Overview

RTOs handle various obligations post-registration, including annual declarations, AVETMISS reporting, and marketing adherence. Among these tasks, validation of assessments is particularly challenging. While validation has been reviewed in multiple publications, let's return to the basics. ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority) identifies assessment validation as a quality review of the assessment procedure.

At its core, 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 2015 Standards for RTOs, 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 rules require two forms of validation. The first type of validation of assessments guarantees adherence to the requirements of the training package within your RTO's scope. The second validation ensures that assessments adhere to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence. This implies that we perform validation pre- and post-assessment. This article will discuss the initial type—validation of assessment tools.

Differentiating Assessment Validation Types

- Assessment Tool Validation: Often termed pre-assessment validation or verification, involves the first part of the clause, aimed at ensuring all unit requirements are met.
- Post-Assessment Validation: Is concerned with the execution, making sure RTOs conduct assessments according to the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

Conducting Validation of Assessment Tools

Scheduling Assessment Tool Validation

The purpose of assessment tool validation is to make sure that all elements, performance criteria, and performance and knowledge evidence are covered by your assessment tools. Therefore, whenever you acquire new learning resources, you must conduct assessment tool validation before allowing students to use them. There's no need to wait for your next 5-year cycle validation schedule. Check new resources as soon as possible to ensure they are fit for student use.

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

- Enhance your resources
- Incorporate new training products on scope
- Compare your course with training product updates
- Spot 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 ensures compliance of all training materials 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 educational resources:

- Mapping Resource: The first document to review. It identifies which assessment items here meet course unit requirements, assisting in faster validation.
- Student Workbook: Ensure it is suitable as an evaluation tool during validation. Check if instructions are clear and input fields are sufficient. This is a common issue.
- Assessor Guide: Also verify if guidelines for assessors are sufficient and if clear standards for each evaluation item are provided. Clear benchmarks are crucial for reliable assessment results.
- Supplementary Resources: These may include checklists, logs, and forms developed separately from the student workbook and assessor guide. Validate these to ensure they match the assessment task and address course unit requirements.

Assessment Validation Panel

Regulation 1.11 specifies the requirements for validation panel members. It states validation can be performed by one or more people. However, RTOs usually require all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.

Collectively, your validation panel must have:

- Vocational Competencies and Current Professional Skills relevant to the unit under validation.
- Updated Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Training.
- Either of the following credentials for training and assessment:
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE40116 or its successor.

Assessment Principles

- Impartiality: Is equal opportunity and access provided to everyone in the assessment process?
- Versatility: Are there multiple ways to demonstrate competence, accommodating different needs and preferences?
- Relevance: 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

- Relevance: Does the evidence demonstrate that the candidate has the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements?
- Sufficiency: Is the evidence sufficient to cover all the required skills and knowledge?
- Originality: Does the evidence confirm the originality of the candidate's work?
- Currency: Is the evidence up-to-date with current industry practices?

Specific Considerations for Assessment Validation

Pay attention to the verbs in the unit criteria and ensure they are addressed by the evaluation task. For example, in the unit CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers, one performance criteria asks students to:

- Change nappies
- Prepare and feed bottles, clean feeding equipment
- Prepare solid food and feed babies
- Respond to baby signs and cues properly
- Get babies ready for sleep and settle them
- Monitor and encourage age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills

Common Pitfalls

Describing the nappy-changing process for babies under 12 months does not fulfill the unit requirement. Unless the unit criteria is meant to evaluate underlying knowledge (i.e., evidence of knowledge), students should be performing the tasks.

Mind the Plurals!

Pay attention to the numbers. 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.

Full Competence or Not Competent

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

Provide Specific Details

Each assessment item must have clear and specific standard answers to guide the assessor’s judgment on the student’s competence. Therefore, it’s crucial that your instructions do not baffle students or trainers.

Double-Barrelled Questions: Avoid Them

Not using double-barrelled questions makes it simpler for students to respond and for evaluators to accurately judge student competence.

Assurance During Audits

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

By following these instructions and understanding the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence, you can ensure that your assessment methods are compliant with the regulations mandated by ASQA and the SRTOs 2015.