ASQA | Spotlight On validation, Chapter 2
The importance of validation
Chapter 2 aims to help RTOs put an effective validation process in place to drive quality outcomes for students and your organisation.
To demonstrate compliance with the 2025 Standards you need to demonstrate you have an effective validation process in place. Validation also has many benefits outside of regulatory compliance. It encourages ongoing continuous improvement to promote quality outcomes for your students and your organisation.
The benefits of validation
Validation can help you as a provider to:
- provide better outcomes
- encourage continuous improvement
- meet compliance requirements and
- allow early intervention
Validation leads to better outcomes for everyone:
- students benefit by graduating with the skills to perform in the workplace
- industry gains quality graduates, enhancing the provider’s reputation
- training providers build stronger relationships and engagement with industry partners
Validation encourages continuous improvement by ensuring all your assessment systems are performing at their best across your full scope of registration. It encourages you to conduct routine improvement activities and helps to create more efficient and effective processes in developing and testing your systems.
Validation is a must, it ensures you meet the requirements under the 2025 Standards. Validation allows you to address any gaps which might exist in assessments, ensuring better outcomes for future students and providing retraining and assessment for completed or current students. Validation allows providers to recommend and make changes to improve the way you conduct future assessments, making you a better training provider and delivering better student outcomes.
Validation means better quality outcomes
An effective validation process ensures your students are receiving training and assessment that covers the requirements of the training product and is relevant and reflective of current industry conditions.
Having an assessment system that achieves the best results for students means they are more likely to succeed in obtaining employment. This demonstrates to industry and potential students your strength as a quality provider.
Validation helps you to focus on quality and continuous improvement
Validation plays a significant role in identifying and developing improvement opportunities for future use. Reflecting on the validation outcomes provides a valuable opportunity to share ideas and experiences to ensure there is ongoing continuous improvement of the assessments you conduct.
Documenting Validation
An effective documented assessment validation process, including documented outcomes and actions, is required to demonstrate compliance with the Standards.
The validation process leads to improved compliance across the Standards. This is due to the overarching positive effect on the training and assessment process – and the confirmation that students have met the requirements of the training product.
Record keeping
Ensure you keep records from the validation sessions. You may consider including details of those who attended, their association with industry, their qualifications, the session’s action items and records of how those items were implemented.
This will help you to develop a plan that incorporates the validation feedback into your assessment practices.
Validation
You may consider undertaking a validation as soon as your new addition to scope training product (including any upgraded units of competency) has assessed the first round of completed student assessments. Note: this is different to your review of assessment tools prior to use.
Validation of assessment will help you ensure that your new assessment tools and judgements are meeting the requirements of the training product, the Principles of Assessment and the Rules of Evidence.