Assessment Validation Overview

Registered Training Organisations have various tasks after becoming registered, like annual declarations, AVETMISS data submission, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments is notably challenging. While we've discussed validation in many articles, a review of the basics is necessary. The Australian Skills Quality Authority identifies validation of assessments as quality assurance of the assessment procedure.

Essentially, assessment review is designed to identify 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 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 rules require two forms of validation. The primary type of assessment review checks conformity with the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The other type ensures that assessments are conducted according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence. This indicates that validation is performed both before and after the assessment. This article will concentrate on the initial type—validation of assessment tools.

Types of Assessment Validation

- Assessment Tool Validation: Often termed pre-assessment validation or verification, concerns the initial part of the regulation, focusing on meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Deals with the implementation, ensuring RTOs conduct assessments in line with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Steps to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation

Scheduling Assessment Tool Validation

The goal of assessment tool validation is to make sure that all aspects, performance standards, and performance and knowledge evidence are included by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you purchase new learning resources, you must perform validation of assessment tools prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Check new resources right away to verify they are suitable for student use.

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

- Upgrade your resources
- Incorporate new training products on scope
- Check your course against training product updates
- Detect 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 training materials before 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 Document: 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 evaluation tool during validation. Check if guidelines are clear and response areas 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 assessment item are provided. Clear standards are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include lists, evaluation registers, and evaluation templates designed separately from the learner workbook and assessor guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment activity and comply with course unit requirements.

Panel for Validation

Regulation 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 trainers and evaluators to participate, sometimes including sector experts.

Collectively, your panel must have:

- Workplace Competencies and Current Professional 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.

Principles Guiding Assessment

- Fairness: Is equal opportunity and access provided to everyone in the assessment process?
- Versatility: 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 different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?

Evidence Rules

- Relevance: Does the evidence demonstrate that the candidate has the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements?
- Sufficiency: Does the evidence adequately demonstrate the required skills and knowledge?
- Genuineness: Does the assessment tool verify that the work is the candidate’s own?
- Relevance: Are the assessment tools based on current units of competency and up-to-date industry practices?

Important Factors in Assessment Validation

Pay attention to the verbs in the unit criteria 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:

- Change diapers
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- 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

Common Pitfalls

Describing the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months does not fulfill the unit requirement. Unless the unit criteria is meant to assess theoretical understanding (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), get more info 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 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 enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students do not complete all the tasks listed, it’s non-compliant. Each assessment task must meet all requirements, or the student is not yet competent, and the evaluation tool is not compliant.

Provide Specific Details

Each assessment item must have clear and specific benchmark answers to guide the evaluator’s decision on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not mislead students or evaluators.

Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions

Steering clear of double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for assessors to accurately assess 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 influences your compliance status, so it's better to take a proactive and compliant approach.

By following these guidelines and understanding the assessment principles and rules of evidence, you can ensure that your assessment methods are compliant with the requirements set by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.