Validation	Moderation
Assessment Quality/ Management Type	A quality review/continuous improvement process involving:	A quality control process involving:
Explanation:	Checking that the assessment tools, methods, judgement, evidence and processes to ensure that the training product meet: Principles of Assessment – i.e. valid, reliable, flexible and fair Rules of Evidence – i.e. valid, authentic, current and sufficient The judgment made by the trainer/assessor is benchmarked* with colleagues or industry experts There is sufficient evidence to support the judgment of the trainer/assessor and Whether the requirements of the Training Package or accredited course have been met. Typical benchmarks used during the validation process include: National training package which are developed by Skills Service Organisations (SSOs)/ Industry Reference Committees (IRCs) and can be found on the training.gov.au website. Units of competency which consist of competency standards and need to be unpacked so that those validating the assessments can compare the actual competency against the tools being validated. Industry standards and consultation will vary, and these standards form the basis of the skills and knowledge required to perform work roles. AQF Guidelines and Framework Information to candidates, assessors and third parties Legislation relevant to the assessment such as privacy, health and safety, and anti-discrimination, copyright law and so on.	The process of bringing assessment judgements and standards into alignment. It is a process that ensures the same standards are applied to all assessment results within the same Unit(s) of Competency. It is an active process in the sense that adjustments to assessor judgements are made to overcome differences in the difficulty of the tool and/or the severity of judgements. Aims to ensure assessors have a common understanding of the unit requirements
Outcome:	Outcome may include making recommendations for improvements to the assessment tool / assessment processes/ assessment methods or assessment products.	Outcome may include making adjustments to assessor judgements
Timing/Occurrence:	Validation can occur before, during or after an assessment is conducted. Validation can be pre-assessment validation or post-assessment validation. Validation is ongoing.	Moderation is generally conducted before the finalisation of student results as it ensures the same decisions are applied to all assessment results within the same unit of competency.
Primary purpose	Continuous improvement	Bring judgements and standards into alignment
Statistically valid sample	Validation 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. A statistically valid sample is one that is taken randomly from the set of assessment judgements being considered and that is sufficiently large that the outcomes of validation of the sample can be applied to the entire set of judgements. There are a number of online tools you can use to generate the size of your sample, one of which is located at www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html. You can find others by searching the Internet for ’statistically valid sample size’.	The requirement in the Standards to undertake validation of assessment judgements does not prohibit your RTO from undertaking moderation activities, or any other process aimed at increasing the quality of assessment. (Ref: ASQA FAQ)