Peak body cancels one internal assessment for Queensland’s Year 12 students

Queensland senior students will still be able to get an ATAR, despite having one assessment cancelled from each Year 12 subject, the peak university admissions body has revealed.

QUEENSLAND senior students will still be able to get an ATAR, despite having one assessment cancelled from each Year 12 subject, the peak university admissions body has revealed.

It comes amid fears that COVID-19 was causing significant disruption to Queensland students’ final year of school.

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Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority chairman Brian Short announced one internal assessment would no longer be administered after the board had considered the challenges posed by COVID-19 in Queensland schools.

QTAC chief executive John Griffiths said all QTAC needs to calculate ATARs is accurate subject results.

“The QCAA has assured the university admissions body that the removal of one internal assessment from the assessment requirements for each subject will not affect the fairness and accuracy of final results,” Dr Griffiths said.

“The ATAR calculation methodology has been completed for some time and it has been peer reviewed by statistician members of the national ATAR Technical Committee.

“The calculation of the Queensland ATAR will commence as soon as we receive these student result files from the QCAA.”

QCAA’s Mr Short said they had removed one internal assessment from the total of four prescribed in each syllabus to help students and teachers cope.

“This will provide some relief for students as they contend with uncertainty and disruption while working towards their Queensland Certificate of Education in 2020. It will also support teachers to manage reduced classroom time,” he said.

“In the next few weeks, the QCAA will provide schools with direction on how they should adjust what is taught and the nature and timing of other assessments. There will be some flexibility to accommodate the specific needs of subjects — both General and Applied — but across-the-board adjustment is necessary to ensure the assessment experience is as equitable as it can be for all students.”

Mr Short said school principals had been informed that one internal assessment would no longer be administered after the board had considered the challenges posed by COVID-19 in Queensland schools.

Changes are coming for Queensland’s Year 12 students as the coronavirus impacts the state’s education system.

“It understands that the pandemic has created an extraordinary set of circumstances, dramatically increasing pressures on students, their families and teachers,” he said.

“We have decided to remove one internal assessment from the total of four prescribed in each syllabus.

“This will provide some relief for students as they contend with uncertainty and disruption while working towards their Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE) in 2020. It will also support teachers to manage reduced classroom time.

“In the next few weeks, the QCAA will provide schools with direction on how they should adjust what is taught and the nature and timing of other assessments. There will be some flexibility to accommodate the specific needs of subjects — both General and Applied — but across-the-board adjustment is necessary to ensure the assessment experience is as equitable as it can be for all students.”

Year 12 students this year are the first to undertake the new QCE which involved three pieces of internal assessment and one external exam at the end of the year. They will also be the first cohort of senior students to apply for an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank.

“Everyone agrees that the health and wellbeing of students, and their families and teachers, is our top priority. Teaching, learning and assessment are important but secondary concerns, and we don’t want them to unnecessarily contribute to the emotional strain experienced by senior students and their families,” Mr Short said.

“Students can be assured that they will still receive fair subject results based on fewer than the four assessments mandated in syllabuses. Their parents and carers, and their teachers, can draw comfort from the QCAA’s commitment to listen and respond to their concerns as we negotiate the ongoing challenges this year will bring.”