International Horse College implements an assessment system that ensures that assessment (including recognition of prior learning)

a. complies with the assessment requirements of the relevant training package or VET accredited course; and

b. is conducted in accordance with the Principles of Assessment and Rules of Evidence as outlined below

International Horse College implements a plan for ongoing systematic validation of assessment practices and judgements that includes for each training product on its scope of registration:

a. when assessment validation will occur’

b. which training products will be the focus of the validation;

c. who will lead and participate in validation activities; and

d. how the outcomes of these activities will be documented and acted upon

Each of the training products are validated at least once every five years, with at least 50% of the products validated within the first three years of each five year cycle, taking into account the relative risks of all of the training products on its scope of registration, including those risks identified by the VET regulator

A systematic validation of the assessment practices and judgements is undertaken by one of more persons who are not directly involved in the particular instance of delivery and assessment of the training product being validated, and who collectively have

a. vocational competencies and current industry skills relevant to the assessment being validated;

b. current knowledge and skills in vocational teaching and learning; and

c. the training and assessment qualification or assessor skill set as currently required by the governing body

International Horse College offers individual recognition of prior learning to individual learners

Principles of Assessment

Fairness
The individual learner’s needs are considered in the assessment process.
Where appropriate, reasonable adjustments are applied by International Horse College to take into account the individual learner’s needs.
International Horse College informs the learner about the assessment process, and provides the learner with the opportunity to challenge the result of the assessment and be reassessed if necessary

Flexibility
Assessment is flexible to the individual learner by;
– reflecting the learner’s needs
– assessing competencies held by the learner no matter how or where they have been acquired; and
– drawing from a range of assessment methods and using those that are appropriate to the context, the unit of competency and associated assessment requirements, and the individual.

Validity
Any assessment decision of International Horse College is justified, based on the evidence of performance of the individual learner.
Validity requires
– assessment against the unit(s) of competency and the associated assessment requirements covers the broad range of skills and knowledge that are essential to competent performance;
– assessment of knowledge and skills is integrated with their practical application;
– assessment to be based on evidence that demonstrates that a learner could demonstrate these skills and knowledge in other similar situations; and
– judgement of competence is based on evidence of learner performance that is aligned to the unit/s of competency and associated assessment requirements.

Reliability
Evidence presented for assessment is consistently interpreted an assessment results are comparable irrespective of the assessor conducting the assessment

Rules of Evidence

Validity
The assessor is assured that the learner has the skills, knowledge and attributes as described in the module or unit of competency and associated assessment requirements.

Sufficiency
The assessor is assured that the quality, quantity and relevance of the assessment evidence enables a judgement to be made of a learner’s competency.

Authenticity
The assessor is assured that the evidence presented for assessment is the learner’s own work

Currency
The assessor is assured that the assessment evidence demonstrates current competency. This requires the assessment evidence to be from the present or the very recent past.

Online Assessment Procedures

Online assessments are used as evidence, both as direct evidence and as supporting evidence.

Direct evidence includes answering open questions with direction on requirements such as the word limit, the number of examples and if the question is in more than one part, specific instructions using bold and underline to ensure the questions are read and understood.

Each time there is an assessment attempt, it is recorded and assessed. Where the student is not competent, the student is given support which may include alternative questions from the bank of alternative questions. When the student is assessed as competent, the results are recorded.

The environment is time controlled.  Where the student has been found to be ‘Not Yet Competent’,  the student does not have the opportunity to re-submit their assessment for 48 hours