Conducting Assessments Policy & Procedure

Policy

This policy and procedure is to be used by Inspiritive Pty Ltd to ensure student assessments conducted meeting the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence and meet the Standards for RTOs 2015 and relevant Training Package.

The assessment policy and procedure covers all assessments to be conducted for Nationally Recognised Training provided by Inspiritive Pty Ltd .

This policy and procedure is to be read in conjunction with the following documents:

Training and Assessment Strategies
Validation Procedure
Industry Engagement Procedure

Students applying for Recognition of Prior Learning or Credit Transfer (National Recognition) should refer to relevant policies and procedures.

Procedure

2.1 Assessment Requirements (Principles of Assessment & Rules of Evidence)

Principles of Assessment

For an effective assessment system in a competency based environment, the following Principles of Assessment must be incorporated into the assessment process:

Fairness	The individual learners needs are considered in the assessment process. Where appropriate, reasonable adjustments are applied by the RTO to take into account the individual learners needs. The RTO informs the learner about the assessment process, and provides the learner with the opportunity to challenge the result of the assessment and be reassessed if necessary.
Flexibility	Assessment is flexible to the individual learner by: reflecting the learners needs; assessing competencies held by the learner no matter how or where they have been acquired; and drawing from a range of assessment methods and using those that are appropriate to the context, the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements, and the individual.
Validity	Any assessment decision of the RTO is justified, based on the evidence of performance of the individual learner. Validity requires: assessment against the unit/s of competency and the associated assessment requirements covers the broad range of skills and knowledge that are essential to competent performance; assessment of knowledge and skills is integrated with their practical application assessment to be based on evidence that demonstrates that a learner could demonstrate these skills and knowledge in other similar situations; and judgement of competence is based on evidence of learner performance that is aligned to the unit/s of competency and associated assessment requirements.
Reliability	Evidence presented for assessment is consistently interpreted and assessment results are comparable irrespective of the assessor conducting the assessment. Reliability requires: Assessment tasks and tools will be clear and unambiguous; Assessment tools will include clear, consistent and specific assessment criteria; Assessments will be conducted by qualified assessors ; Assessments will be carried out within a system flexible enough to cope with multiple and diverse forms of evidence Assessment tools will include comprehensive checklists for all practical assessments Assessment tools will include assessor guides for all questions, allowing benchmarking against required competency levels Validation and moderation of assessments will be conducted in accordance with Inspiritive Pty Ltds Validation Procedure

Rules of Evidence

In addition to the above Principles of Assessment, the RTO must ensure that evidence of assessment is appropriate and meets the following Rules of Evidence when conducting assessments:

Validity	The assessor is assured that the learner has the skills, knowledge and attributes as described in the module or unit of competency and associated assessment requirements. Validity of assessments will be ensured by the implementation of the following : Assessment tasks will be clearly related to the units of competency Assessment against units of competency and subjects covers the broad range of skills and knowledge that are essential to competent performance (as specific in the unit or subject) Assessment of knowledge and skills is integrated with the practical application of those knowledge and skills Assessor guides have been prepared for all assessment tasks and these will be used by assessors in marking the learners work Validation and moderation of assessments is conducted in accordance with the RTOs Validation Procedure
Sufficiency	The assessor is assured that the quality, quantity and relevance of the assessment evidence enables a judgement to be made of a learners competency. Sufficiency of evidence will require that: Assessment tasks are developed in accordance with the requirements of each unit of competency and are mapped to each unit Assessor guides have been developed to ensure that assessors know what level of response is required of the learner Validation and moderation of assessments is conducted in accordance with Inspiritive Pty Ltd 's Validation Procedure
Authenticity	The assessor is assured that the evidence presented for assessment is the learner's own work. Inspiritive Pty Ltd will ensure that where the assessor does not observe the learner completing the assessment task, other measures will be implemented to confirm that the work was completed by the learner
Currency	The assessor is assured that the assessment evidence demonstrates current competency. This requires the assessment evidence to be from the present or the very recent past. As a general rule, competencies that have not been demonstrated within the past 3 years are not usually accepted as “current”. Inspiritive Pty Ltd will ensure that all assessments are current, in that the evidence is prepared by the learner in response to specific questions and role plays. Where learners apply for RPL or credit transfer based on evidence which is more than 3 years old, additional evidence of current competency would be required in order to judge the learner as competent

2.2 Assessment process and methods

Assessment is the process of collecting evidence and making a judgement on whether competency has been achieved as per the requirements of the training package. Inspiritive Pty Ltd has designated assessment materials developed for each Unit of Competency included on the Scope of Registration. All assessments are to be conducted in line with the documented assessment tasks and requirements.

In general terms assessment methods may include:

Written tests
Calculation Tests
Observation of practical skills in simulated environment
Case studies
Question and answer sessions
Projects
Assignments

There may be a clustered assessment approach to some units where appropriate and all assessment arrangements and details of assessment requirements will be documented through the relevant Strategy for Training and Assessment and student / assessor instructions within the assessment documentation.

2.3 Development of Assessment Instruments

Inspiritive Pty Ltd will ensure that assessment instruments are available for each and every unit included in the Scope of Registration for the RTO. The CEO is required to ensure that assessment instruments are developed / purchased for each unit and that these assessment instruments meet the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence as described above.

In developing assessment materials, Inspiritive Pty Ltd will ensure that:

The standards, assessment processes and all associated information are straight forward and understandable;
Learners are fully informed of the assessment processes and the requirements to be judged as competent in each unit

In addition Inspiritive Pty Ltd ensures the sufficiency of evidence by means of the following:

Assessment tasks are developed in accordance with the requirements of each unit of competency and are mapped to each unit
Assessor guides have been developed to ensure that assessors know what level of response is required of the learner
Validation and moderation of assessments is conducted in accordance with Inspiritive Pty Ltds Validation Procedure

2.4 Assessor Requirements

The role of an assessor is to objectively assess and judge a candidate’s evidence against a set of standards. In order to do this effectively, an assessor must have a sound knowledge of, and be skilled in, the relevant industry area, and meet the below assessor requirements.

Training and assessment may only be delivered by persons who have:

vocational competencies at least to the level being delivered and assessed;
current industry skills directly relevant to the training and assessment being provided; and
current knowledge and skills in vocational training and learning that informs their training and assessment.

Assessors must also hold one of the following:

TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor.
A diploma or higher level qualification in adult education.
TAESS00001 Assessor Skill Set or its successor

It is crucial that assessors always understand and practise fair, objective, unbiased and flexible assessment processes. Inspiritive Pty Ltd Assessors are encouraged to contribute to the assessment strategy development and conduct the assessment process cognisant to existing best practice and research in the relevant field.

2.5 Preparing the candidate for Assessment

All students must be informed of the assessment process prior to undertaking the assessment tasks. The assessor must ensure that any candidate undertaking assessment is provided the following:

Explanation of the context and purpose of the assessment and the assessment process
Explanation of the Competency Standards to be assessed and the evidence to be collected
Outline of the assessment procedure, the preparation which the candidate should undertake, and answer any questions the candidate may have
Assess the needs of the candidate and, where applicable, negotiate reasonable adjustment for assessing people with disabilities without compromising the integrity of the competencies
Seek feedback regarding the candidate’s understanding of the competency standards, evidence requirements and assessment process
Determination if the candidate is ready for assessment and, in consultation with the candidate, decide on the time and place of the assessment
Implement the assessment plan

2.6. Candidates with Special Needs and Reasonable adjustment

One fundamental principle of an assessment system is that each candidate must have access to fair and open assessment. Candidates with special needs should be offered the same opportunities as any other candidate.

As special needs extend to more than identified physical or learning difficulties, assessors will also need to consider the best approach when dealing with candidates with needs such as low literacy, lack of confidence or non-English speaking background (e.g. mature aged students, students from culturally and linguistically diverse background).

An assessor must take special needs into consideration when assessing and depending on any specification given in the standards/training and assessment strategies, the assessor may be able to accept alternative evidence from a candidate with special needs. Each training and assessment strategy will have allowable reasonable adjustment processes identified for the assessor. If there is uncertainty, the assessor should refer the matter to the RTO Manager

2.7. Use of simulation in assessment

Where simulation of the workplace is used, such simulations must match the real workplace context as closely as possible. In particular, they should provide an assessment environment that allows for the demonstration of the broad concept of competency, notably:

performing the task
managing a number of different tasks
coping with irregularities and breakdowns in routine
dealing with the responsibilities and expectations of the workplace, including working
with others
transferring competency to new situations

The validity of simulations depends very much on how accurately the simulation mirrors real life situations. Simulations include fully realistic mock ups and more simple recreations of the workplace environment that set up an event for the purposes of learning and/or assessment. They may either expect the assessee to act as they would in real life, or to act and talk their way through the process.

Simulations allow the assessor to stage the situation in a realistic manner but within defined and repeatable contexts. This allows the assessor to apply the same simulation, or the same base simulation with variations, to different assesses and/or to the same assessee over time.

Simulations must be:

allowed within the constraints of the units of competency and Training Package being assessed
carefully planned and managed by people with specialist training in simulation and/or in consultation with the training organisation involved
fully debriefed and used as an active learning experience for the assessee and all others involved in the simulation
used in balance with evidence from other sources to show evidence of consistent performance over time

When conducting and assessing simulations, it is recommended that:

the task is aligned with the elements and performance criteria and it is structured accordingly
clear and explicit information is provided to the students as to what is expected of students
the task is authentic and real-world based
learning experience is scaffolded, breaking tasks down to manageable size

When making a judgement about competence on the basis of evidence gained mainly through simulations as with any other assessment judgement the assessor will need to take account of both the wording and the spirit of the competency, its relationship with other units of competency and current workplace practices. In some instances, a Training Package may state that certain units of competency can only be assessed in an actual workplace setting.

2.8 Recording and Reporting the Assessment Decision

The assessor must:

Establish and oversee the evidence gathering process to ensure its validity, reliability, fairness and flexibility
Collect appropriate evidence and assess this against the Elements, Performance Criteria, Required Skills and Knowledge and Critical Aspects of Evidence and Assessment in the relevant Units of Competency. This will be achieved by following the instructions within the assessment instruments
Incorporate allowable adjustments to the assessment procedure without compromising the integrity of the competencies (if required)
Evaluate the evidence in terms of validity, consistency, currency, equity, authenticity and sufficiency
Record details of evidence collected and of outcome of each assessment Task (Satisfactory or Not Satisfactory)
Make a judgement about competency based on the evidence and the relevant Unit[s] of Competency record the Unit outcome (Competent or Not Yet Competent)
Record the assessment outcome on the required Inspiritive Pty Ltd assessment documents
Provide signed and dated assessment outcomes, and the original assessment to Student Administration
Maintain the confidentiality of the assessment outcome

2.9 Feedback on the Assessment Outcome

The assessor must provide advice to the candidate about the outcomes of the assessment process. This includes providing the candidate with:

Clear and constructive feedback on the assessment decision
Information on ways of overcoming any identified gaps in competency revealed by the assessment the opportunity to discuss the assessment process and outcome information on reassessment and the appeals processes.
An opportunity for reassessment if appropriate or requested by the candidate

2.10 Reassessment and appeals process

Where a student has undertaken an assessment and it has been marked as Not yet Competent (NYC), they may be allowed to re-sit the test/or have a re-assessment. Where a student has failed to satisfactorily answer a written assessment, the student will be required to complete a different assessment task. Where the assessment task involves observation either in a simulated environment or in the workplace, the student will be required to demonstrate the same skills as required in the first assessment task

If they are deemed NYC for a second time they are to re-enrol into that unit/ subject.

The assessor must:

Provide feedback and counselling to the candidate, if required, regarding the assessment outcome or process including guidance on further options
Provide the candidate with information on the reassessment and appeals process.
Report any assessment decision that is disputed by the candidate to the CEO
Participate any assessment appeal according to the RTOs policies and procedures (See Complaints and Appeals Policy and Procedure).

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