{Guide to Assessment Validation for Learning Institutions within Australia's training sector An Extensive Guide

Overview of Assessment Validation

Training Organisations handle multiple obligations after becoming registered, which include annual statements, AVETMISS compliance, and promotional compliance. Among these tasks, validating assessments often stands out. While validation has been covered in many articles, let's return to the basics. ASQA describes assessment validation as quality assurance of the assessment procedure.

Essentially, validation of assessments is about identifying 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 mandate two types of validation. The first type of assessment validation guarantees adherence to the requirements of the training package within your organisation's scope. The second validation ensures that assessments follow 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 primary type—validation of assessment tools.

The Two Types of Assessment Validation

- Assessment Tool Validation: Also referred to as pre-assessment validation or verification, is concerned with the primary part of the clause, ensuring meeting all unit requirements.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Concerns the conduct, guaranteeing that RTO assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Conducting Assessment Tool Validation

Timing for Assessment Tool Validation

The goal of validating assessment tools is to ensure that all aspects, criteria for performance, and performance and knowledge evidence are included by your assessment methods. Therefore, whenever you acquire new educational resources, you must carry out assessment tool validation before students use them. There's no need to wait for your next five-year validation cycle. Check new tools as soon as possible to verify they are suitable for student use.

Nevertheless, this isn't the only time to do this type of validation. Do validation of assessment tools also when you:

- Update your resources
- Add new qualifications to 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.

Selecting Training Products for Validation

Note that this validation guarantees adherence of all learning resources before being used. All RTOs must validate resources for each subject unit.

Resources Needed to Start Assessment Tool Validation

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

- Mapping Document: The first document to review. It shows which assessment tasks meet unit requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an assessment 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 guidelines for trainers are sufficient and if clear criteria for each evaluation item are provided. Clear criteria are crucial for reliable assessment results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include evaluation checklists, registers, and templates created separately from the learner workbook and evaluation guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment activity and meet subject requirements.

Validation Panel

Standard 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 mandate all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including sector experts.

Collectively, your validation panel must have:

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

Principles of Assessment

- Impartiality: Is equal opportunity and access provided to everyone in the assessment process?
- 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?

Evidence Rules

- Appropriateness: Is the evidence appropriate to the requirements of the unit of competency?
- Completeness: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Genuineness: 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 action words in the unit specifications and ensure they are addressed by the assessment item. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Baby and Toddler Care, one performance criteria asks students to:

- Perform diaper changes
- Feed babies with bottles and clean equipment
- Feed babies with solid food
- Respond to baby signs and cues properly
- Prepare babies for sleep and help them settle
- Monitor and encourage age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills

Common Pitfalls

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., evidence of knowledge), students should be this site carrying out 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 does not fulfill the requirement.

Full Competence or Not Competent

Pay attention to lists. As mentioned earlier, if students perform only half the tasks listed, it’s not compliant. Each evaluation task must meet all specifications, or the student is not yet competent, and the assessment tool is non-compliant.

Be Specific!

Each evaluation task must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the assessor’s judgment on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your guidelines do not baffle students or evaluators.

Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions

Steering clear of double-barrelled questions makes it easier for students to respond and for trainers to accurately assess student competence.

Audit Guarantees

Considering these requirements, you might wonder, “Don't resource developers provide audit guarantees?” However, with these promises, you must wait for an audit before they assist with noncompliance. This affects your compliance history, so it's better to take a proactive and compliant approach.

By following these recommendations and understanding the principles of assessment and rules of evidence, you can ensure that your evaluation tools are valid with the requirements set by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.