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The Yachting Australia Assessor Training Course

Yachting Australia's Assessor Training Course provides pathways for all who complete the course and the associated assessments to gain a Statement of Attainment for three units of competence as partial completion of TAA40104 Certificate IV Training and Assessment -

TAAASS401C - Plan and organise assessment

TAAASS402C - Assess competence

TAAASS404B - Participate in assessment validation

The Yachting Australia Assessor course is conducted and recognised nationally and is applicable to all schemes.

Yachting Australia Assessor courses are organised by Yachting Australia in conjunction with the State / Territory Member Yachting Associations (MYAs).  Courses and assessments are conducted by Yachting Australia accredited Trainers/Assessors. Please contact your relevant MYA for more details on when they are being held.

This Assessor Training Course is based on the Australian Sports Commission Assessor Training Programme.  Additional items have been included in order to satisfy the requirements of the Vocational Education and Training Advisory Board (VETAB) and thus allow Yachting Australia to be able to issue Statements of Attainment

Overview	This course provides a developmental pathway for Yachting Australia Instructors to further develop their skills and gain a more holistic viewpoint on the training experience.  Through this course, experienced instructors will gain greater depth of knowledge about assessment to be able to better deal with the: who, when, where and how to assess.  There is also a focus on ensuring that assessment methods, practices and tools used are regularly reviewed to facilitate continuous improvement for them, their course participants, the training centres they work in and yachting in general. The Statement of Attainment gained from successful completion of the course and related assessments will be recognised by other Registered Training Organisations in Australia should they wish to then go on to complete the TAA40104 Certificate IV Training and Assessment.
How long does the course take?	The Yachting Australia Assessor Course is usually conducted over one weekend plus another two days several weeks later.  This timing takes into account the training as well as the time needed for assessment.  The course is structured in such a way that the sessions can be timetabled in different ways (eg weeknight sessions for several weeks).  If you are interested in attending this course contact your MYA to find out when the next course is scheduled and how they are planning to timetable it.  There are three topics covered in the course (listed below in greater detail).
Outcomes	The YA Assessor course will provide you with a good foundation in assessment technique.
Certification Awarded as a result of successful completion	Nationally Recognised Statement of Attainment as partial completion of the TAA40104 Certificate IV Training and Assessment; with the following units of competence TAAASS401C - Plan and organise assessment TAAASS402C - Assess competence TAAASS404B - Participate in assessment validation
Pre-requisites	In order to attend the course: Must be a current Yachting Australia Instructor with TAADEL301C Be competent with the requirements of the scheme for the level you wish to assess (ie hold the relevant Yachting Australia course certificates). You can check this by following this link
Where can I take the course?	Please contact the MYA in your state. Their contact details can be found here.
What to do afterwards?	On completion of the course, you may choose to continue working toward completion of your Certificate IV Training and Assessment (TAA40104) and consider applying to become a Yachting Australia Trainer or Assessor.
Requirements	To gain a YA Assessor Endorsement, you need to: Attend the YA Assessor Theory course as documented below and/or Successfully undertake the Assessor assessments It is also possible to achieve the certification outcomes through the Recognition of Prior Learning process.

The course covers:

1. Planning the assessment process

• What is competency based assessent
• Purposes of assessment
• Terminology
• Identifying and confirming candidates and purposes of assessment
• Principles of assessment
• The assessment process
• Roles and responsibilities of all involved
• Types of assessment
• Ethical responsibilities of the assessor
• Use of standards and other benchmarks
• Evidence in assessment
• Types of evidence
• Rules of evidence
• Assessment methods
• Assessment tools
• Preparing an assessment plan
• Making assessment arrangements
• Resources required
• Candidates with special needs/ reasonable adjustments
• Communication strategies
• RPL/RCC
• Using assessment teams
• Record keeping requirements

2. Assessing competence

• Interpreting assessment plans
• Communication with the candidate regarding the assessment plan and process
• Negotiating reasonable adjustments and maintaining integrity of assessment
• Creating a supportive environment
• Accessing specialist support
• Empowering the candidate
• Involving the candidate
• Communication in the assessment process
• Gathering quality evidence
• Organisational/legal/ethical requirements
• Using questions
• Listening and responding
• Making assessment decisions
• Encouraging the 'not yet competent' candidate
• Giving feedback after the assessment
• Using video for assessments
• Documenting and recording assessments
• The appeals process

 

3. Reviewing and validating assessments

• Continuous improvement
• Purpose, focus and context of validation
• Approaches to validation
• Documentation used
• Methods of reviewing assessment
• Conducting a review
• Validating assessment
• Implementing your validation findings

 

• During course time you will participate in a range of activities to assist you in achieving competence. 

 

The assessment tasks required for your final assessment are listed below and the units of competence to which they related are noted. 

For your assessment, you are required to you are required to submit a portfolio of work containing the following …

 1.     Evidence of planning and organising the assessment process on a minimum of two occasions (TAAASS401C Plan and organise assessment). 

The evidence must:

·             include your documented assessment plans,

·             cover a range of assessment events,

·             cater for a number of candidates,

·             relate to different units of competence, sets of competency standards or accredited curricula,

·             address recognition assessment,

·             involve the contextualisation of competency standards and the selected assessment tools, where required,

·             incorporate consideration of reasonable adjustment strategies,

·             include organisational arrangements

Based upon the assessment plans that you developed in the unit TAAASS401C , you will now conduct two assessments (TAAASS402C Assess competence). Your assessor will observe your assessments and you will be assessed against a checklist for each assessment conducted.

 you are required to you are required to submit a portfolio of work containing the following…

 1.      Evidence of conducting competency assessments in accordance with a developed assessment plan for at least two candidates against differing units of competence, sets of competency standards or accredited curricula.

·        At least one candidate must be assessed through an assessment only pathway.

·        At least one assessment must include consideration of reasonable adjustment and the reasons for the decision and what approach will be taken.

You must show the application of

·        different assessment methods and tools involving a range of assessment activities and events,

·        demonstration of two-way communication and feedback,

·        how judgement was exercised in making the assessment decision

·        how and when assessment outcomes were recorded and reported,

·        that assessment records were completed appropriately and

·        how the assessment process was reviewed and your documentation of review outcomes.

 

Your assessment tasks for TAAASS404B  Participate in assessment validation are, that you must

1.   Participate in a pre-assessment validation session, and provide written feedback on the outcomes of each session

2.   Participate in a post-assessment validation session, and provide written feedback on the outcomes of each session

Your validation tasks will be based upon the assessment plans that you developed in the unit TAAASS401C Plan and organise assessment, and used in TAAASS402C Assess competence.

For your assessment, you are required to you are required to submit a portfolio of work containing evidence of the following…

 1.          Your assessment plans that you developed in the unit TAAASS401C Plan and organise assessment, and the assessment tools will be submitted to a validation panel for review.

You will be formed into teams of 3, and role-play:

·        assessor (you) submitting documentation for validation

·        validator (your two team members) making critical analysis of assessors’ documentation.

The validation panel will analyse the assessment plans and tools against:

·        the competency standards

·        applicable industry standards

·        principles of assessment

·        rules of evidence.

The panel will complete the pre-assessment validation report on the template supplied.  

2.          The assessment plans and tools that you utilised in the unit TAAASS402C Assess competence, you will now submit to a validation panel for review (with the evidence you gathered during the assessment tasks). You will need two additional copies of your documentation for the panel members.

The validation panel will follow the same procedure as for Task 1, but now the focus is on the measurement and recording of actual assessment candidate performance.

You will also be required to answer a series of questions focussed on your underpinning knowledge for each of these units.