Back to VCAA Bulletin No. 53 - October 2019
Important VCE professional development opportunities
VCE briefing sessions
Each year, the VCAA runs a program of briefing sessions for VCE leaders, providing an overview of current VCE matters and the opportunity for participants to develop their skills and knowledge. At the start of this year, we delivered 16 sessions over five weeks in both regional and metropolitan centres. Our team travelled nearly 5000 kilometres and presented to over 400 participants. The topics covered included an introduction to the VCE Continuum of Practice and how to build effective and compliant school-based assessment.
The response from participants was overwhelming positive. 'It was great to be able to talk to others and think about what makes a good assessment task,' said one principal. 'The planning tools were useful in building a shared view and approach. Lots to think about and discuss back at school and use.' As a result of your feedback, we have undertaken several initiatives, including developing VCE administration checklists for principals, coordinators and teachers.
Registrations for the 2020 VCE briefing sessions are now open. The sessions will begin in February and run until March 2020. A number of regional areas will be included, among them Wangaratta, Shepparton, Warrnambool, Bendigo and Lakes Entrance. Download the list of dates and locations from the VCAA website.
In 2020, the emphasis will be on opening up the briefings to VCE teachers, administrators and coordinators, in addition to school leaders. Areas and topics covered in the briefings will include:
- an executive presentation, 'What is the future for learning and teaching?'
- an administrative update, including enrolment, school assessment, 'S' and 'N' decisions versus graded assessment, and the VCAA quality assurance process
- an explanation of the school-based assessment audit, including process outline and key findings
- a curriculum workshop 'Unpacking VCE study designs'.
For more information, contact Student Records and Results: (03) 9032 1743 or student.records@edumail.vic.gov.au.
Analysing your school's VCE results
In response to participant feedback, the VCAA has also scheduled several of the annual 'Analysing your School's VCE Results' training sessions to align with the VCE briefing sessions in February and March 2020. This will give participants the option to attend both sessions at around the same time, which will be particularly helpful in planning travel and accommodation. The school data analysis sessions are hands on for school staff responsible for the delivery of the VCE, from the classroom teacher to the school leadership team. Their purpose is to increase knowledge and skills in using the VCE assessment results to identify strengths and weaknesses in a school's VCE performance and to inform professional learning discussions with fellow teachers around improving student outcomes.
The sessions will draw on the data made available to schools via the VCE Data Service and VCE External Assessment Results Service. They are approximately three-hours' long and enable hands-on engagement with your school's data on the following topics:
- study score calculation
- VCE statistical moderation
- VCE adjusted scores
- longitudinal results linking to NAPLAN, the VCE and the General Achievement Test.
In addition, three webinars will be offered on the following topics:
- VCE examination statistics
- VCE indicative grades
Registrations for the sessions are now open.
For more information, contact the Data Analysis, Measurement and Reporting Unit: (03) 9603 7937.