Obligations of assessors when conducting validation activities

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(1) This Procedure outlines the requirements and processes for the effective validation of assessment used within national training package qualifications and VET accredited courses.

Section 2 -  Accountability

(2) Standards for RTOs: Standard 1 (specifically 1.9 to 1.11).

Section 4 - Scope

(3) This Procedure includes all training products on the scope of registration and applies to all teaching areas and all staff in VET programs within Victoria University (VU) Polytechnic.

Section 5 - Definitions

(4) Refer to relevant definitions provided within the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015 (Cth).

(5) For the purpose of this Procedure (refer Section 7) - Responsible Person refers to the staff member delegated by the Manager to be responsible for the validation of the required qualification according to the Program Area Validation of Assessment Plan.

(6) For the purpose of this Procedure a statistically valid sample is one that is:

1. large enough that the validation outcomes of the sample can be applied to the entire set of judgements; and
2. taken randomly from the set of assessment judgements being considered.

Section 6 - Policy/Regulation

(7) Nil

Section 7 - Procedures

(8) Assessment validation is an essential process to ensure the integrity of VET assessments at VU Polytechnic and across the broader VET sector.

(9) All training products on VU Polytechnic's scope of registration must undergo validation at least once every five years.

(10) The validation activities covered by this Procedure include validation of assessment tools and validation of assessment processes and judgements.

(11) Validation of teaching and assessment strategies with industry is not covered in this Procedure. This process is part of the VET Industry Engagement Procedure.

(12) Validation must be led (Lead Validator/Responsible Person) by individuals who have the requisite vocational competency and currency and training and assessment competency and currency; and who were not part of the delivery and assessment being validated. This may mean that validators have to be sought outside VU Polytechnic. It may be necessary, in some cases, to share the lead validator role between two individuals to ensure that this requirement is met.

(13) Trainers and assessors who have been part of the delivery and assessment of the units being validated may     participate in the validation process but must not undertake the role(s) of Lead Validator/Responsible Person, however can organise and set-up for the validation activities.

(14) Additional requirements exist for the validation of qualifications from the Training and Education (TAE) training package.

(15) Rectifications and improvements identified in validation activities must be listed on the Continuous Improvement Register, along with appropriate actions, timelines and responsible parties. These must be monitored and signed off when completed.

(16) Rectifications and improvements identified in validation activities must be applied across the whole qualification, as appropriate.

Part C - Victoria University Polytechnic Validation Plan

(17) This plan is the five-year master plan for assessment validation activities across VU Polytechnic.

(18) The plan specifies:

1. The number of units that must be validated for each training product.
2. Annual validation of each training product with the entire training product being validated at least once within the five-year cycle and 50% of units for each training product being validated within the first three years of the five-year cycle.

(19) The plan is published on the VET Quality Sharepoint site.

Part D - Validation of Assessment Program Area Plan

(20) For each teaching program area, Managers must develop a Validation of Assessment Plan (Five-Year Validation Plan) that is consistent with VU Polytechnic's five-year plan for Validation of Assessment. The plan should contain:

1. the units to be validated;
2. details of the Responsible Person and the Lead Validator;
3. proposed participants;
4. proposed validation dates.

(21) The sequencing of units in the program area plan should take into account applicable risk factors to ensure units with a higher risk rating are validated earlier and/or more frequently. Risk factors may include, but not limited to:

1. the ASQA Risk Assessment Framework;
2. health and safety, licensing or legislative requirements;
3. offshore or CRICOS delivery;
4. the use of new assessment tools;
5. history of NYC results, complaints, or concerns raised in learner or teacher/assessor feedback;
6. rapid changes in relevant industry sectors and/or industry feedback.

Part E - Preparing for Validation for each Training Product

(22) The Responsible Person nominated by the Manager must:

1. hold vocational competence and currency as well as training and assessment competency and currency (where this is not possible, it may be necessary to share the lead validator role between two individuals to ensure this requirement is met);
2. not have been involved in the specific delivery or assessment of the assessments being validated in Part B.

(23) Validation of the assessment tool/s (Part A) and the assessor judgements (Part B) can be conducted together or separately.

(24) The Responsible Person must:

1. For both Part A – Validation of Assessment Tool/s and Part B – Validation of Assessment Judgements:
   1. identify relevant, qualified persons to participate in the validation process;
   2. negotiate and communicate the appropriate time and method of validation meeting/s to occur, (e.g. On-Campus or Remote);
   3. where external validators are to be included, provide each external validator with an electronic copy of the Validator Competence Verification form and request that they complete an External Validator Competence form and provide it to the Responsible Person;
   4. prepare documentation for the validation meeting as follows.
2. For Part A the following documents to support validation should be provided electronically, printed or a mixture of both:
   1. TAS/s (training and assessment strategy) if more than one cohort
   2. Unit of Competency as listed on the National Register
   3. Companion volumes
   4. Course information handbook/s
   5. For each unit of competency the documents to be validated include:
      1. Assessment Map;
      2. Unit or Cluster Guide;
      3. Assessment tools (including Assessor Guide and Assessment Record Book).
3.  For Part B, the following steps should be taken:
   1. Determine a statistically valid sample size of assessment judgements to be validated as per Part F below.
   2. Select the random sample of student assessments.
   3. Where RPL is used for the relevant unit, and no RPL completions have been included in the random sample, an additional student RPL file should be added to the sample.
   4. Documents required to support validation of assessment judgement include:
      1. TAS
      2. Unit of Competency
      3. Assessment Map (validated in Part A)
      4. Assessor Guide (validated in Part A)
      5. Assessment Record Book / Assessment tasks (validated in Part A)
   5. Document required to validate assessment judgements include:
      1. All student assessment evidence completed and assessed for students identified in the statistically valid sample.
      2. All student assessment records i.e. feedback and results for students identified in the statistically valid sample.
   6. Provide the de-identified student assessments to the validation participants.

Part F - Determine Statistically Valid Sample Size

(25) Manager responsible for each program to determine the sample size based on enrolment data and table below.

(26) The process is:

1. Step 1 – Determine the number of assessment judgements for the unit/s to be validated (note; the term Assessment Judgement refers to the number of students who have been assessed in a unit of competency in a given period). To do this, request administration support to run a report from SONE of all students enrolled in the unit/s being validated for the period under review (e.g. last delivery cycle, group, previous year etc.), with an outcome of Competent, Not Yet Competent, RPL Granted or RPL Not Granted only.
2. Step 2 – Use the table below to match the number of assessment judgements from SONE report (column A) to the mandatory sample size (column B) e.g. if you have 40 assessment judgements, (student enrolments) then the sample size for validation is 21.
3. Step 3 – Write the sample size number in below.

The above table has been calculated based on Error level of 15% and Confidence level 95%, as per ASQA, recommendation from the Validation Fact Sheet, reference – https://www.asqa.gov.au/resources/fact-sheets/conducting-validation. (This information is current as at March 2021 Version 1.0.)

Part G - Conducting the Validation Meeting

For both Part A and Part B whether conducted separately or together

(27) Collect completed Validator Competence Verification forms from any external participants and ensure evidence is attached. These documents become part of the validation record to be stored on file.

(28) Use VU Polytechnic Validation of Assessment form to guide the validation meeting and provide each participant with copies.

1. Each unit of competency must be validated using a single form. There should be no clustered assessments. 

(29) Appoint one validator as the official note taker.

(30) Work through the form, checking for each item whether or not the evidence is there to support compliance. For validation, note evidence of compliance and non-compliance as appropriate, and also identify opportunities for improvement.

(31) At the end of the meeting, compile a list of the agreed rectifications or improvements that have been identified, seeking input from all validators.

(32) All validators should sign the official version of the validation form. Alternatively, these may be completed following the meeting and distributed electronically to all participants for their email approval.

Part H - Follow-Up from Validation Meetings

(33) The Responsible Person is to collate the following documentation:

1. Validator Competence Verification forms and supporting documentation.
2. Final validation meeting recorded on the VET Validation Tool.
3. The course documentation that was considered in the validation process (note that these should already be in electronic format).

(34) Scan the relevant documentation above. Save the scanned / electronic documentation onto the Y: drive in the designated validation folder for the program area. Use the filename of qualification code and unit of competency code to easily identify the record.

(35) File the physical copies of the above in the location designated by the Manager.

(36) Provide the list of identified rectifications and improvements, and suggested actions to the Manager to ensure that they are added to the Continuous Improvement Register.

(37) Managers must work with relevant staff to ensure actions identified as part of the validation process are fully implemented. Even though only a small number of units from the qualification are officially validated at each meeting, rectifications and improvements identified should be made to all units delivered as part of the program, as appropriate.

Part I - Additional Requirements for Training and Education qualifications

(38) Validation must be led by an external, independent validator. This person must not be an employee of Victoria University Polytechnic and must have taken no part in the delivery or assessment of the qualifications being validated.

(39) The external validator must hold a qualification at Diploma level or above from the TAE10 training package (or its successor) or any other diploma in adult education.

References

(40) Click here to view these references (under Validation of Assessment section)  -

1. VET External Validator Competence Verification
2. VET Validation Tool
3. ASQA Fact Sheet
4. VET Assessment Validation – Program Area 5 Year Plan (2021-2025)
5. VET Assessment Validation - Program Area 5 Year Plan (2016-2020)
6. VET Validation Guidelines
7. VET Validation Risk Rating Matrix
8. VET Validation Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)