Ensuring ethical test use in South Africa: The role of Assessment Standards South Africa

Abstract

Historically, many psychological tests in use in South Africa are imported from Western contexts, creating challenges in applying them across South Africa’s diverse cultural and linguistic groups. The Employment Equity Act No 55 of 1998 prohibits the use of psychological assessments unless they are scientifically validated, reliable and unbiased for use with South Africans. Furthermore, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) plays a key regulatory role in ensuring that only qualified psychology professionals use these tests. The HPCSA’s Professional Practice Committee is currently responsible for classifying tests as psychological or not. The Professional Practice Committee does not evaluate the quality of tests. Recognising gaps in the regulatory framework, the three organisations most involved with psychological assessment in practice (the Psychological Society of South Africa [PsySSA], the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology of South Africa [SIOPSA] and the Association of Test Publishers [ATP]) collaborated to form Assessment Standards South Africa (ASSA). As a non-governmental body, ASSA oversees the quality of assessments, ensuring that they meet local and international standards. Assessment Standards South Africa’s guidelines emphasise transparency, ethical standards and the importance of local research to ensure the relevance of tests. Through initiatives such as the Assessment Standards Test Review System, ASSA has streamlined test certification and review processes, promoting responsible and ethical use of psychological and other assessment devices in South Africa. Assessment Standards South Africa offers a best practice model for test reviews to ensure responsible and ethical use of tests in South Africa.