A quick guide on how to create competency-based assessment

Competency-based assessment and training remains at the core of Australia’s VET system. It defines how learners are trained and assessed – focusing on the skills and knowledge needed to perform effectively in the workplace. And in 2025, with updated Standards for RTOs taking effect, getting competency-based assessment right is more critical than ever.

Yet despite being foundational to VET, competency-based assessment (CBA) can be complex to develop, especially when balancing compliance, industry relevance, learner needs, and scalability.

Whether you're a seasoned RTO or just starting out, here’s your up-to-date guide to building effective, compliant, and scalable assessments – plus how aXcelerate helps you at every step.

1. Use Assessment Mapping to support compliance

Assessment mapping can be an extremely valuable tool for developing and reviewing assessments. It ensures every assessment task or item is aligned to the elements, performance criteria, foundation skills, and assessment requirements of the unit.

✅ In aXcelerate: Use the built-in Assessment Mapping tool to visually map questions to unit criteria.

• Record all of your mapping information in aXcelerate
• Easily provide this information to auditors if necessary
• Create default links to your units to easily map these in your assessment plans or instances

Mapping also gives assessors a clear view of what’s being assessed and helps with identifying knowledge gaps post-assessment.

2. Conduct industry consultations

Industry consultations with relevant industry representatives are highly beneficial to have in the development stage, to ensure the competency-based assessment is developed in line with current industry standards. This will help to ensure learners are equipped with the most up-to-date and relevant knowledge for the workplace. It can be helpful to consult with a variety of stakeholders, as this will increase the quality and relevancy of the assessment to align with current methods, technologies, products and performance expectations.

3. Design clear, structured assessment tools

Clarity is everything. Assessments should include clear instructions, realistic scenarios, and observable outcomes that make expectations obvious to learners and assessors alike.

Include tools such as:

• Observation checklists
• Case studies
• Role plays or simulations
• Knowledge questions

✅ In aXcelerate: Use digital observation checklists that assessors can complete in the field or during online sessions, capturing photos/videos and adding assessor commentary in real time. Learn more about aXcelerate's assessment item types here.

4. Apply clear assessment decision-making rules

Assessment tools must define what “competent” looks like—through clear benchmarks, model answers, and decision-making rules. These criteria guide assessors to make fair, consistent decisions and are essential for audit compliance.

✅ aXcelerate allows assessors to mark, reference criteria and provide feedback within the system. Learn more about assessment marking in aXcelerate.

5. Build and deliver online assessments in an integrated SMS and LMS

When your Student Management System and Learning Management System are integrated, you gain a complete view of the learner journey and can manage assessments from one place.

✅ aXcelerate is an all-in-one SMS + LMS, which means:

• Online assessments feed directly into the student record
• Trainers can view progress and outcomes in real time
• Audit readiness is improved with all documentation centralised

✅ With aXcelerate’s online assessment engine, you can:

• Use a wide range of question types
• Embed images, videos, and audio
• Auto-mark knowledge tasks
• Provide instant feedback
• Collect photo/video evidence
• Capture digital signatures

These features help ensure your assessments are authentic, current, and auditable.

6. Validate Your Assessment Tools

Under the Revised Standards for RTOs 2025, you must pre-validate and post-validate your assessment tools to ensure they remain fit-for-purpose. This includes reviewing how effectively tools gather evidence, how consistently assessors apply decisions, and whether learner outcomes align with industry standards.

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Creating strong competency-based assessments is both an art and a science. By grounding your tools in regulatory requirements, industry input, and learner experience – while leveraging the right tech – you set your RTO up for success.

With aXcelerate, training organisations across Australia are delivering smarter, more compliant assessments that scale.

👉 Ready to build and deliver better assessments? Book a demo to see how aXcelerate helps RTOs deliver compliant, competency-based training with confidence.

References

1. CBT in Australian VET, Uni of Melbourne
2. Do I need to map learning resources to the assessment requirements of the units of competency for audit purposes?
3. Designing assessment tools for quality outcomes in VETwww.velgtraining.com › knowledge › download (PDF)