General Achievement Test rescheduled; campaign for all students to return to school

VCE students will return to the classroom this week, but the education department made a major change that took schools by surprise.

Jeruisha Williams-Kerr with her husband Dean Kerr, and kids Campbell, 5, and Scarlett, 8. Picture: Alex Coppel.

The General Achievement Test is the latest casualty of the extended Covid lockdown.

The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority advised schools on Wednesday night that the three-hour test scheduled for June 9 will be rescheduled to a date yet to be determined.

The authority said the decision “will support schools and non-school senior secondary providers to fully focus on completing coursework and school-based assessments on return to classrooms”.

The move took schools by surprise, with many expecting the test to proceed as normal given that year 11 and 12s are going back to the classroom on Friday.

The three-hour GAT is a general knowledge and skills test used to create a standardised score for each student.

All students enrolled in one or more VCE or scored VCE VET Unit 3 and 4 sequences must sit the GAT.

Footscray High students preparing for the GAT in 2020. Picture: Jason Edwards

Although it does not count towards final results, it’s used to check school-based and external assessments have been accurately marked and helps calculate scores used in the case of a student’s illness, accident or trauma.

Meanwhile, families and leading experts are calling for all Melbourne-based pupils to return to school, fearing remote learning will once again put them at risk of falling behind.

Year 11 and 12 students and other pupils enrolled in unit 3 and 4 VCE studies will be allowed to return to school in Melbourne, while other year levels will continue to undertake remote learning as Victoria’s fourth lockdown is extended for at least another week.

Vulnerable pupils and the children of ­essential workers are allowed ­onsite, with childcare centres and kindergartens to ­remain open.

But in regional Victoria face-to-face learning will return for all year levels.

More than 200,000 Victorian students lost up to 21 weeks of face-to-face learning in classrooms due to lockdowns last year.

And students have already lost three days of classroom learning this year, not including this current lockdown.

Parents Jeruisha Williams-Kerr and Dean Kerr, who have two children Campbell, 5, and Scarlett, 8, said their family were “frustrated” remote learning would continue for most students in Victoria.

“Schooling should not be compromised as a result of lockdowns, they lost so much learning last year … and now for them to lose more time is really upsetting,” Ms Williams-Kerr said.

“We didn’t choose to be teachers and to have this forced upon any parent is daunting and most people are juggling work as well.”

Murdoch Children’s Research Institute group leader Professor Fiona Russell, who led a study of COVID-19 school closures last year, recommended a traffic light system that would permit schools to stay open in areas where community transmission is low.

“There are three ways to prevent infections in schools – keeping cases low in the community, follow school mitigation strategies, including a traffic light system based on the geographical area of the clusters and the degree of community transmission and … vaccinating schools, early childhood education, care staff and eligible parents,” Prof Russell said.

Parents have slammed Victoria's lockdown extension fearing remote learning could be extended upon two weeks. Picture: Alex Coppel.

“We cannot just keep doing this, locking them down all the time. It may seem like a little thing and that children are resilient, well they’re not, it’s very anxiety-provoking.”

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said they had considered the “significant challenge to younger kids when schools change”.

“But we are not in a position where we can confidently open schools in metropolitan Melbourne at the moment,” he said.

Mr Sutton said the landscape had shifted, and other countries such as Singapore had closed schools.

Schools are also frantically cancelling, postponing and rescheduling events from school formals, to fundraisers, school camps and open days.

St Bernard’s College, Essendon, class of 2020, had to cancel their already delayed Year 12 break up last weekend.

Australian Camps Association chief executive Pete Griffiths said the industry, which was hard hit by last year’s prolonged lockdown, was back into a holding pattern with school camps in limbo.

“We had the busiest term one with schools pushing their camps back from last year,” he said.

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Originally published as General Achievement Test rescheduled; campaign for all students to return to school