An Assessment System refers to documentation, policies and procedures (including assessment materials and tools) that act as the blueprint for how an RTO conducts their assessments. Assessment will constantly be scrutinised at audits and is essential for RTOs to get right. According to ASQA, the most common areas of non-compliance at performance assessments are the RTO’s assessment tools and poor implementation of these tools.
Assessment should be part of a comprehensive learning system to ensure students are well-equipped for the workforce and should not just occur upon completing training courses. From the outset, a judgement or diagnostic assessment should be made about a learner's skills and capabilities and then used to customise a learning journey.
This could be part of a Foundation Skills Assessment Tool, a questionnaire or self-assessment checklists. The trainer will then use these to tailor the program to suit the skills and needs of learners.
ASSESSMENT TOOLS
Assessment tools are an essential part of the assessment system and will generally comprise a workbook for students to use. There should also be an assessment guide that the assessor would use when assessing a learner. Along with both of these documents, a set of instructions for conducting the assessment activity for both parties would need to be included. This will include information on how the task should be performed, the context of the assessment, an outline of any specific conditions the task should be performed under, and an outline of the evidence that needs to be collected for an assessment decision to be made. Regarding the assessor's specific tool, there should be some guidance on the suggested answers and benchmark answers to provide the assessor with the guidance required to make decisions on skills competence. This is very important in order to maintain consistency when there is an assessment team reviewing a variety of student responses. Whilst ASQA does not require RTOs to have mapping tools, they can be valuable tools in developing and reviewing assessments. Assessment mapping maps tasks against all unit components to guarantee that the entire unit is covered.
ASQA has developed a document called Guide to Developing Assessment Tools, which covers the process of developing assessment tools, from reviewing the initial requirements in the training package to actually designing and developing a full range of assessment tools for implementation. Issues with assessment can quite often be put in the too-hard basket. For this reason, we suggest getting an assessment validation to ensure the quality and compliance of your assessment process. On completion, you will receive a full report of our findings. Get in touch to arrange your Assessment validation today at 1300 833 424 or email info@rtointelligence.com.au.