VCE students fearful of a ‘witch hunt’ after exam bungle

More detail has been released about how students’ marks will be reviewed in the wake of the VCE exam leaks as yet another embarrassing leak was revealed.

More detail has been released about the method used to determine who should lose marks as a result of the VCE exam leaks, with some students’ performance in every question and every exam probed.

Bureaucrats assessing who had been advantaged by the bungle would not be “looking for proof” that some students had accessed the leaked material, but would instead look at what their marks – “the data” – said.

The analysis would be based on looking at all the student’s answers from each exam question, as well as their performance overall in each subject, the deputy head of the Department of Education David Howes told state parliament.

The statistical review of each student’s marks would also involve looking at their performance in other subjects, Mr Howes told the estimates hearings.

Deputy head of the Department of Education David Howes.

Students are alarmed at the notion of losing marks as a result of the leaks, particularly because the VCAA cannot prove definitively who accessed the questions before the exams and those who did not.

Mr Howes’ comments come as Jenny Atta, the head of the Department of Education admitted there had been a “deterioration over time” in the quality of work done by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA).

Ms Atta said former VCAA CEO Kylie White, who resigned amid a catastrophic leak of exam material in 56 subjects, had worked “diligently” to turn around the performance issues in the agency.

As the government tried to resist questioning about the current crisis, Ms Atta admitted that the leaks, first revealed by the Herald Sun, were “very concerning”.

Ms Atta said Ms White’s resignation triggered the “usual payout of entitlements” but was not asked for by her or Education Minister Ben Carroll.

She denied any plans to disband the VCAA and pledged to “give the minister any support to establish the review he’s called for”.

She said the leaks were due to an “obscure desktop publishing error malfunction” and that the VCAA itself set out the way forward in managing the exam errors.

She said it the VCAA was an independent statutory authority and “neither the department or any other agency or individual can interfere or direct them in the carriage of these responsibilities”.

“It was my understanding that all impacted exams … were to be adjusted and the question is clearly that some of them were not adjusted sufficiently.”

Ms Atta said she didn’t know how many days the papers were online before they were discovered by the VCAA or how many were substantially affected.

Ms Atta said the authority was working to the established timeline for the release of results at this stage.

VCAA chief executive Kylie White resigned amid a catastrophic leak of exam material in 56 subjects.

Opposition Education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said the “VCAA’s failure today to front up and answer to the VCE exam debacle adds insult to injury for VCE students, teachers and families”.

The authority was represented by education bureaucrats instead of the new interim CEO.

“Spin and cover-ups from the Department of Education won’t get to the bottom of what has gone wrong, why and who is ultimately responsible,” Ms Wilson said.

“With the VCE exam period now concluded, this debacle must be referred to the Victorian Ombudsman for a truly independent and comprehensive investigation.”

Another embarrassing VCE exam leak exposed

It comes as another embarrassing VCE exam leak can be revealed, with an exam undertaken last week containing an exact replica of a six-point question available online for more than a month before the test.

The Applied Computing: Data Analytics exam, marked out of 100, contained a six-mark question in Section C that was identical to the question accessible on the exam’s corrupted cover sheet.

The question was about the snow season which begins in June, and the leaked version reads: “Bob would like to place ski orders by the end of March. To assist her dad in placing orders, Charlie has planned to complete her project by 26 February. To keep track of all the tasks for her project, she has decided to create a Gantt chart. She has listed all the key tasks, dependencies and durations in Table 1 in the case study Insert. a. Identify the three errors in the Gantt chart on the following page by circling and numbering them on the Gantt chart. 3 marks b. Describe what needs to be done to address each error identified in part a. 3 marks

The real question merely changes the name of the people from Bob to Tom and Charlie to Georgie, giving those who saw the leak a substantial advantage.

An exam sat last week contained the exact replica of a six-point question available online.

The leaks in the subject were among the most extensive, with five other short answer questions accidentally accessible on the VCAA website. These were replaced but the question above was not.

The subject is taken by up to 1000 students, with this year’s exam held on Tuesday 12 November.

The Herald Sun first broke news of the leaks in exam instruction booklets, known as cover sheets, on November 13, leading to the resignation of the CEO of the body running the exams, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority on November 16.

Education Minister Ben Carroll has confirmed that 56 out of 116 exams were compromised by the leaked material, including a handful that were “substantially” affected.

Students will now be subjected to a special marking analysis to identify those who are both advantaged and disadvantaged by the catastrophic blunder. Both students and school principals are unhappy about the approach, fearing there is no way to make the marking of 2024 exams fair.

Dr Marcia Devlin says the authority will use “statistical analyses” to analyse results. Picture: 7NEWS

As the last day of the 2024 exam period finally arrives, the The Victorian Curriculum And Assessment Authority admitted that the release of results may need to be delayed for them to carry out checks on results due to the bungle.

Leading educators also warned there would be a flurry of appeals to marks from unhappy students.

A letter from the new interim Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority chief Marcia Devlin sent to schools notes that the authority will use “statistical analyses” to analyse results.

“If any questions are identified as providing any student with an unfair advantage, appropriate adjustments to student marks will be made,” she said.

When questioned by the Herald Sun about delays to the release of exam results on December 12, the VCAA also said: “If complications in the analysis to be undertaken mean that an altered date for results release is required, this will be confirmed with VTAC (Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre) and schools as soon as possible”.

One student said: “Why are they using statistical analysis which has zero correlation to leaks to justify removing marks from people’s exams?”

Another said it was a “witch hunt designed to strip marks from people without any basis”.

The possibility of all students getting a full mark for affected questions has also been flagged, prompting one student to say it was “insulting” for those who worked hard but didn’t see the leaks.

Marcellin College principal Marco Di Cesare said people “have now lost confidence in the system”.

“The GAT (General Achievement Test) does not equally reflect all subjects so we are concerned by how much faith we can have in the whole system at the point,” he said.

“Kids will get an ATAR but will it be the one they deserve?”

Caulfield Grammar principal Ashleigh Martin sent a letter to parents provided to the Herald Sun, noting the breach has “caused frustration and disappointment across the education community”.

“At this stage, while various proposals for managing this situation have been discussed, we will reserve judgement on the proposed treatments until after the results have been released and their impact can be fully assessed,” he said.

Andy Muller, principal of Mentone Grammar, said he “understands the emotions of students, but it’s now a battle we can’t win so we need to have faith that the system will work fairly for them”.

Loretta Wholley, principal of Genazzano, said: “All we can do is trust in the system and have faith it will be in the best interests of students”.

Many students have been left “frustrated and disappointed” by the bungle.

But she also noted that VCAA “needs to be prepared for a whole lot of appeals”.

“It does question the reliance on one exam at the end of the year for the future,” she said.

Melbourne High School principal Dr Tony Mordini said he trusted the state government would properly investigate the matter.

“We put our faith in the system that everything is being done to support students and staff,” he said.

Derek Scott, principal of Haileybury, said the school has “full confidence in the expertise and integrity of the panel entrusted with assessing the VCE results”.

A VCAA spokesman said the authority “will use a robust and nationally-recognised assessment tool to address errors that occurred in the 2024 VCE exams – and to ensure every student is assessed fairly.”

“Students will this year be able to request a copy of their exam responses by applying for an Inspection of Examination Response Material.

“If a student is concerned by their mark, they can request to have it reviewed as part of the existing appeals processes,” he said.

Sky’s the limit for budding pilot

The sky’s the limit for De La Salle College graduate Josh Summers, who is among more than 48,000 students celebrating the end of a tumultuous year 12 VCE exam period on Wednesday.

After wrapping up his final exam, the year 12 student has put the stress of exams behind him and is now putting all his focus into his dream job.

Josh Summers is juggling his VCE exams with training to be a pilot at Moorabbin Airport. Picture: David Caird.

Josh studied a VET course in aviation at Tristar Aviation at Moorabbin airport during his year 11 and 12 studies, where he passed his recreational pilot’s course with flying colours.

Josh, 17, also sat exams for biology, English and general maths, and last year studied psychology.

“I think I went fairly well (with exams) … Biology was a fairly hard one but I think I did quite well,” he said.

The nervous wait for students’ results has now begun, with ATARs due to be released on December 12 while first round university offers are expected to come out on December 23.

But no matter the outcome, Josh has his heart set on finishing off his training at Tristar Aviation.

“My aim is to become a commercial pilot and my dream airline would be Qantas,” he said.

Originally published as VCE students fearful of a ‘witch hunt’ after exam bungle