Consensus moderation 2015

Contact
Chris Stone(08) 9273 6365
chris.stone@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools are advised that consensus moderation will not be conducted in 2015.

Syllabus delivery audit 2015

Contact
Chris Stone(08) 9273 6365
chris.stone@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools are advised that in 2015 the Authority will audit the delivery of all Year 11 General and Foundation syllabuses. This is a new moderation activity designed to ensure that all schools are delivering and assessing the current syllabus in line with the requirements of the WACE Manual 2015–2016.

Early in Term 1 2015, schools will be required to submit to the Authority the following documents for each Year 11 General or Foundation course they are delivering:

• a course outline
• an assessment outline.

The framework for these documents has not changed but the specific details will typically need to be updated from those used for the previous Stage 1 course to reflect changes in the unit content and/or the assessment table. Sample course outlines and assessment outlines are provided in the WACE Manual 2015–16, which will soon be available for download from the Authority website.

From 1 December 2014, samples for each course will be progressively made available in the Year 11 2015 section of the Authority website at http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/senior_secondary/courses/wace_courses/ .

The Authority will review the documents and a report for each course will be provided to the school. Schools will be informed where a document does not meet the requirements of the syllabus and/or the WACE Manual 2015–16. The report will specify the action that the school needs to take to ensure compliance.

To assist schools, the submission and reporting processes will be through the Student Information Records System (SIRS). Schools will upload to SIRS the course outline and the assessment outline for each Year 11 General or Foundation course being delivered in 2015.

School-based reviewers required for the syllabus delivery audit 2015

Contact
Chris Stone(08) 9273 6365
chris.stone@scsa.wa.edu.au

To support Authority officers in the conduct of the syllabus delivery audit, experienced teachers of Year 11 in Western Australian schools are invited to express their interest in the role of school-based reviewer. During the period 13 to 16 February, each reviewer will consider the documents from about 25 schools for a selected course. The task of the reviewer will be to determine whether the course outline and he assessment outline reflect the current syllabus and meet the requirements of the WACE Manual 2015–16. It is anticipated that for 2015, school-based reviewers will be required for the courses listed below.

This process will be undertaken online and will take about seven hours to complete. It can be undertaken either on a school day with teacher relief payment provided by the Authority or outside school hours with payment to the individual by the Authority at the teacher relief rate.

To apply for this position, teachers will need to complete the application form that will be available on the Authority website (http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/About_Us/Employment) on Monday, 17 November. A scanned copy of the completed form must be emailed to syllabusaudit@scsa.wa.edu.au by 4pm on Thursday, 11 December.

To be involved, teachers must gain approval of their principal. Reviewers chosen from this expression of interest process will be required to complete a half-day training session at the Authority on Thursday, 12 February 2015.

Small group moderation partnerships for 2015

Contact
Rita Colliander (08) 9273 9273 6726 (partnership registration)
Chris Stone (08) 9273 6365 (moderation queries)

Schools planning to run classes with fewer than six examination candidates at Stage 2 or Stage 3 are reminded of the need to establish small group moderation partnerships for 2015.

• Schools that started delivery in Term 4 2014 should establish a partnership as soon as possible.
• Schools starting delivery in Term 1 2015 should, wherever possible, establish a partnership during Term 4 this year.

Early establishment of a partnership enables the teachers involved to agree to the sequence and timing of delivery and to plan a common assessment outline (or a set of common tasks if not sharing the full assessment program).

To ensure the required comparability of marks, a partnership should be with another school starting delivery at the same time and reporting in the same manner (i.e. full year or by semester).

All schools with one or more small groups must register their partnerships with the Authority on the required form by 17 February 2015.

Full details of the small group moderation procedures for 2015 are available in the WACE Manual 2015–16, available on the Authority website at http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Publications/WACE_Manual.

A seminar will be provided early in 2015 for those teachers who have not participated in a small group moderation partnership before or wish to refresh their understanding of the required procedures. Details will be provided in the next 11 to 12 Circular. This seminar will also be available as an online learning module.

Teachers who are registered with the Authority for extranet access will be able to select the Events and Forms tab, select Events, select Online Learning then log in, scroll down and select small group moderation from the list of online courses.

Workshop for teachers implementing Year 11–12 Chinese, Indonesian and Japanese Background Language courses in 2015

Contact
Lisa Djanegara (08) 9273 6382
lisa.djanegara@scsa.wa.edu.au

Date: Thursday, 27 November 2014
Time: 12.40–3.15pm
Venue: School Curriculum and Standards Authority
303 Sevenoaks Street Cannington WA 6107
Room: Syndicate 3 (Ground floor)

The Authority will offer a workshop to support teachers intending to deliver the Year 11–12 Asian Background Language Courses.

This workshop will provide an overview of Background Language courses, teacher support materials and sample examinations. Participants will have the opportunity to develop assessment tasks to support the delivery of the Year 11–12 syllabuses in 2015.

Interested teachers are asked to bring their own copies of the Year 11–12 Background Language syllabuses. These are available at http://wace1516.scsa.wa.edu.au/. Copies of teacher support materials will be provided.

A half-day teacher relief payment is available.

For details about this event, including registration, please visit the Authority’s website athttp://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Events_and_Forms/Events/Languages_workshops.

Workshop for teachers implementing Year 11 French, German and Italian Background Language courses in 2015

Contact
Adriana Douglas (08) 9273 6784
adriana.douglas@scsa.wa.edu.au

Date: Wednesday, 26 November 2014
Time: 12.40–3.15pm
Venue: School Curriculum and Standards Authority
303 Sevenoaks Street Cannington WA 6107
Room: Syndicate 3 (Ground floor)

The Authority is offering a workshop to support teachers intending to deliver the Year 11 Background Language courses.

This workshop will provide an overview of Background Language courses, teacher support materials and sample examinations. Participants will have the opportunity to develop assessment tasks to support the delivery of the Year 11 syllabuses in 2015.

Interested teachers are asked to bring their own copies of the Year 11 Background Language syllabuses. These are available at http://wace1516.scsa.wa.edu.au/. Copies of teacher support materials will be provided.

A half-day teacher relief payment is available.

For details about this event, including registration, please visit the Authority’s website athttp://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Events_and_Forms/Events/Languages_workshops

Workshops and webinars for Year 11 Foundation courses in Term 4, 2014 Teachers of new Foundation courses

Contact
Gerard Morris(08) 9273 6742
gerard.morris@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers are advised that combined workshops are being offered in Term 4, 2014 for the six Foundation courses:

• English Foundation
• English as an Additional Language or Dialect Foundation
• Career and Enterprise Foundation
• Mathematics Foundation
• Applied Information Technology Foundation
• Health Physical Education and Outdoor Education Foundation

The workshops will be in the metropolitan area and Bunbury. Country teachers outside of the Bunbury district will have access to the workshop via a webinar.

Each workshop will start with an overview of the common literacy and numeracy elements of the syllabuses and the information provided to schools on eligibility for enrolment in the Foundation course. This will be followed by course-specific discussion and planning activities related to the sample teacher support materials. Participants will rotate through course activities of their choice.

Half-day teacher relief will be provided for registered participants with a maximum of two half days per school.

Details of dates, venues and registration requirements can be found athttp://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Events_and_Forms/Events/Foundation_workshops.

2014 student achievements – other than Year 12

Contact
Kerry Tarrant (08) 9273 6770
kerry.tarrant@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools are reminded that the Authority requires achievements for students in years other than Year 12 by Friday, 5 December 2014 in:

• course units
• VET units of competency
• endorsed programs
• VET qualifications.

Schools are required to upload the appropriate data files RSCOS, RSVET, RSEND, RSQUAL to the Student Information Records System (SIRS).

Please note that all:

• course unit enrolments require a grade
• VET units of competency and endorsed programs require the appropriate specified value/code as detailed in theWACE Procedures File.

Results for all students shown as currently enrolled at the school need to be recorded, even if they are no longer attending the school.

If students should have been withdrawn from a course unit, this withdrawal will need to be uploaded through the ENCOS file to SIRS. VET units of competency and endorsed program withdrawals need to be withdrawn using the correct code through the RSVET and RSEND files respectively.

Information regarding the submission of achievement data was emailed to schools on 7 November 2014. If schools require clarification regarding the achievement collection processes, please contact Kerry Tarrant.

Amendment to the 2015 WACE activities schedule – VET Unique Student Identifier

Contact
Nicole Gazey (08) 9442 9401
nicole.gazey@scsa.wa.edu.au
Activities schedule
Jenny Offer (08) 9273 6313
jenny.offer@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools will be able to upload the VET Unique Student Identifier (USI) into SIRS from next year.
Changes, which clarify the requirement of the VET USI have been made to the published 2015 WACE activities schedule. These changes are summarised below:

• The following note has been deleted for two entries on the activities schedule – 29 May and 24 July – ‘inclusion of the VET Unique Student Identifier’ is optional for enrolments but a requirement for uploading achievements.
• Where VET USI is mentioned on 17 June, 14 August, 2 November and 4 December, additional details have now been included.  In particular, that the VET USI is a requirement for achievement intended for contribution towards the WACE requirements.

The revised activities schedule can be downloaded from the Authority website athttp://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Publications/WACE_Activities_Schedule.

Student enrolments for 2015

Contact
Jenny Offer (08) 9273 6313
jenny.offer@scsa.wa.edu.au

Year 12 students in 2015 will continue to enrol in existing WACE courses at Stage 1, Stage 2 or Stage 3. Year 11 (and Year 10) students in 2015 must enrol in the new ATAR, General, VET Industry Specific, Foundation and Preliminary courses.
Year 12 students are unable to enrol in Year 11 ATAR, General, Foundation, Preliminary and VET industry specific course units.
Enrolments for Year 12 students studying units in WACE courses are due to be uploaded into SIRS on 15 May 2015.
In 2015, Year 11 (and Year 10) students:

• are able to enrol in Year 11 ATAR, General, Foundation, Preliminary and VET Industry Specific course units
• are unable to enrol in current Stage 1 and Stage 2 course units
• may enrol in current Stage 3 course units only if they are on accelerated pathways. In these cases, the students need to apply to the Authority to sit the WACE examination in Stage 3 of a course and these students would be exiting the course. Students who are permitted to sit the WACE examination in Year 11 cannot sit the examination in the equivalent ATAR course when they are in Year 12.

Enrolments for Year 10 and Year 11 students studying units in ATAR, General, Foundation, Preliminary and VET Industry Specific courses are due to be uploaded into SIRS on 6 March 2015.
Current arrangements regarding student requirements to achieve a WACE apply to Year 12 students in 2014 and 2015. New requirements for the WACE come into effect for Year 11 students in 2015, and Year 11 and Year 12 students in 2016.

Student enrolments and course recognition arrangements for 2015 are summarised in the following table.

VET industry specific courses – automatic grade allocation

Contact
Angela Kiely (08) 9273 6751
angela.kiely@scsa.wa.edu.au
Julia McHenry (08) 9273 6707
julia.mchenry@scsa.wa.edu.au

The Student Information Records System (SIRS) will automatically allocate grades to all completed VET industry specific course units linked to a course.

To achieve a C grade for VET industry specific course units, a student must have:

A student who has notmet the completion requirements for the VET industry specific course (even if the student intends to complete the course in the following year) will receive a U notation for that VET industry specific course (a U notation will not appear on a student’s statement of results). In this case, any units of competency achieved within the course will be awarded unit equivalence as VET credit transfer.

The following SIRS reports are available to schools and may assist with VET industry specific reporting requirements:

• CSE126 – VET Industry Specific Course Unit of Competency Achieved

This report lists the units of competency linked to VET industry specific course units that have been achieved or not achieved.

• CSE152 – VET Industry Specific Course Requirement Met

This report lists students who have or have not met VET industry specific course requirements.

• CS012 – Student Summary Details

This report will return a student summary listing all enrolments and results for a nominated student. It lists VET industry specific completed and if units of competency are credit transfer or VET industry specific integrated.
For more information, please refer to sub-section 7.3.1 in the WACE Procedures File athttp://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Publications/WACE_Procedures_File.