Changes to the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) from 2015 materials

Contact
George Temple (08) 9273 6703
info@scsa.wa.edu.au

Authority Chair Patrick Garnett and CEO Allan Blagaich have written to principals and teachers to advise them of information on the website about the changes to the WACE starting in 2015.

The letter has been emailed to principals for distribution to staff. It is also available on the Authority website athttp://wace1516.scsa.wa.edu.au/#overview.
Information on the website includes:

• ATAR and General course syllabuses (Years 11 and 12), including VET industry specific courses
• summaries of syllabus changes showing changes from the current three-stage course structure to the new ATAR and General course structure
• sample externally set tasks and marking keys for all General courses
• sample examinations for the 13 new Australian Curriculum-based ATAR courses (English, Literature, English as an Additional Language/Dialect, Mathematics Specialist, Mathematics Applications, Mathematics Methods, Modern History, Ancient History, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Earth and Environmental Science)
• WACE overview video presented by Allan Blagaich
• a PowerPoint presentation from the CEO briefings
• learning area videos which outline the syllabus structure and design and the key changes in each course
• a VET video which outlines the WACE VET policy changes
• Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (OLNA) video, and
• the draft WACE Manual 2015–16 for consultation.

If you have general questions on the changes to the WACE or are having difficulty locating or accessing some information, please call 9273 6740.

Career and Enterprise: teacher support materials for WACE 2014

Contact
Charmaine Ford (08) 9273 6306
charmaine.ford@scsa.we.edu.au

Course outlines and assessment outlines for Career and Enterprise units 1A, 2A and 3A have been updated to reflect the syllabus revisions. These documents are now available on the Career and Enterprise course page on the Authority website.

Consensus moderation in 2014

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

The Authority has provided a list of courses for which consensus moderation meetings will be held in 2014. Consensus moderation involves teachers providing and receiving grading judgements on a set of student assessment files.

Consensus moderation meetings will be at Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3 for the following courses (unless the number of schools makes a course/stage meeting not viable):

• Ancient History
• Animal Production Systems
• Applied Information Technology
• Business Management and Enterprise
• Career and Enterprise
• Engineering Studies
• English as an Additional Language/Dialect (written only)
• Food Science and Technology
• Health Studies
• Human Biological Science
• Indonesian: Second Language
• Italian
• Music
• Outdoor Education
• Plant Production Systems
• Religion and Life
• Visual Arts.

Consensus moderation meetings will also be conducted for the following courses for the stage/units indicated:

• English (Stage 1 only)
• Mathematics (units 1A and 3A/B only).

Participation in a consensus moderation meeting is compulsory for one representative from each school for each of the courses/stages listed above that the school is delivering.

Separate half-day meetings will be conducted for each stage (or pair of units).

Meetings will be held in Perth and, where viable, Bunbury, Albany and Geraldton.

Schools that are not located within a reasonable travelling distance of the nearest scheduled venue are required to send their student assessment files to the Authority for review.

After the school completes the registration process, each registered teacher will receive an email identifying the date, time and venue for the meeting (or informing teachers of the date by which posted materials must be at the Authority).

Marker applications for 2014 WACE examinations

Contact
Selina Mosbergen (08) 9273 6327
selina.mosbergen@scsa.wa.edu.au
Cristina Caruso (08) 9273 6317
cristina.caruso@scsa.wa.edu.au

The Authority invites applications from qualified people interested in marking the practical and/or written 2014 WACE examinations.

Please note that applications open on Monday, 21 April and close on Wednesday, 2 July 2014.

Marking provides excellent professional development, offering an ideal opportunity to work with colleagues and develop a comprehensive understanding of the WACE examination standards.

Qualified people who are interested in marking should complete the application form on the Authority’s website athttp://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/About_Us/Employment. Applicants will receive a receipt via email once the application has been received and processed.

All application forms are forwarded to the chief marker of the relevant course. The chief marker selects markers based on:

• the number of markers required
• recent teaching experience in the course
• previous WACE marking experience
• familiarity with the specific course syllabus.

New for 2014 – Verification of eligibility of employment

All markers of written examinations and practical markers (folio) must have:

• a current Teachers’ Registration Board number (number and expiry date must be supplied), or
• a National Police History Check or National Police Certificate (a copy of this document must be attached to thePersonal details information sheet at time of contract).

All practical markers (performance and languages) must have:

• a current Teachers’ Registration Board number (number and expiry date must be supplied), or
• a National Police History Check or National Police Certificate and a Working with Children’s Card (a copy of these documents must be attached to the Personal details information sheet at time of contract).

You are not eligible to be a marker if you have taken a voluntary redundancy from the State Government in the past 12 months.

Preference will be given to applicants who are available to take on a full marking load.

Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their applications before the date indicated:

• Practical examinations – Monday, 4 August 2014
• Written examinations – Friday, 19 September 2014.

Opting out of examinations and exemption from sitting WACE examinations 2014

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

At the time of enrolling in a pair of Stage 2 or Stage 3 course units, Year 12 students are automatically enrolled to sit the WACE examination in that stage of the course.

In 2014, there are two processes for schools to follow for students who would be enrolled in but who do not wish to sit the WACE examinations. These processes are:

• opting out – this applies to students who wish to opt out of sitting the Stage 2 WACE course examinations, and
• exemption – this applies to students who qualify and who wish to be exempt from sitting the Stage 3 WACE course examinations.

Opting out of Stage 2 WACE examinations
In 2014 and 2015, examinations for Stage 2 unit pairs in Year 12 are optional. Schools must indicate in their enrolment file (uploaded onto the Student Information Records System (SIRS) if a student is opting out of sitting a Stage 2 examination. This process needs to be completed for each Stage 2 course where the student is opting out of the examination.

The procedure for opting students out of the Stage 2 examinations can be found in Section 6 of the WACE Procedures File 2014, available on the Authority website athttp://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Publications/WACE_Procedures_File.

Schools can monitor the examination status of their Year 12 students studying Stage 2 units by running a report in SIRS – CSE187 – Examination Status of Year 12 Students Enrolled in Stage 2 Courses. The pathway to the report is: Reports > Other reports > Enrolments.

The last date to make changes to a student’s Stage 2 enrolment is Wednesday, 2 July 2014.

Exemption from sitting Stage 3 WACE examinations
Year 12 students who are enrolled to complete, in the current year, at least 220 nominal hours of VET (from related industry areas) and are enrolled in three or fewer examinable Stage 2 and/or Stage 3 pairs of units, are eligible to apply for an exemption from sitting the Stage 3 WACE examinations. For further details, please refer to pages 97 and 98 of the WACE Manual 2014–15.

Schools seeking an exemption on behalf of their students are required to apply in SIRS, and will be notified via email in SIRS, of the student exemption application outcome immediately after the information is entered. This process cannot be used to opt out students from sitting the Stage 2 WACE examinations.

Schools must check the outcome of their exemption application via report CSE168 – Stage 3 Examination Exemption Application Outcome for VET Students. The pathway to the report is: Reports > Other reports > External Assessment.

The procedure for applying for an exemption from sitting Stage 3 examinations can be found in Section 9 of theWACE Procedures File 2014, available on the Authority website athttp://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Publications/WACE_Procedures_File.

The last date to apply for a VET examination exemption is Wednesday, 2 July 2014.

Consequences of not using the appropriate process
Schools need to ensure that the correct process is used. Failure to do so would result in students still being enrolled to sit examinations.

If students are not opted out of Stage 2 examinations or are not made exempt for a Stage 3 examination and do not sit, or do not make a genuine attempt in this WACE examination, then their grades for the pair of units completed in that year will not contribute to the calculation of the C grade average requirement for the WACE, but they will still count in the breadth-and-depth requirement.

Practical examination requirements for 2014

Contact
Kerry Cribb (08) 9273 6787
kerry.cribb@scsa.wa.edu.au
Jenny Morup (08) 9273 6309
jenny.morup@scsa.wa.edu.au

Documents outlining the practical examination requirements and the practical marking keys for 2014 have been sent to schools. They are also available on the Authority extranet.

If your school is offering courses which have a practical examination and has not received these documents, please contact one of the following officers.

Student enrolments in course units in 2014

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

Schools are reminded that Year 10–12 student enrolments in all WACE course units must be uploaded into the Student Information Records System (SIRS) by Friday, 16 May 2014. As part of the upload, schools will need to indicate which of their Year 12 students have chosen to opt out of sitting Stage 2 WACE examinations.

Section 6 of the WACE Procedures File 2014 provides instructions relating to:

• extracting data on students enrolled in course units
• uploading these enrolments into SIRS
• verifying these enrolments in SIRS.

This information is available on the Authority website at
http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Publications/WACE_Procedures_File/WACE_Procedures.

The following forms are also due on 16 May 2014:

• Year 11 equivalent studies for a WACE
• Overseas full fee-paying student declaration (with the enrolment payment).

These forms can be found either in the WACE Procedures File 2014 or on the Authority website athttp://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Events_and_Forms/Application_Order_Forms.

Schools are also reminded that the last date for changes to Year 12 student enrolments in Stage 2 WACE course units is Wednesday, 2 July 2014. After this date, schools will not be able to:

• opt Year 12 students out of sitting Stage 2 WACE examinations, or
• enrol Year 12 students into Stage 2 WACE course units.