Within the Australian vocational education and training (VET) sector quality and consistency of competency based assessment (CBA) has become a critical issue for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs). Assessments against training package standards are conducted in a wide range of different contexts and for the process of mutual recognition between RTOs to work effectively there needs to be widespread confidence in assessment decisions. Under mutual recognition each State and Territory has agreed to recognise Training Packages and accredited courses and RTOs are required to recognise the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) qualifications and statements of attainment issued by other RTOs.
To date, the focus of assuring assessment quality has concentrated on developing, clarifying and regularly reviewing competency standards and the registration and audit of training providers. The Australian VET sector has relied more on self-regulation in comparison to the systems in some other countries such as the United Kingdom (UK) and New Zealand (NZ), which are regulated centrally. The Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) 2001 provides RTOs with a revised set of standards they must comply with to maintain their registration as training providers. AQTF Standard 9.2 focuses specifically on the requirement for RTOs to develop appropriate strategies to validate their assessment systems and processes.
Given the shortage of material and specific case studies relating to assessment validation available for RTOs, the Assessment Validation project aimed to support groups of NSW RTOs from different sectors in piloting assessment validation strategies relevant to their specific assessment context, document the experience and develop materials that other RTOs could adopt when developing their own validation strategies.
Some key project outcomes: (1) the core group of 55 VET sector assessors gained 'hands on' experience in facilitating assessment validation meetings or activities; (2) over 300 VET sector assessors attended information sessions about assessment validation and the new AQTF requirements and many of these assessors have worked with colleagues on assessment validation activities; (3) case studies using specific validation activities suggesting what works best for different types of RTOs and how RTOs dealt with issues such as geographic isolation, lack of resources, part time teachers etc.; (4) a set of materials including templates, a poster and set of overhead transparencies (OHTs) that can be accessed by other RTOs or groups of assessors establishing an assessment validation strategy; and (5) three specific industry networks of assessors.
Excerpt from published paper reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.
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