Last date for changes to Year 12 student enrolments

Contact
Jenny Offer (08) 9273 6313
jenny.offer@scsa.wa.edu.au
Jenny Morup(08) 9273 6309
jenny.morup@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools are reminded that the last date for changes to Year 12 student enrolments in Stage 3 course units that do not have a practical examination is Monday, 14 September 2015.

Schools can upload changes to Stage 3 course unit enrolments that do not have a practical examination (until Monday, 14 September) directly into SIRS, instead of providing the changes in writing to the Authority.

Please note:

• changes to Year 12 student enrolments in Stage 2 course units closed on Wednesday, 1 July 2015
• changes to student enrolments to sit the 2015 WACE examinations in Stage 3 courses with a practical examination close on Friday, 31 July 2015.

Minor edits to 2015-16 syllabuses

Contact
John Newman(08) 9273 6757
john.newman@scsa.wa.edu.au

Edits/corrections to the following syllabuses are listed in the table below. The updated version of each syllabus can be found within the relevant Learning Area page of the WACE 2015-16 section of the Authority website.

New VET industry specific WACE course integrity check process to commence in 2016

Contact
Angela Kiely (08) 9273 6751
angela.kiely@scsa.wa.edu.au

VET industry specific courses are developed by the Authority as a package of VET and industry placement that is endorsed by industry through regular consultation with Western Australia’s Industry Training Councils. A VET industry specific course includes an AQF qualification; mandatory industry related workplace learning and in some cases mandated elective units. VET industry specific courses provide students with the opportunity to include VET as a course in their senior secondary program which may contribute towards their WACE. For more details on the VET industry specific courses seehttp://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Senior_Secondary/Vocational_Education_and_Training/VET_Industry_Specific.

In the development phase of each of the 10 VET industry specific courses, the emphasis is on providing a quality VET program by mandating the VET be delivered in conjunction with relevant industry experience. However, there is currently no moderation process in place to determine whether the quality of these courses is being achieved.

A new practice to verify that the workplace component of the course (ADWPL) adequately supports the qualification undertaken as part of a VET industry specific course will be implemented from 2016.

The purpose for implementing the VET industry specific integrity check is to ensure the provision of VET industry specific courses is of a high standard within the WACE.
The objectives of the integrity check are to ensure that:

• VET industry specific course WPL requirements are being met
• the Authority can attest to the quality outcomes for each of the VET industry specific courses.

The Authority is conscious of the potential impost on schools for each additional request therefore measures have been put in place to minimise the burden by:

• restricting checks to a selection of schools
• alternating the integrity check to occur every 2 years commencing in 2016
• requesting information for no more than 2 qualifications across Years 11 and 12 per school
  (e.g. Certificate II in Business and Certificate II in Community Services)
• pre-populating student course enrolments details along with drop down lists to choose an appropriate response.

What are schools required to do?
An email with an attached spread sheet with pre-populated course enrolment details will be sent to selected schools approximately Mid Term 2 in 2016 requesting the from schools the following student details:

• Main Job Role
• Employer
• Start Date
• Work Placement Arrangement (Block release, Daily/Weekly)
• Workplace Occurrence (Total number of weeks released, Days per week in the workplace)
• Scheduled Work Placement (During the semester, Holidays, Combination)
• Course Duration (1 or 2 years)
• Delivery Arrangement (Auspice, SBT, SBA, Profile, NoA, Fee for service, Combination)
• RTO Name.

Schools may choose to include any or all of the details required into their record keep practices.

A reminder will also be sent out Term 1 in 2016 through the 11 To 12 Circular.

New recognition arrangements for VET accredited courses - Effective for Year 10 and 11 students from 2016 and Year 12 students from 2017

Contact
Nicole Gazey (08) 9442 9401
nicole.gazey@scsa.wa.edu.au

An accredited course is one that is developed to meet training needs not addressed by existing training packages. Courses and modules that are not part of a nationally endorsed training package do not automatically provide students with recognition towards the WACE.

To be eligible to contribute towards the WACE, an accredited course:

1. cannot duplicate a WACE course or other Authority-developed program
2. cannot compromise the standards of the WACE by providing an unsuitable or inappropriate alternative to an existing WACE offering or mechanism for fulfilling one or more WACE requirements.

The Authority reserves the right to refuse recognition of an accredited course if it is deemed to meet one or more of the abovementioned criteria or for any other purpose where it is considered that the qualification is not suitable within the context of the WACE requirements.

The Authority has already applied this policy to the qualifications within the suite of Certificates of General Educations for Adults under the WACE 2016 rule set.

The new accredited course recognition arrangement specifies different levels of recognition towards the WACE based on the classification of course outcomes. The classification scheme determines whether the accredited course outcomes have an industry, foundation skills or vocational focus.

The allocation of credit towards the WACE for VET accredited courses is applied according to a sliding scale as illustrated in the table below.
Recognition arrangements for accredited course categories

The Authority will publish an Accredited Course Recognition Status list early in term 3 which will identify the classification of accredited courses currently listed on the Authority’s database. Please contact Nicole Gazey Principal Consultant - VET if you wish to know the classification of a qualification prior to the lists publication.

If a school wishes to enrol students in a VET accredited course that is not listed on the Accredited Course Recognition Status list they must request the course to be classified by the Authority prior to student enrolment.

More information about the recognition arrangements and the Application for the addition of a VET accredited course for WACE recognition – for students in Year 12 in 2017 will be posted on the VET Credit transfer page on the Authority website at in the coming weekshttp://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Senior_Secondary/Vocational_Education_and_Training/VET_Credit_Transfer as well as a link on the ‘VET News’ pagehttp://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Senior_Secondary/Vocational_Education_and_Training/VET_news_faqs.

Please note that the following qualifications remain ‘unclassified’ until further notice:

At this stage these qualifications will attract full credit towards the WACE until a decision has been reached about the appropriate level of recognition. Schools will be given adequate notice to ensure students are not disadvantaged.

Student enrolments in VET units of competency and endorsed programs

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

Schools are reminded that the Authority requires Year 10 and Year 11 student enrolments in VET and Year 10 to Year 12 student enrolments in endorsed programs to be uploaded into SIRS as soon as possible, but not later thanFriday, 15 August 2015.

Schools need to ensure that they receive the correct enrolment information from registered training organisations (RTOs) relating to their students’ enrolments in units of competency and qualifications. It is important that schools acquire the appropriate documentation from the RTO to confirm enrolments before submitting the data to the Authority. This will ensure that accurate information is uploaded in SIRS to avoid issues at the time of providing student achievement reports.

Provision of VET and endorsed program enrolments
The following sections of the Data Procedures Manual 2015 provide instructions relating to required actions (extracting data of students enrolled in VET units of competency or endorsed programs, uploading the enrolments into SIRS and verifying these enrolments in SIRS):

The above information is available on the Authority website at
http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/Publications/Data_Procedures_Manual

It is important to note:

• From 2015, the Authority does not require schools to notify the agency on whether VET units of competency have been integrated into WACE course units. Under the WACE 2015-16 arrangements, all VET achievement, regardless of how a school chooses to deliver a qualification will attract unit equivalence towards the WACE (except VET industry specific courses which attract course unit credit towards the WACE).
• In terms of the Authority’s reporting requirements, VET units of competency are only required to be reported as VET integrated if the student is enrolled in a VET industry specific course. This process ensures course completion will be correctly recognised in SIRS and that WACE course unit credit is allocated upon completion of the course requirements. The course type identifier for a VET industry specific course is VETCOS. Using the course type identifier COS to distinguish a VET integrated enrolment will be disallowed when reporting enrolments to the Authority’s SIRS database.
• That the VET Unique Student Identifier (USI) is optional in the VET enrolment file (ENVET).  However, it is required for units of competency and qualifications to contribute towards meeting the WACE requirements when reporting achievements through the RSVET and RSQUAL. For assistance regarding the USI, schools should contact the Western Australian Department of Training and Workforce Development atusi@dtwd.wa.gov.au or refer to the USI help centre at www.usi.gov.au, by phone on
  13 38 73 or via email at usi@industry.gov.au.

Consequences of not sitting examinations in 2015

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

Teachers should remind final-year students enrolled in a Stage 2 or Stage 3 pair of course units that they are required to sit for, and make a genuine attempt at, the WACE examination in that pair of units (unless exempt for a Stage 3 WACE course examination or have opted out of sitting for a Stage 2 WACE course examination).

A student who is required to sit a WACE examination and chooses not to, or who chooses not to make a genuine attempt in the examination, will not get a WACE course report in that course or a WACE course score for that course recorded on their statement of results. In addition, the grades for those units in the course will not be counted in the determination of the C grade average for the WACE.

As a consequence, a student may not meet the requirements to receive a WACE.