Contact
Lynn Galbraith (08) 9273 6702
lynn.galbraith@scsa.wa.edu.au

Thank you to all schools for their efforts in ensuring their Student Registration and Demographic Information was uploaded to the Student Information Records System (SIRS) in Term 1 2017 through the SRGDG file.

It is now important that this information is kept up-to-date on SIRS and schools are requested to regularly upload the SRGDG to SIRS, so that new student details can be added, students who transfer to a different school are included and students who leave your school, or move overseas or interstate are also noted as per your enrolment details.

Uploading this file regularly also allows for correction of data.  Data that cannot be altered by uploading the SRGDG file includes the student’s

• Western Australian Student Number (WASN)
• Surname
• First Name
• Date of Birth
• Academic Year
• Gender.

To change any of these details you need to first contact dataservices@scsa.wa.edu.au and advise of the correct information prior to uploading your file.

If you upload a file and you receive error messages relating to the name, date of birth or academic year, you also need to contact dataservices@scsa.wa.edu.au.

For schools using the Brightpath Assessment Tool, please also remember to upload your Teacher Registration (THREG) File when you have new teachers or class information.

If you require a number for a new student enrolling at your school in 2017, please email numbers@scsa.wa.edu.au and advise your School Code, Student First Name, Surname, Date of Birth, Academic Year.  We will search to see if the student already has a number and advise you of this number before issuing a new number.

There has been a very large number of duplicate records created and many schools will be receiving notification to change a student number back to the original number allocated to the student.  Thank you for your patience with this process.

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

Schools are reminded that all students enrolled in a General Year 12 course and/or a Foundation Year 12 course are required to complete the Externally Set Task (EST) developed by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) for that course.

The EST is compulsory and forms part of the school-based assessment. The EST is included in the assessment table in the Year 12 General and Foundation syllabuses as a separate assessment type with a weighting of 15% for the pair of units.

Schools are required to administer the ESTs during Weeks 3, 4 or 5 (Monday, 8 May 2017 to Friday, 26 May 2017) of Term 2. Information about the administration of ESTs can be found in the Externally Set Tasks Handbook for the school contact 2017 that is available on the Authority website via: http://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/assessment/externally-set-tasks.

Schools are required to upload a total mark for each student in each of the ESTs into SIRS by the beginning of Week 6 (Monday, 29 May 2017). This mark will be out of the total indicated on the appropriate EST marking key for the course, provided by the Authority.

Schools will be able to upload the total raw mark for each EST for each student into SIRS from the school database program, i.e. RTP, Civica (MAZE). If a student is absent for an EST but returns to school within the test period (Weeks 3, 4 or 5 of Term 2) he/she is expected to sit the EST under test conditions. However, as for all school‐based assessments, the school is required to apply its assessment policy should a student not sit the EST.

Where schools use MS Excel to transfer data to the Authority, details of the file format (RSEST) for EST marks can be found in Data Transfer from Providers to the School Curriculum and Standards Authority for 2017 which is available on the Authority website at: http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/sirs-info/record-formats.

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

Schools are reminded of the final dates to withdraw Year 12 students from courses:

• Friday, 28 July 2017 – final date for withdrawing students from ATAR courses with practical examination components. No changes will be made to student enrolments in these courses after this date.
• Friday, 25 August 2017 – final date for withdrawing students from ATAR courses which do not have practical examination components. No changes will be made to student enrolments in these courses after this date.
• Friday, 25 August 2017 – final date for withdrawing students from General, Foundation, Preliminary and VET industry specific courses. No changes will be made to student enrolments in these courses after this date.

Schools are reminded that students who are enrolled in a Year 12 ATAR courses must sit the external examination in that course. For ATAR course with practical components, students must complete both the written and practical examinations. Students who do not sit an ATAR course examination and do not have an approved sickness/misadventure application for that course, will not have the grades for the pair of units completed in that year contribute to the calculation of the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE).

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

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

Following consultation with and advice from teachers, schools are advised that the rules related to eligibility for enrolment in the Foundation courses have been revised.

From Semester 2, 2017, students who have not demonstrated the minimum literacy standard are permitted to enrol in both the List A and List B Foundation courses, as opposed to the current rule where students who have not met the literacy standard are eligible to enrol only in Foundation List A courses.

The List B Foundation courses place an emphasis on both literacy and numeracy.

In the three List B courses Foundation Mathematics, Foundation Health, Physical and Outdoor Education, and Foundation Applied Information Technology there are clear connections to course content that support the development of students’ literacy skills.

The change accommodates students who may have demonstrated the OLNA numeracy standard but whose literacy skills are yet to meet the standard required for the ongoing development of the numeracy skills integral to Foundation List B course content and structure.

Contact
Allan Knight (08) 9273 6792
Allan.Knight@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers of Years 11 and 12 ATAR and General Marine and Maritime Studies should note the availability of an updated Department of Transport pamphlet on marine safety (life jackets). The updated pamphlet has information on amended classification levels for life jackets.

The updated pamphlet and further information is available on the Department of Transport website:

http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/imarine/life-jackets.asp

Contact
Carolyn Fleischer (08) 9273 6735
carolyn.fleischer@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers of the Career and Enterprise ATAR Year 12 course are advised that where the term ‘such as’ appears in the syllabus, the content that follows is suggested content only and that teachers have the opportunity to select other examples to teach.

In the following example from Unit 3, teachers can select the two listed career development theories or substitute them with other career development theories as long as they meet the requirement of comparing a traditional and contemporary career development theory:

• the comparison of traditional and contemporary career development theories, such as:
  • Super’s Lifespan (Developmental) Theory (1957)
  • Krumboltz’ Happenstance Theory (2008).

Contact
Carolyn Fleischer (08) 9273 6735
carolyn.fleischer@scsa.wa.edu.au

Teachers of Geography ATAR Year 12 are advised of the following clarification concerning the dot point below from Unit 3 depth study two.

Teachers may choose to refer to an alternative program that is being used for the same land cover change in the area being studied or at a different location.

• evaluation of at least one alternative approach to the management of land cover change in the area being studied, using the concept of sustainability to determine the extent to which the approach has the potential to address the issue into the future

Syllabus clarification

Teachers are advised that for the purpose of the Geography ATAR Year 12 course that the concept of scale in relation to land cover change, climate change or loss of biodiversity should be interpreted in terms of size (i.e. scale) of the geographical area the strategy or program is being applied to and not a specific geographical location.

The City of Bayswater placing solar panels on their council offices would be seen as local scale response (in the extreme).  A strategy applied to large local council area, a named geographical area – such as the Pilbara, South West of Western Australia or The Murray Darling Basin, or even a state could be referred to as a regional scale strategy or program. Depending on the nature of the program it could be applied to certain features across the area, such as waterways, or the area in general.  A national scale strategy would apply to a whole country, such as an emission-trading scheme or carbon tax.  A global strategy or program could potentially be applied world-wide and typically are international agreements, treaties or targets such as the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change or the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Contact
Mandy Hudson (08) 9273 6755
mandy.hudson@scsa.wa.edu.au

The Examination Design Brief for Politics and Law ATAR Year 12 is located on page 14 of the Politics and Law ATAR Year 12 Course syllabus. Teachers should note the additional clarification for Section Three of the examination paper below:

Section One:      Short answer

Three questions from a choice of four

‪Section Two:      Source analysis

One question from a choice of two

‪Section Three:   Essay

This section is divided into two parts: Part A and Part B

Two questions from a choice of four consisting:

One question from a choice of two in Part A (Unit 3)

One question from a choice of two in Part B (Unit 4).

Contact
Mandy Hudson (08) 9273 6755
mandy.hudson@scsa.wa.edu.au

A reminder to teachers of Economics regarding the definition of the terms ‘recent’ and ‘contemporary’ and the structure of questions for Sections Two and Three of the examination paper.

The term ‘recent’ refers to the last ten years, and the term ‘contemporary’ refers to the last three years. The definition for each of these terms is located both within the Economics ATAR Year 12 Unit 3 and Unit 4 content, and within the Examination Design Brief. Reference is also made to these terms in the Unit 2 description for Economics ATAR Year 11.

Teachers are reminded the Examination Design Brief located in the Economics ATAR Year 12 syllabus prescribes the type of questions, and parts, that can be included for Sections Two and Three of the examination. In Section Two, each question within the section is of equal value, and each question ‘has between three and five parts’. In Section Three, the question may be ‘in the form of an essay or sectionalised long answer’.

Contact

Jenny Offer (08) 9273 6313

jenny.offer@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools are reminded that the Authority requires Year 12 student enrolments in VET to be uploaded into the Student Information Records System (SIRS) as soon as possible, but not later than Thursday, 22 June 2017.

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 course enrolments

The following sections of the Data Procedures Manual 2017 provide instructions relating to required actions (extracting data of students enrolled in VET units of competency, uploading the enrolments into SIRS and verifying these enrolments in SIRS):

This information is available on the Authority website at: http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/publications/data-procedures-manual.

It is important to note:

• the VET Unique Student Identifier (USI) is optional in the VET enrolment file (ENVET). However, it is required for units of competency and qualifications that contribute towards meeting the WACE requirements when reporting achievements through the RSVET and RSQUAL. If assistance is required regarding the USI, schools are advised to contact the Western Australian Department of Training and Workforce Developmentvia email at usi@dtwd.wa.gov.au or to contact the USI help centre at: https://www.usi.gov.au/ or email usi@industry.gov.au or telephone 13 38 73

• schools delivering VET that is integrated into a VET Industry Specific course must enrol the students in the units of competency as VET integrated in the ENVET file. Students who meet VET industry specific course requirements can achieve course unit credit towards a WACE. Further information relating to course credit allocation and WACE credit allocation can be found at: http://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/vet/vet-industry-specific.