The national regulator has been undertaking reviews on the quality of the operations of RTO’s through their audits of initial and post initial applications as well as ongoing registrations.

Their feedback makes interesting reading in that it highlights the areas that RTO’s are showing non-compliance. These areas all fall within the assessment process that sits within Standard 1.

Listed below are the key concerns:

no practical application of skills and knowledge:

  • limited assessment of learner skills
  • knowledge not integrated into practical assessment
  • overuse of document driven assessment
  • not assessing in an ‘on the job situation’

lack of assessment criteria:

  • tick and flick records in assessment tools
  • direct cut and paste from the unit of competency requirements
  • tasks to be undertaken are not defined
  • simulations and role plays that do not have observation instruments
  • foundation skills are not being assessed

lack of clear instructions regarding the task to be performed:

  • the task to be performed is not described
  • no context or instructions for the candidate and assessor
  • written questions are a reworded version of the unit of competency criteria

ineffective mapping:

  • mapping elements and performance criteria only
  • ineffective mapping that does not indicate the coverage

issues with third party reports:

  • these reports are not clearly defined
  • lack of advice on who can be a third party
  • unqualified third parties are conducting assessment
  • insufficient instructions with third party

inadequate validation:

  • ineffective validation processes
  • insufficient evidence is retained
  • validating large number of qualifications in one day
  • no evidence the validation outcomes were implemented.

To be compliant with assessment tools will require the RTO to ensure that:

  1. assessment tools use a variety of methods to determine competence which must include practical simulations that are measured not only by tasks but by observations
  2. tasks and observation sheets must be clear, specific and customised to the simulation and include assessor comments on the competence of the candidate
  3. when developing simulations to replicate the real world the tool must include access to typical workplace documents such as policy and procedures, spreadsheets on results etc. which are listed in the foundation skills and performance requirements
  4. clear instructions on how these simulations will be undertaken
  5. only use third party as assessment evidence when the stakeholder is qualified to assess and has clear instructions on the process
  6. when undertaking assessment validations ensure that these span the registration period and not left to weeks before the audit
  7. make sure the validation panel is comprised of appropriate stakeholders and that they follow a structured process that is sufficient in depth in its analysis
  8. any decisions are implemented and outcomes recorded.

By |2018-04-26T13:25:21+00:00February 19th, 2018|ASQA, Compliance|

About the Author:

Mark Long
Mark is the co-mastermind in VETFair and one of the few consultants in VET who is officially registered with an international body. As a certified auditor, Mark maintains a professional standard which is monitored by Exemplar Global.
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