The VET assessment consists of several stages. RTOs are encouraged to determine their
assessment system and how it can support their staffs to meet the needs for each stage. Now,
here are the stages of the cycle and the things that you can do to improve it:

Plan Ahead
For organizations, they fail to take the time to plan and then they fail. If your registered training
organization (RTO) needs to develop or modify an assessment, see to it that you provide them
with enough time and right tools. This will help your staff to accomplish the task well.
As a general rule, it will take around one week to plan, map the assessments, and develop the
unit of competency needed. It will work best if you provide that time as a block versus expecting
staff to accomplish it with other duties.

To help your teachers, you can ask them to answer some questions. Determine the students, the
methods used to gain evidence of such competence, and the technology needed to get that
evidence. You can also check the internet to search for Learning Resources, RTO Training
Resources & Assessment Materials.

Develop
As soon as you have planned the details, you are now ready to develop the assessment tools. This
includes the marking guides, the actual assessment information, instructions, and the mapping
documents which are used by the assessors and the students. It can be a soft copy, hard copy, or
both.

The competent must not be a mystery for both the assessors and the students. The assessment
tools must include detailed and clear written instructions. With this, the assessors and the
students will know where, what, how, and when they will be assessed. Also, they must have a
guide like detailed model responses, rubrics for their projects, and an observation checklist.
To make sure that your RTO includes a consistent format for the assessments, secure the
templates that will lead the VET practitioners to include important information for assessors and
students. This means having two versions of the assessments. One is for the assessor which
includes instructions and model answers while the other one is for the students.
In addition, see to it that there is a quality control process in place. The assessments done are
managed and stored in one location like the RTO management system.

Map

With mapping, this will make sure that the assessments will cover the unit’s requirements. This
will also make sure that you are not assessing unnecessary things or over-assessing.
Your RTO must have a mapping template for your staff. This will ensure that the assessments for
all units are done. Cross-check them with the unit requirements with the use of the template. See
to it that you put the mapping documents together with the assessments for every central place
like the RTO management system.

Validate
The RTO standards contain strict validation requirements. In the past, validation of assessments
is known as a quality review of the tools to check if they meet the principles of assessments.
With the new standards, validation is known to be both a review of judgments and a review of
tools.

Thus, the RTO must include validation policy which includes a schedule of which units will be
validated. You can also check the internet to search for Learning Resources, RTO Training
Resources & Assessment Materials.