How to Judge Whether Evidence is Valid, Authentic, Current and Sufficient

Validity:

• This is the ability of an assessment to test what it intends to measure and provide information that is both valuable and appropriate for the intended purpose (Kime, 2017). For example, in assignment one of my HNC unit 3, for the student to achieve the M1 criterion, they would have to assess how risk assessments can be used to address significant hazards posed by selected materials or activities. To achieve this criterion, the students have to produce a risk assessment document relevant to the assignment scenario. To be adequate for the HNC level, the document must contain risk ratings for the various construction hazards. This may not be included at level 3 of the qualification.

Authentic, sufficient, and current:

• An authentic assessment is one that has been produced solely by the student. I check this by using the Turnitin software embedded in the assignment section of the MS Class Notebook. Also, the students have to check a box stating that the assessment is solely their own work and has been correctly referenced when referring to the work of others.

• A sufficient assessment is one that covers all the requirements of the assessment. For example, the Pearson qualification I teach requires that to achieve a pass, the learner only has to fulfil the requirements of all the pass criteria. To achieve the merit criteria, the learners have to fulfil all the requirements of the pass and merit criteria. To achieve the distinction criteria, the learners have to fulfil all the requirements of the pass, merit, and distinction criteria.

• A current assessment is an assessment that is still valid at the time of submission. For example, when I teach the health and safety units, I ensure the current/amended regulations have been used/referenced by the learners.
  

Reference/Bibliography

Barton, J. (2015) Writing your assignments – tips and wrinkles. Available at: https://www.britishschoolofcoaching.com/writing-your-assignments-tips-and-wrinkles/ (Accessed: 03 November 2021)

Davies, A. and Stiling, L. (2021) TAQA – training assessment and quality assurance [PowerPoint presentation]. 22 October.

Gravells, A. (2014) Achieving your assessment & quality assurance units (TAQA). 2nd edn. London: Learning Matters SAGE.

Kime, S. (2017) Four pillars of assessment validity. Available at: https://evidencebased.education/pillars-assessment-purpose-validity/ (Accessed: 03 November 2021).