More than 90 TAFE SA students receive pass grades despite withdrawing from courses and having half their fees refunded
EXCLUSIVE: Dozens of TAFE SA students have been given pass grades despite withdrawing from their courses and being refunded half their fees.
DOZENS of TAFE SA students have been given pass grades despite withdrawing from subjects and in some instances being refunded half their fees.
The Opposition claims the revelation of more than 90 cases undermines the credibility of the TAFE system and could make employers wary of taking on TAFE graduates.
Most were Foundation Studies students studying basic English and literacy skills.
TAFE SA insists students have received credit only for completed units of work within a subject, but is considering a policy change so any student who withdraws will be issued a “no start” result.
The Auditor General’s annual report said the public training provider’s student information system (SIS) does not prevent a lecturer recording a pass grade even after a student has withdrawn.
“We noted students who had withdrawn from a subject and received a 50 per cent refund of their fees could still be awarded a pass grade (if they completed the unit requirements),” the report said.
“Our testing identified over 90 instances where students had withdrawn but still recorded
a pass grade. TAFE SA did not have an established process to identify these instances.
“There is a risk that inappropriate grades are recorded in SIS for students who have withdrawn.”
Opposition skills and training spokesman David Pisoni said the finding “undermines the credibility of the courses and the TAFE brand” .
“It’s unfortunate we have a situation where not every student is treated equally. There is definitely a problem with the checks and balances and I actually think it devalues the courses,” he said.
A TAFE SA spokeswoman said “the idea that a student doesn’t complete a course but still gets a pass grade for the course is wrong”.
“Lecturers follow strict assessment protocols and when a student has achieved a successful outcome to a unit of study, they are graded accordingly,” she said.
However, TAFE is considering policy changes to ban the awarding of credit whenever a student withdraws, and to restrict students’ ability to withdraw themselves online.
The Auditor General’s report said in some cases students had accidentally withdrawn from multiple subjects when they only meant to withdraw from one.
The report also identified “a number of instances” where fee exemptions had been incorrectly applied, and said TAFE had failed to act on a previous recommendation for an independent review of exemptions.
