Key Insights into Assessment Validation and Validating Assessments

Key Insights into Assessment Validation and Validating Assessments

Blog Article

RTOs have numerous responsibilities post-registration, including annual declarations, AVETMISS reporting, and ensuring marketing compliance. Among these tasks, validation often stands out as particularly challenging.

Even though we've covered validation in depth, let’s revisit its definition. ASQA defines validation as a quality review of the assessment process.

Validation involves verifying which areas of an RTO's assessment process are correct and highlighting where improvements are needed. Understanding its key components makes the task less intimidating.

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 mandate two types of validation.

The first type of assessment validation checks that your RTO's assessment aligns with the training package requirements in your scope.

The second validation type ensures that assessments adhere to the principles of assessment and rules of evidence.

This indicates validation occurs before and after the assessment process. We will focus on the first type: assessment tool validation.

What are the Two Types of Assessment Validation?

A Deep Dive into Assessment Validation

As noted earlier and in previous blog posts, validation comprises two stages: (1) assessment tool validation and (2) post-assessment validation.

Assessment tool validation, known as pre-assessment validation, pertains to the first part of the clause, focusing on meeting all unit requirements and ensuring total workbook compliance.

Conversely, post-assessment validation focuses on the implementation side, ensuring Registered Training Organisations conduct assessments in line with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence.

We will dedicate this article to assessment tool validation.

Steps to Perform Assessment Tool Validation

Understanding the two types of validation allows us to delve into the specifics of assessment tool validation.

Ideal Times to Conduct Assessment Tool Validation

The aim of assessment tool validation is to make sure that all elements, performance criteria, and performance and knowledge evidence are included in your assessment tools.

Thus, whenever new learning resources are purchased, assessment tool validation should be conducted before students use them.

No need to wait for the next validation schedule in your 5-year cycle. Validate new resources immediately to ensure they’re suitable for students.

Nevertheless, this isn't the only occasion for this type of validation. Conduct assessment tool validation when you:

- when resources are updated
- new training products are added by you on scope
- course gets reviewed against training product updates
- your risk assessment includes identifying your learning resources as a risk

ASQA applies a risk-based approach to regulate RTOs, expecting regular risk assessments. Hence, student complaints about learning resources are a good opportunity for assessment tool validation.

Training Products to Validate

Keep in mind, this validation ensures compliance of all learning resources before use. All RTOs must validate resources for each unit.

What You Need for Assessment Tool Validation

Study Resources

As you validate your assessment tools, you will need the complete set of your learning resources:

Mapping tool – start with this document. It illustrates which assessment items address unit requirements, making validation quicker.

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/marking guide – check that instructions for assessors are adequate and that there are clear benchmarks for each assessment item. Clear benchmarks are essential for reliable assessment outcomes.

Other related resources – may consist of checklists, registers, and templates created separately from the workbook and marking guide. Validate them to ensure they are appropriate for the assessment task and address unit requirements.

Panel of Validators

Clause 1.11 specifies the criteria for validation panel members, indicating that validation can involve one or more persons. RTOs usually require all trainers and assessors to participate, sometimes including industry experts.

In total, your validation panel must have:

Up-to-date vocational competencies and industry skills pertinent to the unit being validated

Current expertise and skills in vocational teaching and learning

One of the following training and assessment qualifications:

TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or the equivalent successor

Validation document/template
Having a validation tool helps you with both the validation process and documentation. Using a validation tool makes it easier to look at how each assessment here item maps against each unit requirement.
Using a validation tool is advantageous for both the validation process and documentation. It aids in viewing how each assessment item matches each unit requirement.
At the same time, it can serve as your document evidence that you have validated your resources before letting the students use them.
At the same time, it acts as documentation that you have validated your resources before allowing student use.

ASQA does not provide a recommended or required template for assessment tool validation, but many templates are available online. These tools generally have validators review the tools as a whole to determine if they meet the principles of assessment.

Principles of Assessment Template Yes/No/Partially Comments
1. Fair
2. Flexible
3. Valid
4. Reliable

While templates like these make validation easier, they also allow for judgment errors since there is little room for commenting on each assessment item.

We strongly suggest using a more detailed template to evaluate each unit requirement and its corresponding assessment items. Here is an example:

Element Performance Criteria Assessment Instructions Benchmarks Assessment Tools Rectification Recommendations
What do you Need to Check?
What Should Be Inspected?

As stated in our blog post Common Problems In Assessment Tools, you must ensure your assessment tools allow trainers to adhere to assessment principles and evidence rules.

Principles of Assessment
Fairness – Are equal opportunities and access offered to everyone in the assessment process?

Flexibility – Does the assessment provide multiple options to show competence according to various needs and preferences?

Validity – Is the assessment assessing what it is intended to assess? Is it a valid tool for evaluating the required skill or knowledge?

Reliability – Will the assessment achieve consistent results every time, no matter who conducts the training? Will different assessors consistently decide on skill competence?

Key Rules of Evidence

Validity – Does the evidence confirm that the candidate has the skills, knowledge, and attributes described in the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements?
Sufficiency – Is there enough evidence to ensure that the learner has the skills and knowledge required?
Sufficiency – Is there adequate evidence to ensure the learner has the required skills and knowledge?

Authenticity – Does the assessment tool ensure that the work is the candidate’s own?

Currency – Do the assessment tools mirror current units of competency and modern industry practices?

Although these are regularly covered in VET professional development and nationally recognised training, numerous tools still struggle to meet these requirements.

To prevent using learning resources that fail to address some unit requirements, ensure you follow these guidelines:

Show What You Mean

Take note of the verbs used in the unit requirements and make sure they are addressed by the assessment item. For instance, in the unit CHCECE032 Nurture babies and toddlers, one performance evidence requirement requires students to:

Complete each of the following activities at least once with two different babies under 12 months old in a safe environment, using age-appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication according to service and regulatory requirements:

diaper change

prepare bottles, bottle-feed babies, and clean equipment

prepare solids and feed infants

respond properly to baby signs and cues

prepare and settle babies for rest

monitor and foster age-appropriate physical exploration and gross motor skills

Having students describe changing nappies for babies under 12 months doesn’t directly fulfill the unit requirement. Unless it’s intended to assess underpinning knowledge (i.e., knowledge evidence), students should be doing the tasks.

Look Out for Plurals!
Pay attention to the numbers. In our example on one of the unit requirements of CHCECE032, this single unit requirement 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 1 baby won’t cut it.
Pay attention to the numbers. In our CHCECE032 example, one unit requirement asks students to complete the tasks at least once with two different babies under 12 months old. Doing the tasks twice with one baby isn’t enough.

Entire or Not Competent

Mind the lists. Again, if students perform just half the tasks listed, it’s non-compliant. Each assessment item must address all requirements, or the student is not yet competent and the assessment tool is non-compliant.
Can you be more specific?
Be Clearer

Every assessment item must include clear and specific benchmark answers to guide the assessor’s judgment on student competence. Consequently, ensure your instructions are clear and not confusing for students or assessors. For example:
What kind of information can be included in a work package?
What kind of information can be included in a work package?

Possible answers include:

Compulsory resources

Applicable costs

Activity duration

Appointed roles and responsibilities

When an assessment item calls for multiple answers, indicate the number of answers a student needs to provide. This way, your assessment is reliable, and the evidence gathered is valid.

The same is true for assessment items with double-barrelled questions or those asking for multiple answers at once. Such questions can confuse both students and assessors, as demonstrated in the sample question below:

Identify a hazard and/or environmental concern in the work area and select the most effective hazard control hierarchy.

Possible answers can include, but are not limited to:

Weather conditions – isolation of work area, engineering controls, personal protective equipment

Work area and ground conditions – eliminating hazards, isolation, engineering

People – isolating, engineering controls, administration

Structural hazards – substitution, isolating, engineering controls

Chemical hazards – isolation, use of engineering controls, administrative controls

Equipment or machinery – isolating, engineering controls, administration

Steering clear of double-barrelled questions simplifies responses for students and enables assessors to accurately judge competence.

Given these requirements, you might wonder, “Don’t learning resource developers offer audit guarantees?” But these guarantees require waiting for an audit before rectifying noncompliance. This impacts your compliance history, so it’s better to take a safe and compliant route.