{Validation of Assessment pertaining to Vocational Education Institutes in Australia's training sector -
{Validation of Assessment pertaining to Vocational Education Institutes in Australia's training sector -
Blog Article
Overview of Assessment Validation
Training Organisations have numerous duties following registration, which include yearly reports, AVETMISS data submission, and marketing adherence. Among these tasks, validation of assessments is notably challenging. While we've discussed validation in several posts, let's revisit the fundamental principles. ASQA identifies assessment validation as a quality review of the assessment procedure.
Principally, assessment validation is intended 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 Standards for RTOs 2015, 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 regulations require two forms of validation. The first type of assessment validation checks conformity with the requirements of the training package within your RTO's scope. The second validation guarantees that assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and rules of evidence. This suggests that validation is carried out pre- and post-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, involves the initial part of the clause, ensuring compliance with all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Involves the execution, ensuring that RTO assessments align with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.
Conducting Validation of Assessment Tools
Scheduling Assessment Tool Validation
The goal of assessment tool validation is to ensure that all components, performance standards, and evidence of performance and knowledge are addressed by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you purchase new training materials, you must perform validation of assessment tools before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next 5-year cycle validation schedule. Check new materials as soon as possible to ensure they are fit for student use.
Nevertheless, this isn't the only reason to perform this type of validation. Do validation of assessment tools also when you:
- Enhance your resources
- Incorporate new training products on scope
- Review your course against training product updates
- Flag 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.
Identifying 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.
Resources Needed to Start Assessment Tool Validation
To start assessment tool validation, you will need the complete set of your educational resources:
- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It shows which evaluation items meet unit requirements, aiding in faster validation.
- Learner Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if directions are clear and answer fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- 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 evaluation results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include checklists, evaluation registers, and templates created separately from the student workbook and marking guide. Validate these to ensure they fit the assessment task and comply with course unit requirements.
Assessment Validation Panel
Clause 1.11 specifies the requirements for panel members. It states validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually ask all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.
Collectively, your validation panel must have:
- Vocational Skills and Current Industry Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- Current Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Teaching and Learning.
- Either of the following certifications for training and assessment:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE40116 or its successor.
Assessment Principles
- Fairness: Does the assessment process offer equal opportunity and access to everyone?
- Adaptability: Does the assessment offer various options to demonstrate competence based on different needs and preferences?
- Accuracy: Is the assessment an accurate tool for evaluating the required skills and knowledge?
- Dependability: Are the assessment results consistent regardless of who conducts the training?
Rules of Evidence
- Relevance: Is the evidence relevant to the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency?
- Sufficiency: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Authenticity: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Currency: Is the evidence up-to-date with current industry practices?
Important Factors in Assessment Validation
Pay attention to the verbs 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:
- Perform diaper changes
- Prepare bottles, bottle feed babies and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- React suitably to baby signals and cues
- Prepare and settle babies for sleep
- Supervise and support age-appropriate physical activities and motor development
Typical Mistakes
Asking students to describe the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months old does not meet the unit requirement. Unless the unit requirement is meant to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., knowledge evidence), students should be doing the tasks.
Be Careful with Plurals!
Pay attention to the frequency. In our example, one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care 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 won’t cut it.
All or Not Competent
Pay attention to itemized requirements. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s not compliant. Each assessment task must meet all specifications, or the student is incompetent, and the assessment tool is non-compliant.
Be Specific!
Each evaluation task must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the assessor’s evaluation on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your directions do not confuse students or assessors.
Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them
Avoiding double-barrelled questions makes it more straightforward for students to respond and for assessors to accurately judge student competence.
Assurance During Audits
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 influences your compliance status, so it's better to take a preventative 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 standards here established by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.