How to complete TAEASS402 Assess Competence in an Registered Training Organisation (RTO) under supervision

Being a ‘trainee’ trainer and assessor, doing work experience at a Registered Training Organisation (RTO), can create a bit of a chicken and the egg scenario.

The unit TAEASS402 Assess Competence is particularly central to this conundrum.

But it’s the Standards for RTOs which create some ambiguity and risk. Let’s look briefly at what the Standards tell us (simplified and translated to plain English – always consult the Standards and ASQA’s user guide!)

• Clause 1.14 and 1.15 says that assessors must hold a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment or the TAESS00011 Assessor Skill Set.
• Clause 1.17 and Clause 1.18 says RTOs can employ an trainer under supervision so long as they hold the TAESS00014 Enterprise Trainer Presenting Skill Set (along with the other requirements and any of the other options in the schedule).
• Clause 1.17 says RTOs can employ an assessor under supervision so long as they don’t actually determine assessment outcomes.

Here’s the problem

TAEASS402 Assess Competence (again simplified) has the following requirements:

1. It requires the person completing it to “Make the assessment decision” (Element 4).
2. It requires “assessment of at least five candidates within the vocational education and training (VET) context” (Performance Evidence)
3. The assessments must be undertaken under the supervision of a qualified assessor and cover an entire unit of competency for each candidate (Performance Evidence)
4. It requires consistent performance “in a real assessment environment.” (Assessment Conditions)

So the problem is summarised as this:

• To complete TAEASS402 properly, you must be able to make assessment decisions on real people in a proper RTO.
• But RTOs are not permitted to allow someone without at least the TAESS00011 Assessor Skill Set to make assessment decisions (and TAEASS402 is a part of that skill set).

So if we take this literally, it might be impossible to complete TAEASS402.

Here’s the solution

Having helped hundreds of people complete the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment over the years, we’ve learnt some super helpful work-arounds to this problem and others.

Here’s a common way our RTO clients have overcome this one.

1. Prepare two copies of the assessment tool

One for the actual qualified assessor, and one for the trainee assessor.

The trainee’s copy will become evidence for their TAEASS402 Assess Competence assignments, for wherever they are completing their Certificate IV in Training and Assessment course.

IMPORTANT: Ensure the trainee’s copy is clearly marked as such. This version will not become part of the RTO’s official records and you don’t want it getting mixed up with the official assessment.

2. Allow the trainee assessor to ‘shadow’ the qualified assessor for the assessment.

Let them see what the qualified assessor sees, and follow along the whole process.

They should complete the assessment, as if they were the assessor.

To ensure fairness for the candidate being assessed, it’s important to inform them that a trainee assessor will be partaking in the process, but that they will not be making their official assessment decision.

3. Both the actual assessor and trainee make their decisions.

The trainee assessor should make their decision separately to ensure they are not influenced by the main assessor. The trainee should record their findings on their copy of the assessment tool, along with feedback and their decision.

4. Moderate!

The trainee assessor, and the supervising assessor should sit together and discuss and compare their results. Importantly they should discuss any discrepancies between the two.

This is a great opportunity for the qualified assessor’s professional development, the RTO’s own assessment and quality processes, and for the trainee assessor to gain valuable insight into the experience of being an assessor.

Problem solved

The trainee assessor who is completing TAEASS402 has now been given a realistic opportunity to assess people in a real RTO environment, without putting the host RTO at risk of breaching compliance with the Standards for RTOs.

Depending on the nature of the competencies being assessed, and where all evidence for observation is available, we’ve also seen a variation on this where the trainee assessor, instead of shadowing, simply conducts a “re-assessment” of the evidence, after the fact, with their own copy of the assessment tool. This method has some shortcomings, the main one being they don’t have access to the actual candidate for real time feedback, but it may be a helpful approach in some circumstances.

What’s the minimum credential required of an assessor in an RTO?

The TAESS00011 Assessor Skill Set is the minimum credential requirement of an assessor in an RTO. If you’d like to become a qualified assessor, let us know below!