Assessment Validation

Assessment Validation is a critical core compliance activity for Australian RTOs, and required by the Standards for RTOs 2015.

Having 360RTO completed and/or facilitate validation of both your assessment tools and assessment judgements will not only save you a lot of time and resources – but it ensures that a non-biased, 3rd party comprised of experienced validators thoroughly reviews your assessment resources and decisions, unclouded by previous over-exposure to them.

It is common for established RTOs and their internal teams to not validate their assessment resources with as much rigor when undertaking a validation session – thereby missing critical gaps or non-compliances due to being overly familiar with the assessment tools, or the assessor judgements they are scrutinising.

To ensure the reliability and validity of assessment tools and assessor judgements requires both experience, and close attention to detail – hence doing validation is critical.

As per ASQA’s Standards for RTOs 2015, your RTO’s validation plan must ensure:

• Every training product on your RTO’s scope of registration undergoes validation at least once every five years.
• You validate at least 50 per cent of the training products in the first three years of that cycle.

You may need to validate certain training products more often where specific risks have been identified, for example, if your RTO’s industry consultation identifies areas of particular risk. ASQA may from time to time determine specific training products that must have particular attention paid to them and this advice would be published to www.asqa.gov.au.

How will 360RTO meet your Assessment Validation needs?

Our Validation Experts have extensive experience validating training and assessment tools, and assessment judgements – and regularly help RTOs around Australia maintain compliance with their validation requirements, through using robust assessment validation practices, and by providing them with comprehensive, simple, professional validation reports with actionable rectification suggestions.

360RTO Solutions offers TWO types of validation service to help you achieve full compliance:

1)  Assessment Tool Validation

Assessment Tool Validation focuses specifically on whether your RTO’s training and assessment resources (including Assessment Workbooks and Assessor Guides) thoroughly assess the requirements of the training package, and comply with the Standards for RTOs 2015.

During your learning resource validation, 360RTO’s validators will map your assessment materials against the training package requirements to identify missing or inadequate assessment of Knowledge Evidence, Performance Evidence, and Performance Criteria. They will also assess the overall quality and compliance of your training tools against the requirements of the Standards for RTOs 2015.

As part of our Assessment Tool Validation service we will:

• Map your assessment resources against the training package requirements to identify knowledge and evidence gaps
• Review your assessment tools against the Standards for RTOs 2015 requirements
• Provide an overall assessment of the quality, style and content of the resource
• Provide an actionable list of recommended rectifications
• Create complete validation reports and mapping documents for each unit or cluster (enquire now and ask for a free assessment tool validation sample!)

Important information if you deliver any AQF qualification or assessor skill set from the Training and Education Training Package:

From 1 January 2016, to deliver any AQF qualification or assessor skill set from the Training and Education Training Package (or its successor), your RTO must have undergone an independent validation of its assessment system, tools, processes and outcomes in accordance with the requirements contained in Schedule 2 (and the definitions of independent validation and validation). Contact 360RTO Solutions today and book your assessment validation service now. We accept one-off validation services, and are also able to set up long term validation plans for your RTO so you can do business secure in the knowledge your RTO is always up to date and fully compliant with the Standards for RTOs 2015 validation requirements.

2)  Post-Assessment Validation (PAV)

Post-Assessment Validation is a quality review process to ensure your RTO’s assessment system produces consistent, valid assessment judgements.  To some degree, it examines both the reliability and validity of assessment tools.

During PAV, our 360RTO validators will review assessments completed by your assessors to ensure they are sufficient, valid, current, reliable and authentic. They will be looking for evidence that demonstrates your RTO’s assessors make reasonable judgements about whether your learners have met the training product requirements.

As part of your Post-Assessment Validation Service, 360RTO Solutions can:

• Lead or participate in your validation team OR undertake your assessment validation on our own (depending on your requirements)
• Provide reports with recommended improvements and rectifications to your assessment process
• Work out a statistically valid sample size for your Post-Assessment Validation
• Assist you to implement improvements and rectifications identified during the validation process
• Set up your validation schedule and conduct regular assessment validation for you to ensure your compliance requirements are met

NB: If you deliver and assess the training product being validated, you:

• can participate in the validation process as part of a team
• cannot conduct the validation on your own
• cannot determine the validation outcome for any assessment judgements you made, and
• cannot be the lead validator in the assessment team.

That means if you are the only trainer and assessor in your RTO, you can participate in validation, but you must have another validator involved to lead your validation team or complete assessment validation for you.

Assessment Validation vs Moderation of Assessment

Post-Assessment Validation is similar to moderation of assessment, but moderation is a quality control process conducted before the finalisation of student results. It ensures assessment decisions are consistent for all students, within a unit of competency. Moderation is not explicitly required by the Standards, but it is an important process that can be used to increase the consistency and quality of assessment in your training organisation to enhance overall compliance.

360RTO provides RTO assessment validation services to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and Australia-wide. Contact us today at 1300 657 511 or send us an enquiry now to know more!

If you’d like to know more information regarding RTO registration expenses and gain the competitive edge you need in the world of vocational and educational training. Click here to get started!

360RTO provides RTO registration services to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and Australia-wide. Our registration services are also qualified for areas such as Queensland (QLD), Victoria (VIC), Tasmania (TAS), and Western Australia (WA). Contact us today at 1300 657 511 or enquire now to get full details and get your RTO registration started!