What student assessment items do I need to keep and how long do I need to keep them for?

A registered training organisation (RTO) is required to securely retain—and to produce at performance assessment (audit), if requested—all completed student assessment items for each student for a period of six months from the date on which the judgement of competence for the student has been made. Completed student assessment items include the actual work completed by a student or evidence of that work, including evidence collected for a Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) process.

If you are unable to retain a student’s actual work, an assessor’s completed marking guide, criteria, and observation checklist for each student may be sufficient. However, this evidence must have enough detail to demonstrate the assessor’s judgement of the student’s performance.

Qualifications, courses or units of competency that lead to regulated/licensed outcomes may also impose specific records retention requirements. RTOs should refer to specific regulatory requirements relating to that delivery.

• Read more about the retention of assessment items in ASQA’s Guidance for Providers—Retention requirements for completed student assessment items.