{Assessment Validation Tools for Vocational Education and Training in the context of Australia —

{Assessment Validation Tools for Vocational Education and Training in the context of Australia —

Blog Article

Intro to Assessment Validation

Registered Training Organisations handle numerous duties post-registration, such as yearly declarations, AVETMISS reporting, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, validation of assessments often stands out. While validation has been reviewed in several posts, let's revisit the fundamental principles. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) describes assessment validation as granular review of the assessment process.

At its core, 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, comply with the training package requirements and are conducted according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

The standards require two forms of validation. The first type of assessment review guarantees adherence to the requirements of the training package within your organisation's scope. The other type verifies that assessments are conducted according to the principles of assessment and rules of evidence. This suggests that we perform validation both before and after the assessment. This article will concentrate on the first type—assessment tool validation.

The Two Types of Assessment Validation

- Assessment Tool Validation: Sometimes called pre-assessment validation or verification, concerns the initial part of the regulation, focusing on ensuring all unit requirements are met.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is related to the execution, ensuring that RTO assessments align with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Conducting Assessment Tool Validation

Optimal Timing for Assessment Tool Validation

The purpose of assessment tool validation is to make sure that all aspects, performance criteria, and evidence of performance and knowledge are covered by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you purchase new learning resources, you must carry out validation of assessment tools prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next 5-year cycle validation schedule. Validate new materials right away to verify they are suitable for student use.

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

- Amend 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

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.

Selecting Training Products for Validation

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

Resources Required for Assessment Tool Validation

To start assessment tool validation, you will need the complete set of your training materials:

- Mapping Tool: The first document to review. It shows which assessment tasks meet unit requirements, aiding in 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.
- Assessor Guide: Also check if directions for evaluators are sufficient and if clear standards for each assessment item are provided. Clear benchmarks are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Other Related Resources: These may include checklists, logs, and forms created separately from the student workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment task and comply with subject requirements.

Panel for Validation

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 validation panel must have:

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

Principles of Assessment

- Impartiality: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Flexibility: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on different needs and preferences?
- Relevance: Is the assessment relevant to the skills and knowledge it aims to evaluate?
- Reliability: Will the assessment produce consistent results every time?

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?
- Completeness: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Authenticity: Is the evidence genuine and truly representative of the candidate's abilities?
- Relevance: Does the evidence reflect current skills and knowledge?

Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation

Pay attention to the find it here 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 nappies
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Prepare solid food and feed babies
- Respond to baby signs and cues properly
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- Observe and promote suitable physical activities and motor skills for babies

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 specification is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), 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 won’t cut it.

All or Nothing Competence

Pay attention to lists. As mentioned earlier, if students only complete half the tasks, it’s not compliant. Each evaluation task must address all specifications, or the student is not yet competent, and the evaluation tool is out of compliance.

Can You Be More Specific?

Each evaluation 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 directions do not baffle students or trainers.

Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them

Avoiding double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for assessors to accurately evaluate student competence.

Ensuring Audit Compliance

Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don’t learning resource developers offer audit guarantees?” However, with these promises, you must wait until an audit to address noncompliance. This impacts your compliance record, so it's better to take a preventative and compliant approach.

By following these instructions and understanding the assessment principles and Rules of Evidence, you can ensure that your evaluation tools are reliable with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.