Assessing Early Childhood Education and Care Students in the Workplace
Purpose
ASQA, in collaboration with HumanAbility, Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and Department of Education, has developed guidance to support registered training organisations to undertake assessment of students completing ECEC qualifications in the workplace.
The guidance also assists ECEC students to understand their obligations when engaging in assessment activities while at an ECEC service.
Issue
A number of units within nationally approved ECEC qualifications require students to demonstrate their skills in the workplace and/or that ‘…performance evidence must be directly observed by the assessor on at least one occasion…’.
These qualifications include the:
- CHC30121 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care
- CHC50121 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care
- CHC50221 Diploma of School Aged Education and Care
- 10983NAT Certificate III in Outside School Hours Care.
Some ECEC services report that ECEC students have been asked by their training provider to digitally record – for example, video or photograph – assessment tasks in the workplace.
Digitally recording students’ workplace activities for assessment purposes involving children (i.e. babies, toddlers or young children) is not acceptable practice.
Training providers are reminded that direct observation is the primary method that should be used for assessing ECEC students – ensuring they demonstrate requisite skills and knowledge in real-world settings. Where direct, in-person observation is not feasible, for example where the ECEC Service is located in rural and remote settings, direct observation can occur remotely via live streaming, provided the training provider and ECEC Service mutually agree. The observation must be conducted by the training provider and not a third party or workplace supervisor.
Training providers should be aware of the legal, ethical and child safety requirements that relate to digitally recording children for assessment purposes, as well as best practice recommendations and requirements developed to safeguard children’s privacy and safety, and the delivery of training and assessment, including those set out in the National Model Code for Taking Images or Videos of Children. Training providers are encouraged to ensure that their ECEC assessors and students are aware of these requirements and the best practice recommendations.
Contact
Training providers with queries related to training package assessment requirements should contact HumanAbility.
To report concerns regarding the assessment of ECEC students in ECEC services, please contact ASQA via our tip-off line.