Validation Policy

Purpose

The Purpose of this policy is to ensure the quality review of the assessment process in Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses. Validation ensures that the assessment tools produce valid, reliable, sufficient, current and authentic evidence for making reasonable judgements for meeting the requirements of the relevant VET course. Validation helps to maintain consistency across all delivery methods and locations.

Scope

This Policy applies to all VET courses delivered by Alphacrucis University College (AC) and its third-party partners.

Policy

Definition

Validation is the quality review of the assessment process. Validation involves checking that the assessment tool/s produce/s valid, reliable, sufficient, current and authentic evidence to enable reasonable judgements to be made as to whether the requirements of the training package or VET accredited courses are met. It includes reviewing a statistically valid sample of the assessments and making recommendations for future improvements to the assessment tool, process and/or outcomes and acting upon such recommendations.

Policy

1. AC will maintain a Validation Plan which outlines:

• Who will lead and participate in validation activities
• Which training package or accredited course will be the focus of the validation
• When assessment validation will occur
• What validation tools will be used
• How the outcomes of the validation will be documented and acted upon to continuously improve assessment.

2. The relevant VET Program Director will develop a systematic validation schedule for each course under their supervision to be validated at least once every five years, with at least 50% of the units validated within the first three years.

2. At least two units of competency should be sampled when validating a qualification.

2. The Learning and Teaching Committee will nominate the lead validator and relevant members of the validation team who are not directly involved in the particular instance of delivery and assessment of the training product being validated, including the VET Program Director or Head of School if the VET Program Director has been directly involved in the particular instance of delivery assessment judgement. Where the validation relates to delivery in a LOTE, the external validator shall be bilingual in both A and B (normally English) languages.

5. Validations must consist of at least two people comprising of people who collectively have:

a.  relevant vocational competencies and current industry skills relevant to the assessment being validated;

b.  current knowledge and skills in vocational teaching and learning;

c.  the TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or its successor, or TAESS00011 Assessor Skill Set or its successor; and

d.  at least one person not directly involved in the delivery of the particular unit being validated.

Industry experts may be involved in validation to ensure there is the combination of expertise set out in the above.

6. Training and assessment units will undergo an independent validation. Persons leading and participating in the validation must;

a.  not be employed or subcontracted by AC; and

b.  have no other involvement or interest in the operations of AC.

7. The outcomes of the validation will be reported to the Learning and Teaching Committee.

Procedures

Validation Procedure