Assessment validation

ASQA has identified systemic risks with training in the following areas: equine, security, early childhood education and care, aged and community care, construction industry (‘white card’ training) and training and education (TAE). For the purpose of Clause 1.10, training products in these areas may need to be validated more frequently.

The validation requirements in the Standards are the minimum requirements your RTO must meet.

However, you may choose to validate your training products more frequently, particularly if you are operating in a dynamic industry environment, where emerging risk factors have been identified or where new assessment tools have been developed.

At least two units from each qualification must be validated; however, your RTO may choose to validate more if validation of the two units identifies risks or a potential harm to learners who may not have met the required assessment outcomes, inconsistent assessment judgements have been made by assessors or assessment has not been conducted in accordance with the Principles of Assessment or the Rules of Evidence.

The validation process involves:

• checking a statistically valid sample of completed student assessment tools has produced valid, reliable, sufficient, current and authentic evidence, and if required, making recommendations for future improvements to the assessment tool, process or outcome and acting upon those recommendations.

The trainer and assessor who delivered/assessed the training product being validated:

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

If a sole trainer and assessor is involved in training and/or assessing a learner whose completed assessment is used in the validation sample, it would be considered, that trainer and assessor would have been ‘directly involved in the particular instance of delivery and assessment’.

In this case, the trainer and assessor can still participate in the validation process; however, cannot decide the validation outcomes of their own assessment decisions. A trainer and assessor can work as part of a validation team. 

You may undertake validation through a ‘team’ approach, where collectively, team members hold the required qualifications, skills and knowledge. Trainers and assessors who are involved in the training and assessment delivery being considered as part of the validation process may also participate in validation activities, as long as they are not directly involved in deciding the validation outcome for their assessment decisions.

In selecting a validation team, choose a lead validator who is independent of delivery and assessment of the training product being validated and the assessment judgements being considered, to maintain professional distance and integrity.

Combined, the people involved in validation must have:

• appropriate vocational competencies
• current industry skills and knowledge
• an appropriate training and assessment qualification or assessor skill set, and
• current knowledge and skills in vocational teaching and learning.

The validation process involves:

• checking a statistically valid sample of completed student assessment tool/s produced valid, reliable, sufficient, current and authentic evidence, and
• if required, making recommendations for future improvements to the assessment tool, process or outcome and acting upon those recommendations.

If a learner’s completed assessment tool is used in the validation sample, any trainer or assessor involved in training and/or assessing that learner is considered to be is ‘directly involved’. These trainers and assessors can participate in the validation process; however, they cannot decide the validation outcomes of their own assessment decisions.

A valid assessment judgement is one that confirms a learner holds all of the knowledge and skills described in the training package or accredited course.

Validation is a process to confirm that your RTO’s assessment system is able to consistently produce valid assessment judgements.

Validation is the quality review of the assessment process and is generally conducted after assessment is complete.

Validation involves checking that your assessment tools have produced valid, reliable, sufficient, current and authentic evidence, enabling your RTO to make reasonable judgements to about whether training package (or VET accredited course) requirements have been met.

Validation includes reviewing a statistically valid sample of the assessments and making recommendations for future improvements to the assessment tool, process and/or outcomes and acting upon such recommendations.

A statistically valid sample is one that is taken randomly from the set of assessment judgements being considered and that is sufficiently large that the outcomes of validation of the sample can be applied to the entire set of judgements. There are a number of online tools you can use to generate the size of your sample, one of which is ASQA’s validation sample size calculator.

Moderation is a quality control process aimed at bringing assessment judgements into alignment. Moderation is generally conducted before the finalisation of student results as it ensures the same decisions are applied to all assessment results within the same unit of competency.

The requirement in the Standards to undertake validation of assessment judgements does not prohibit your RTO from undertaking moderation activities, or any other process aimed at increasing the quality of assessment.

An independent validator is someone who is:

• not employed or subcontracted by the RTO to provide training and assessment, and
• has no other involvement or interest in the operations of the RTO.