{Assessment Validation Guide pertaining to Vocational Education Institutes within the context of Australia —
{Assessment Validation Guide pertaining to Vocational Education Institutes within the context of Australia —
Blog Article
Intro to Assessment Validation
Registered Training Organisations manage many tasks following registration, including yearly reports, AVETMISS reporting, and advertising compliance. Among these tasks, assessment validation often stands out. While validation has been covered in several articles, a review of the basics is necessary. The Australian Skills Quality Authority describes assessment review as a quality review of the assessment process.
Essentially, assessment validation is designed to identify 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 2015 Standards for RTOs, 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 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 guarantees that assessments are conducted according to the principles of assessment and Rules of Evidence. This implies that validation is carried out in both pre- and post-assessment stages. This article will discuss the primary type—validation of assessment tools.
Overview of Assessment Validation Types
- Assessment Tool Validation: Sometimes called pre-assessment validation or verification, involves the primary part of the clause, ensuring meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Relates to the execution, ensuring RTOs conduct assessments in line with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Guide to Conducting Assessment Tool Validation
Best Time for Conducting Assessment
The aim of validating assessment tools is to make sure that all aspects, performance criteria, and evidence of performance and knowledge are covered by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you acquire new educational resources, you must carry out assessment tool validation prior to student use. There's no need to wait for your next 5-year cycle validation schedule. Validate new materials as soon as possible to confirm they are suitable for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason to do this type of validation. Do assessment tool validation also when you:
- Enhance your resources
- Integrate new training products on scope
- Assess your course with training product updates
- Note 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.
What Training Products Need Validation?
Keep in mind that this validation ensures compliance of all educational resources before student use. All RTOs must validate materials for each subject unit.
Necessary Resources for Assessment Tool Validation
To validate your evaluation tools, you will need the complete set of your educational resources:
- Mapping Document: The first document to review. It shows which assessment items meet course unit requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Learner/Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment tool during validation. Check if instructions are clear and answer fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide: Also check if instructions for assessors are sufficient and if clear benchmarks for each assessment item are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable assessment outcomes.
- Other Related Resources: These may include checklists, evaluation registers, and evaluation templates created separately from the learner workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they match the evaluation task and address subject requirements.
Assessment Validation Panel
Standard 1.11 specifies the requirements for validation panel members. It states assessment validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually require all educators and assessors to participate, sometimes including sector experts.
Collectively, your validation panel must have:
- Workplace Competencies and Current Professional Skills relevant to the unit being validated.
- Current Expertise in Vocational Education.
- Either of the following credentials for training and assessment:
- TAE40116 Training and Assessment Certificate IV or its successor.
Principles of Assessment
- Fairness: Is equal opportunity and access provided to everyone in the assessment process?
- Flexibility: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on different needs and preferences?
- Relevance: Does the assessment evaluate what it is intended to evaluate?
- Dependability: Will different assessors make the same decision on skill competence?
Evidence Rules
- Validity: Does the evidence demonstrate that the candidate has the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements?
- Adequacy: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Originality: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Relevance: 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 requirements and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care, one performance evidence requirement asks students to:
- Change nappies
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- Respond appropriately to baby signs and cues
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
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 evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., knowledge-based evidence), students should be carrying out the tasks.
Mind the Plurals!
Pay attention to the numbers. 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.
Full Competence or Not Competent
Pay attention to enumerated tasks. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s not compliant. Each evaluation task must address all requirements, or the student is not yet competent, and the assessment method is out of compliance.
Be Specific!
Each evaluation task must have clear and specific benchmark answers to guide the assessor’s evaluation on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your guidelines do not confuse students or evaluators.
Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them
Not using double-barrelled questions makes it easier for students to respond and for evaluators to accurately evaluate student competence.
Audit Guarantees
Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Do resource developers offer guarantees for audits?” However, with these promises, you must wait for an ASQA assessment validation audit before they help rectify noncompliance. This influences your compliance status, so it's better to take a safe and compliant approach.
By following these recommendations and understanding the assessment principles and evidence rules, you can ensure that your assessment methods are compliant with the standards established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.