Competency involves the specification of skills and knowledge and their application to a particular standard of performance required in the workplace. Aspects of work performance included in this concept involve:
- Performance at an acceptable level of technical skill;
- Organisation of tasks;
- Appropriate response and reaction when things go wrong; and
- Transferability of skills and knowledge to new situations and contexts.
Standards are statements of the required workplace levels of performance.
Imperial will implements an assessment system that ensures that assessment (including recognition of prior learning):
- complies with the assessment requirements of the relevant training package or VET accredited course; and
- is conducted in accordance with the Principles of Assessment contained in Table 1. and the Rules of Evidence contained in Table 2.
Table 1: Principles of Assessment
The individual learner’s needs are considered in the assessment process.
Where appropriate, reasonable adjustments are applied by the RTO to take into account the individual learner’s 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:
Any assessment decision of the RTO is justified, based on the evidence of performance of the individual learner.
|Reliability||Evidence presented for assessment is consistently interpreted and assessment results are comparable irrespective of the assessor conducting the assessment.|
Table 2: Rules of Evidence
|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.|
|Sufficiency||The assessor is assured that the quality, quantity and relevance of the assessment evidence enables a judgement to be made of a learner’s competency.|
|Authenticity||The assessor is assured that the evidence presented for assessment is the learner’s own work.|
|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.|
Assessment means the process of collecting evidence and making judgements on whether competency has been achieved, to confirm that an individual can perform to the standard required in the workplace, as specified in a training package or VET accredited course.
Assessment system is a coordinated set of documented policies and procedures (including assessment materials and tools) that ensure assessments are consistent and are based on the Principles of Assessment contained and the Rules of Evidence.
Fairness and Equity
An assessment system and its processes must not disadvantage any person or organisation. All eligible candidates must be guaranteed access to assessment that does not discriminate on any basis. Assessment guidelines must include an approach for working with candidates with special needs. To achieve these principles, the assessment system must exhibit the following characteristics:
- Clear, comprehensive standards and assessment processes;
- Identification and individualised responses to the needs and assessment issues of potential candidates;
- Selection of processes and materials within the assessment system that do not disadvantage candidates;
- Appropriate, effective review and dispute resolution mechanism to investigate, examine and redress any issue of unfairness or disadvantage involving access, assessment, certification or other related issues; and
- Amendment of the system to avoid or counter potential disadvantages wherever are identified, and appropriate steps taken to overcome them, including reassessment, if required.
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. In addition, the assessor must have acknowledged competency in assessment itself and hold an appropriate training and assessment qualification or equivalent.
An assessor must:
- Interpret and understand the criteria;
- Ensure that evidence meets the standards;
- Ensure that evidence is valid, authentic, reliable, consistent, current and sufficient; and
- Use expertise to make fair and objective judgements.
The training and ongoing professional development of assessors must include such areas as:
- Roles, responsibilities and ethics;
- Procedural and administrative duties;
- Performance and knowledge evidence gathering and presentation;
- Interpretation and usage of standards;
- Selecting and using appropriate methods of assessment; and
- Requirements regarding processing and recording of results, progress and feedback
It is crucial that assessors understand and practise fair, objective, unbiased and flexible assessment processes.
Forms of Evidence
In general, basic forms of skills evidence include:
- Direct performance evidence ? current or from an acceptable past period ? from:
- Extracted examples within the workplace;
- Natural observation in the workplace; and
- Simulations, including competency and skills tests, projects, assignments
- Supplementary evidence, from:
- Oral and written questioning;
- Personal reports; and
- Witness testimony.
Appropriate and valid forms of assessment utilised for both skills and knowledge may include:
- Evaluation of direct products of work;
- Natural observation;
- Skill tests, simulations and projects;
- Evaluation of underpinning knowledge and understanding;
- Questioning and discussion; and
- Evidence from prior achievement and activity
- Candidates with Special Needs
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 clinically identifiable physical or learning difficulties, an assessor 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.
An assessor must take special needs into consideration from the planning stage onwards and adopt particular assessment methods as appropriate. Depending on any specification given in the standards, the assessor may be able to accept alternative evidence from a candidate with special needs. If there is uncertainty, the assessor should call on other assessors or a verifier for assistance and guidance, as required. In such a case, the situation must be fully documented, with appropriate feedback being provided to the candidate at all stages.
Where students are assessed as not competent they will be provided with additional feedback on their assessment outcome to assist in achieving the required performance standard on reassessment.
Students who are dissatisfied with their assessment outcome may apply for reassessment by contacting their trainer or assessor.