{Assessment Validation Process regarding Vocational Education Bodies throughout the context of Australia -
Overview of Assessment ValidationTraining Organisations manage various tasks post-registration, such as yearly reports, AVETMISS compliance, and marketing compliance. Among these tasks, validating assessments often stands out. While validation has been reviewed in several discussions, let's revisit the fundamental principles. ASQA identifies assessment validation as a quality review of the assessment procedure.
In essence, assessment validation is designed to identify which parts of an RTO’s evaluation 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 regulations, 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 require two types of validation. The initial type of assessment validation ensures compliance with the training package assessment requirements within your organisation's scope. The other type guarantees that assessments follow the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence. This indicates that validation is carried out both before and after the assessment. This article will discuss the primary type—validation of assessment tools.
What are the Two Types of Assessment Validation?
- Assessment Tool Validation: Also known as pre-assessment validation or verification, is related to the first part of the regulation, ensuring ensuring all unit requirements are met.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is concerned with the implementation, ensuring that RTO assessments align with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Methods for Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
Optimal Timing for Assessment Tool Validation
The goal of validating assessment tools is to ensure that all elements, performance standards, and evidence of performance and knowledge are covered by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you get new educational resources, you must perform validation of assessment tools before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Validate new tools as soon as possible to verify they are fit for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason to do this type of validation. Perform assessment tool validation also when you:
- Improve your resources
- Include new training products on scope
- Evaluate your course with training product updates
- Identify potential risks in your learning resources 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
Remember that this validation ensures conformity of all learning resources before being used. All RTOs must validate materials for each course unit.
Resources Required for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your assessment tools, you will need the complete set of your learning resources:
- Mapping Document: The first document to review. It identifies which evaluation items meet unit requirements, helping with faster validation.
- Learner/Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if guidelines are clear and answer fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Marking Guide: Also verify if guidelines for evaluators are sufficient and if clear criteria for each evaluation item are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable evaluation results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include checklists, evaluation registers, and evaluation templates developed separately from the student workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment activity and meet unit requirements.
Panel for Validation
Clause 1.11 specifies the requirements for validation panel members. It states validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually mandate all trainers and evaluators 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.
- Updated Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following training and assessment credentials:
- TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.
Principles Guiding Assessment
- Impartiality: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Adaptability: Are there multiple ways to demonstrate competence, accommodating different needs and preferences?
- Validity: Is the assessment an accurate tool for evaluating the required skills and knowledge?
- Consistency: Are the assessment results consistent regardless of who conducts the training?
Rules of Evidence
- Appropriateness: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Sufficiency: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Genuineness: Is the evidence genuine and truly representative of the candidate's abilities?
- Timeliness: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?
Important Factors in Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the tasks in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the assessment task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Caring for Babies and Toddlers, one required performance evidence asks students to:
- Change diapers
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Prepare and give solid food to babies
- Respond to baby signs and cues properly
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Observe and promote suitable physical activities and motor skills for babies
Typical Mistakes
Having students describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old doesn’t directly meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit specification is meant to evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), 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 calls for 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 lists. As mentioned earlier, if students do not complete all the tasks listed, it’s not compliant. Each evaluation task must address all specifications, or the student is incompetent, and the evaluation tool is non-compliant.
Can You check it out Be More Specific?
Each assessment task must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the evaluator’s decision on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not mislead students or assessors.
Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions
Avoiding double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for trainers to accurately judge student competence.
Ensuring Audit Compliance
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don't resource developers provide audit guarantees?” However, with these promises, you must wait until an audit to address noncompliance. This affects your compliance history, so it's better to take a safe and compliant approach.
By following these guidelines and understanding the principles of assessment and Rules of Evidence, you can ensure that your assessment tools are reliable with the requirements set by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.