One of the most common noncompliance areas for an RTO at audit is with assessment tools.
RTOs must develop certain materials that focus on quality learning and assessment to meet the standards for RTOs. These include learning materials, processes, and assessment strategies.
Materials like learning and assessment strategies are seen as a blueprint for how qualifications are received, so they should outline clearly how learning and assessment will be delivered to the learner.
Assessment tools contain the instrument and the directions for collecting and understanding evidence in an assessment process. They should comprise the following elements:
Context and conditions for assessment of the tasks to be assigned to the learner
An outline of the evidence to be gathered from the learner
The evidence criteria for judging performance quality include the decision‑making rules and the administration, recording, and reporting requirements.
Assessment tools are one of the main areas where an RTO might be non-compliant at audit, with the two pain problem areas being: 1. Assessment tools design 2. Poor implementation of assessment tools
ASSESSMENT TOOLS DESIGN
The most common area of non-compliance in the review of RTO’s assessment tools is that they don’t address all of the training package requirements. This can be seen when an assessment is deemed unfair due to insufficient information. The other main issue is that the assessment tools have not been designed to allow for enough validation or evidence of students’ full competency or skill level. This can be seen in the use of simulated tests that are not realistic, so evidence can’t be 100% relied on. 2. IMPLEMENTATION OF ASSESSMENT TOOLS At audit, it is often found that assessment tasks have not been fully completed, meaning individuals have been thought to have all the required skills and knowledge without fully completing assessments. Students are quite often not assessed for consistent levels of performance over time in a full range of contexts.
Clear instructions for both the assessor and student are also an issue. For instance, the observation checklist employed by RTOs during assessment often does not provide enough information for the assessor to ensure student competence in the task. Lastly, a lack of systems to authenticate a learner's work to avoid plagiarism is another common non-compliance seen during an audit. Here at RTO Intelligence, we can conduct an assessment validation to ensure the quality and compliance of your assessment process. You will receive a full report of our findings on completion. Get in touch to arrange your Assessment validation today at 1300 833 424 or email info@rtointelligence.com.au