This section provides an overview on the use and development of assessment tools.
Use of Assessment Tools
Assessment tools provide a means of collecting the evidence that assessors use in making judgments about whether candidates have achieved competency. There is no set format or process for the design, production or development of assessment tools.
Assessors may use prepared assessment tools, such as those specifically developed to support this Training Package, or they may develop their own.
Using Prepared Assessment Tools
If using prepared assessment tools, assessors should ensure these are benchmarked, or mapped, against the current version of the relevant unit of competency. This can be done by checking that the materials are listed on www.training.gov.au. Materials on the list have been noted by the National Quality Council as meeting their quality criteria for Training Package support materials.
Developing Assessment Tools
When developing assessment tools, assessors must ensure that they:
• are benchmarked against the relevant unit or units of competency
• are reviewed as part of the continuous improvement of assessment strategies as required under Standard 1 of the AQTF 2007
• meet the assessment requirements expressed in Standard 1 of the AQTF 2007.
A key reference for assessors developing assessment tools is TAA04 Training and Assessment Training Package and the unit of competency TAAASS403A Develop assessment tools. There is no set format or process for the design, production or development of assessment materials.
Conducting Assessment
This section details the mandatory assessment requirements and provides information on equity in assessment including reasonable adjustment.
Assessment Requirements
Assessments must meet the criteria set out in the AQTF 2007 Essential Standards for Registration.
For information, the mandatory assessment requirements from Standard 1 from the AQTF 2007 Essential Standards for Registration are as follows:
| 1.5 |
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Assessment, including Recognition of Prior Learning: |
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a) |
meets the requirements of the relevant Training Package or accredited course, |
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b) |
is conducted in accordance with the principles of assessment and the rules of evidence, and |
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c) |
meets workplace and, where relevant, regulatory requirements.” |
Assessment of Employability Skills
Employability Skills are integral to workplace competency. As such they must be considered in the design, customisation, delivery and assessment of vocational education and training programs in an integrated and holistic way, as represented diagrammatically below.
Employability Skills are embedded and explicit within each unit of competency. Training providers must use Employability Skills information in order to design valid and reliable training and assessment strategies. This analysis could include:
• reviewing units of competency to locate relevant Employability Skills and determine how they are applied within the unit
• analysing the Employability Skills Summary for the qualification in which the unit or units are packaged to help clarify relevant industry and workplace contexts and the application of Employability Skills at that qualification outcome
• designing training and assessment to address Employability Skills requirements.
For more information on Employability Skills in SkillsDMC Training Packages, go to the SkillsDMC website at www.skillsdmc.com.au
Access and Equity
An individual's access to the assessment process should not be adversely affected by restrictions placed on the location or context of assessment beyond the requirements specified in this Training Package: training and assessment must be bias-free.
Under the rules for their development, Training Packages must reflect and cater for the increasing diversity of Australia’s VET clients and Australia’s current and future workforce. The flexibilities offered by Training Packages should enhance opportunities and potential outcomes for all people so that we can all benefit from a wider national skills base and a shared contribution to Australia’s economic development and social and cultural life.
Reasonable adjustments
It is important that education providers take meaningful, transparent and reasonable steps to consult, consider and implement reasonable adjustments for students with disability.
Under the Disability Standards for Education 2005, education providers must make reasonable adjustments for people with disability to the maximum extent that those adjustments do not cause that provider unjustifiable hardship. While ‘reasonable adjustment’ and ‘unjustifiable hardship’ are different concepts and involve different considerations, they both seek to strike a balance between the interests of education providers and the interests of students with and without disability.
An adjustment is any measure or action that a student requires because of their disability, and which has the effect of assisting the student to access and participate in education and training on the same basis as students without a disability. An adjustment is reasonable if it achieves this purpose while taking into account factors such as the nature of the student’s disability, the views of the student, the potential effect of the adjustment on the student and others who might be affected, and the costs and benefits of making the adjustment.
An education provider is also entitled to maintain the academic integrity of a course or program and to consider the requirements or components that are inherent or essential to its nature when assessing whether an adjustment is reasonable. There may be more than one adjustment that is reasonable in a given set of circumstances; education providers are required to make adjustments that are reasonable and that do not cause them unjustifiable hardship.
See Part 4, Chapter 2 of the Training Package Development Handbook (DEST, September 2007) for more information on reasonable adjustment, including examples of adjustments.
Further Sources of Information
The section provides a listing of useful contacts and resources to assist assessors in planning, designing, conducting and reviewing of assessments against this Training Package.
Contacts
SkillsDMC
Level 9, 36 Carrington St
Sydney NSW 2000
skillsdmc@skillsdmc.com.au
www.skillsdmc.com.au
| Contacts |
National Network of Building and Construction Industry Training Advisory Bodies (ITABs)
New South Wales Construction Industry Advisory Board (NSW)
Mr Douglas Greening Chief Executive Officer
PO Box 1925
HORNSBY WESTFIELD NSW 1635
Tel (02) 9987 4027
Fax (02) 9987 4072
Email: douglasg@citab.com.au Construction Training Queensland
Mr Greg Shannon
General Manager
PO Box 3294
SOUTH BRISBANE QLD 4101
Tel (07) 3846 8700
Fax (07) 3846 5067
Email: info@ctq.com.au Queensland Construction Training Queensland
Mr David Thompson
Manager Training Development
PO Box 28
SALISBURY QLD 4107
Tel (07) 3274-7999
Fax (07) 3846-5067
Email: davidt@ctq.com.au Northern Territory Major Industries Training Advisory Council
Mr Tim Schinkel
Executive Officer
GPO Box 1610
DARWIN NT 0801
Tel (08) 8981 0077
Fax (08) 8981 0060
Email: tim@mitac.org.au South Australia Construction Industry Training Board
Marcus d'Assumpcao
Manager - Planning and Research
PO Box 1227
UNLEY SA 5061
Tel (08) 8172 9516
Fax (08) 8172 9501
Email: marcus@citb.org.au Western Australia Building and Construction Industry Training Council (Inc)
Mr David Hurst
Executive Officer
PO Box 206
LEEDERVILLE WA 6007
Tel (08) 9485 0723
Fax (08) 9481 5226
Email: bcitcwa@bcitcwa.com.au Tasmanian Building and Construction Industry Training Board
Mr Peter Coad
Chief Executive Officer
PO Box 105
SANDY BAY TAS 7006
Tel (03) 6223 7804
Fax (03) 6234 6327
Email email@tbcitb.com.au Capital Territory ACT Building and Construction Industry Training Council
Mr Vince Ball
Executive Director
PO Box 882
DICKSON ACT 2602
Tel (02) 6241 3977
Fax (02) 6241 3262
Email: vince.b@iimetro.com.au Mining Regulatory Authority Website details
NSW Department of Department of Mineral Resources www.minerals.nsw.gov.au
Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, www.nrme.qld.gov.au
Tasmanian Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources, www.mrt.tas.gov.au
Victorian Department of Primary Industries www.dpi.vic.gov.au
Northern Territory Department of Mines and Energy www.dme.nt.gov.au
Western Australian Department of Industry and resources www.doir.wa.gov.au
South Australian Department of Primary Industries and Resources, www.pir.sa.gov.au |
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Australia Limited
Level 21, 390 St Kilda Road, Melbourne VIC 3150
PO Box 12211, A’Beckett Street Post Office
MELBOURNE VICTORIA 8006
Ph: +61 3 9832 8100
Fax: +61 3 9832 8198
Email: sales@tvetaustralia.com.au
Web: www.tvetaustralia.com.au
For information on the TAA04 Training and Assessment Training Package contact:
Innovation & Business Skills Australia
Level 2, Building B, 192 Burwood Road
HAWTHORN VIC 3122
Telephone: (03) 9815 7000
Facsimile: (03) 9815 7001
Web: www.ibsa.org.au
Email: virtual@ibsa.org.au
General Resources
Refer tohttp://antapubs.dest.gov.au/publications/search.asp to locate the following publications.
AQF Implementation Handbook, third Edition. Australian Qualifications Framework Advisory Board,
2002, www.aqf.edu.au
Australian Quality Training Framework 2007 (AQTF 2007) - for information and resources go to www.training.com.au/aqtf2007
AQTF 2007 Essential Standards for Registration. Training organisations must meet these standards in order to deliver and assess nationally recognised training and issue nationally recognised qualifications. They include three standards, a requirement for registered training organisations to gather information on their performance against three quality indicators, and nine conditions of registration.
AQTF 2007 User’s Guide to the Essential Standards for Registration. A Users’ Guide for training organisations who must meet these standards in order to deliver and assess nationally recognised training and issue nationally recognised qualifications.
AQTF 2007 Standards for Accredited Courses. State and Territory accrediting bodies are responsible for accrediting courses. This standard provides a national operating framework and template for the accreditation of courses.
TAA04 Training and Assessment Training Package. This is available from the Innovation and Innovation & Business Skills Australia (IBSA) Industry Skills Council and can be viewed, and components downloaded, from the National Training Information Service (NTIS).
National Training Information Service, an electronic database providing comprehensive information about RTOs, Training Packages and accredited courses - www.ntis.gov.au
Training Package Development Handbook (DEST, August 2007). Can be downloaded from www.dest.gov.au
Assessment Resources
Training Package Assessment Guides - a range of resources to assist RTOs in developing Training Package assessment materials (originally developed by ANTA with funding from the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs) and made up of 10 separate titles, as described at the publications page of www.dest.gov.au. Go to www.resourcegenerator.gov.au/loadpage.asp?TPAG.htm
Printed and/or CD ROM versions of the Guides can be purchased from Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Australia Limited. The resource includes the following guides:
- Training Package Assessment Materials Kit
- Assessing Competencies in Higher Qualifications
- Recognition Resource
- Kit to Support Assessor Training
- Candidates Kit: Guide to Assessment in New Apprenticeships
- Assessment Approaches for Small Workplaces
- Assessment Using Partnership Arrangements
- Strategies for ensuring Consistency in Assessment
- Networking for Assessors
- Quality Assurance Guide for Assessment
An additional guide ‘Delivery and Assessment Strategies’ has been developed to complement these resources.
Assessment Tool Design and Conducting Assessment
VETASSESS & Western Australian Department of Training and Employment 2000, Designing Tests - Guidelines for designing knowledge based tests for Training Packages.
Vocational Education and Assessment Centre 1997, Designing Workplace Assessment Tools, A self-directed learning program, NSW TAFE.
Manufacturing Learning Australia 2000, Assessment Solutions, Australian Training Products, Melbourne.
Rumsey, David 1994, Assessment practical guide, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
Assessor Training
Australian Committee on Training Curriculum (ACTRAC) 1994, Assessor training program - learning materials, Australian Training Products, Melbourne.
Australian National Training Authority, A Guide for Professional Development, ANTA, Brisbane.
Australian Training Products Ltd Assessment and Workplace Training, Training Package - Toolbox, ATPL Melbourne (available from TVET).
Green, M, et al. 1997, Key competencies professional development Package, Department for Education and Children's Services, South Australia.
Victorian TAFE Association 2000, The professional development CD: A learning tool, VTA, Melbourne.
Assessment System Design and Management
Office of Training and Further Education 1998, Demonstrating best practice in VET project - assessment systems and processes, OTFE (now OTTE) Victoria.
Toop, L., Gibb, J. & Worsnop, P. Assessment system designs, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.