VCE GENERAL ADVICE

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ESL/EAL nomenclature

The VCAA will progressively change the study name of ESL (English as a Second Language) to EAL (English as an Additional Language).

This change is in line with the nomenclature in the new Australian Curriculum, which uses the study name English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EALD).

New publications produced by the VCAA will reflect this change with immediate effect. Where the term ESL is used in older publications, it will be progressively replaced with EAL as new editions are published.

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Student Records and Results

Full-Fee-Paying Overseas Students (FFPOS)

All full-fee-paying overseas students need to be correctly flagged in the VASS system. Where the Visa class code of an overseas student begins with an ‘S or a ‘P’ and the second numerical digit following this is a ‘4’ then the student is classified as full-fee-paying.

The first round of invoices has been sent to schools and the VCAA is currently receipting payments from schools. There are two more rounds of invoices.

The FFPOS Principal’s Declarations were sent to schools with the first round of invoices. These documents are due at the VCAA by Friday 20 July.

Any amendments to FFPOS student details must be made on VASS. The VCAA has to be notified via the Principal’s Declaration or by contacting Student Records and Results directly.

The results of any students with outstanding FFPOS fees in 2012 and in any previous year will be withheld from the student, their school and VTAC.

For a more detailed description of the FFPOS requirements, please refer to Section 5.9.1 of the VCE and VCAL Administrative Handbook 2012.

Small Group Partnerships: Level and consistency of interaction between schools

To ensure the successful implementation of the Small Group Partnership process, it is important for schools to establish their partnerships early in the year and for the teachers to maintain regular communication. Schools may utilise any appropriate method of communication. These include telephone, fax, post, email and face-to-face meetings.

Schools need to keep documentation of:

• dates of communication between schools, particularly face-to-face meetings
• the VCAA partnership agreement form signed by the principal of each school involved in the Small Group Partnership
• a single list of cross-marked scores from all the students in the partnership (all schools involved)
• a copy of the partner school’s VASS printout of the assessments for all School-assessed Coursework tasks. This report is produced using the following menu: Results Admin > VCE Reports > School Tasks/Coursework.
  Principals need to be aware of, and endorse, the partnership arrangements and accompanying agreement.

For further clarification of the VCAA rules and rationale regarding Small Group Partnerships, please refer to the VCE and VCAL Administrative Handbook 2012, Sections 4.5, 4.5.1 and 12.2.1, or the VCAA website.

If you have any questions regarding Small Group Partnerships, please contact Student Records and Results on (03) 9651 4630.

VCAL Certification at mid-year

Students who have completed the requirements for a VCAL by Friday 29 June have the opportunity to receive a Certificate and Statement of Results in mid-July.

Actions required

Schools should adhere to the following procedure to identify eligible students for VCAL certification at mid-year.

1. Enter available unit results, including available VET units of competence, on VASS no later than Friday 29 June:

• VCE unit results are entered from Results Admin > VCE Results Entry > Unit
• VCAL unit results are entered from Results Admin > VCAL Results Entry > Unit
• VET Units of Competence > Modules are entered from Results Admin > VET in Schools Results Entry > Unit of Competence.

1. Run the VASS ‘Mid-Year Reporting’ function (Results Admin > VCAL Reports > Mid-Year Reporting) and check that all students who are expected to satisfy at mid-year have a status of ‘Pending’. Only those students listed as ‘Pending’ will receive a Certificate and a Statement of Results in July. If the list does not contain students who are expected to satisfy at mid-year, check their entered results and amend where necessary. The VASS ‘Mid-Year Reporting’ function may be run as many times as necessary.
2. Once the report accurately lists the students the principal believes are eligible for certification, the report should be printed, endorsed and filed at the school. The VCAA may require submission of this document at a later time.

Important note: The VASS ‘Mid-Year Reporting’ function is not available after 29 June.

Schools only need to run the report if they are expecting students to satisfy at mid-year. They should not run the report if students are not completing until the end of year.

Schools will receive all VCAL Certificates and Statements of Results by registered post in the first week of Term 3. These may be distributed to students at any time.

Enquiries about VCAL certification at mid-year should be directed to Student Records and Results on (03) 9651 4408 or email: student.records@edumail.vic.gov.au

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Australian Curriculum

Consultation on the draft senior secondary Australian Curriculum

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) recently released draft senior secondary Australian Curriculum in 14 subjects for English, Mathematics, Science and History.

The 14 senior secondary Australian Curriculum subjects released are from the four Learning Areas shown in the following table.

A state-wide consultation process is being undertaken by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) to gather feedback from Victorian educators in relation to the draft senior secondary Australian Curriculum for these subjects.

There will be three different opportunities to participate in the Victorian consultation process.

1. The VCAA will hold face-to-face consultation forums at nine locations around the state to give teachers and principals the opportunity to discuss the senior secondary draft documents.
2. An online consultation process with subject-specific questionnaires is now available on the VCAA website and will remain open till 6 July.
3. The VCAA will conduct a series of Collaborate consultation sessions for teachers who were unable to attend the face-to-face forums.

Please note that in order to provide as wide a representation as possible these forums are designed for principals and curriculum leaders. While the VCAA encourages as many educators as possible to attend, if registrations exceed the capacity of venues, the VCAA will allocate places. Those who are not allocated a place will be invited to register for the later online Collaborate sessions.

All interested teachers and stakeholders can access the curriculum documents online and provide feedback through the online survey.

1. Face-to-face consultation forums

The face-to-face consultation forums will be held in each region. Each forum will be held on Thursday 14 June. The metropolitan forums will commence at 3.45 pm, while the regional forums will commence at 4.15 pm to allow extra time for arrival. Details of the consultation forums are provided in the following table.

Participants will be briefed on the structures of the senior secondary subjects and the timelines for implementation. This will be followed by a group discussion for each of the four curriculum areas.

Principals, curriculum leaders and VCE teachers are invited to register for the face-to-face consulation forums here.

2. Online survey

The VCAA welcomes feedback on the draft senior secondary Australian Curriculum through an online survey. Responses to the survey are invited from all Victorian education stakeholders.

The draft senior secondary Australian Curriculum content and achievement standards in English, Mathematics, History and Science and online consultation questionnaires are now available.

For further information or queries, please contact:

Peter Fisher, Project Officer, VCE Curriculum, VCAA
Phone: (03) 9651 4511.

3. Subject-specific online Collaborate sessions

Live online Collaborate sessions will be held for each subject. The relevant VCAA Curriculum Manager will host the online sessions. Registered participants will receive further instructions prior to each session.

The Collaborate sessions are designed for teachers of English, Mathematics, History and Science. Teachers are invited to register for the Collaborate Sessions here.

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VCE Review and Implementation

Review of VCE studies 2012: Electronic consultation register now open

Consultation is an important part of the review and accreditation process for VCE studies. The consultation process is conducted electronically. Teachers and stakeholders are invited to participate in the consultation process by joining the Consultation Register: VCE studies in review 2012.

Teachers and stakeholders who register for consultation will receive an email notification once the consultation draft of the relevant VCE study design is available online and will be invited to respond to the consultation draft via an online questionnaire. Teachers and stakeholders will be given the option of allowing the VCAA to use their registration details, to receive email notification of the implementation briefings for the revised study in 2013.

The online register is now open.

Consultation drafts of study designs for VCE Dance, Drama, Health and Human Development, Theatre Studies and Philosophy will be available for consideration by teachers and other stakeholders from 18 July until 22 August 2012.

Stakeholders can register interest in the relevant study consultation draft using the online registration form.

During the consultation period, the draft study designs and consultation questionnaires will be available on the VCAA website from the relevant study page.

Please note: Hard copies of the consultation draft and questionnaire will be sent to teachers and other stakeholders only on request.

Information briefings for revised, newly accredited VCE study designs for VCE Sciences and Accounting

As advised in the February 2012 VCAA Bulletin VCE, VCAL and VET, VCE mid-year examinations in VCE Accounting, Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Physics and Psychology will be held for the last time in 2012. From 2013, VCE mid-year examinations will be discontinued.

In July and August, the VCAA will offer information briefings for each of the six studies and will conduct online Collaborate sessions.

Teachers are invited to attend either a briefing or to participate in an online Collaborate session.

The briefings and Collaborate sessions will highlight the amendments to each study design and provide detailed information about revised examination structures for 2013. Sample examination materials will also be available at the briefings.

Details about the briefings, online Collaborate sessions are provided in the following tables.

Information briefings

Dates: 17, 18 & 19 July 2012
Venue: VCAA Coburg Assessment Centre, 189 Urquhart Street, Coburg

Dates: 24, 25 & 26 July 2012
Venue: M J Putrino Theatre , Wellington Secondary College, 91 Police Road, Mulgrave*

* Except the Environmental Science session, which is held in the classroom adjacent to the theatre foyer at Wellington Secondary College.

Online Collaborate sessions

Register here for the online briefings or Collaborate sessions.

For further information about the briefings and/or Collaborate sessions, please contact VCE Curriculum Unit:

Phone: (03) 9651 4453

Email: vcaa.vce.pd@edumail.vic.gov.au

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Examinations

2013 VCE examinations setting and vetting panels

Applications are now open for positions on the 2013 VCE examination setting panels. These panels are responsible for the development of the 2013 VCE examination papers. Typically, panels consist of a Chairperson and two or more members who write the examination according to VCAA specifications and based on the relevant study design (or equivalent). A number of vetting positions are also available, as described here.

Teachers who have excellent knowledge and understanding of the requirements of the study and extensive teaching experience and are not involved in teaching students in Units 3 and 4 in 2013 may be interested in considering these roles. Recent teaching and/or assessment experience, together with experience in the development of external assessment, will be highly regarded.

More information about being on a VCE examination setting panel, including the conditions of appointment, can be obtained by contacting the Examinations Unit on (03) 9225 2349.

All applications need to be lodged electronically at:

www.ssms.vic.edu.au

Applications for examinations close on Sunday 5 August 2012.

2012 English examination

Task book and instructions

As advised in the VCAA Bulletin VCE, VCAL and VET No. 95, VCE English examination responses in 2012 will be marked online. There will be no change to the format of the examination question book and students will continue to provide written responses using pen and paper; however, students will use a single answer book rather than three script books.

The revised examination instructions and a sample answer book are now available on the VCAA website. Any enquiries about this material should be directed to Cathy Peters:

Phone: (03) 9225 2355

Email: examinations.vcaa@edumail.vic.gov.au.