Year 12 exams delay: Scoresby principal calls for students to get a say
Stressed Year 12 students should get a say in the decision to delay exams, according to one leading secondary school principal. It comes as schools prepare for a Term 2 unlike any other.
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A leading secondary school principal believes Year 12 students should be able to have a say about the decision to delay exams.
Premier Daniel Andrews announced Year 12 students will have their final examinations postponed until December at the earliest, with universities urged to delay the start of the 2021 academic year to account for the impacts of a prolonged VCE year.
Victorian students will be taught remotely from the start of Term 2 next Wednesday.
Scoresby Secondary College executive principal Gail Major said there were complexities in shifting exams to the end of the year.
“It may suit some students but I think we know that some independent schools have far more resources with some of their technology,” she said.
“Moving exams to the end of the year impacts on the following year in terms of the preparation for the next year’s Year 12s.”
She said the decision would add to students’ stress.
“The way to support students is to maintain what they are familiar with and to give them continuity so we have made sure our programs and what we are delivering is continuous but once you change something like that (the exam schedule) it throws them even further,” she said.
“They have announced it (the change in exam times) and there is going to be concerns and I think there needs to be a hearing of student voices right across the board — it’s not that hard to set up a survey of all Year 12s to get their perspective on what this means to them — let’s hear it from the kids.
“Let’s hear the kids’ voices — it’s adults making decisions about kids’ futures and they are the ones most impacted.
“They are grieving — they have lost all the activities they wanted to participate in their final year, they’re also grieving in terms of their social life for many of them they’re turning 18 and they’re going through an awful lot of grief.
“We don’t need students who are stressed and isolated feeling like they are not being heard — if they feel heard they will feel a lot better.”
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She was also worried about the impact on Vocational Education and Training (VET) students.
“I think the biggest problem with Year 12 is where students are doing a scored VET program, and that vocational program is in a cluster, and may be delivered at an independent school, TAFE or RTO (registered training organisation) that may closed — that would impact on their score and that one subject could have a major impact so is there going to be equity or not?”
Ms Major said Scoresby Secondary College was well prepared for remote learning.
“We wanted to make sure every student including vulnerable students had a group they could connect to via a range of strategies including access to wellbeing supports at school, access to peers, and a teacher they felt most comfortable to talk to if they had a non-school issue.”
Students were also given a laminated card with key phone numbers should they need them, including Kids Helpline.
Fairhills High School principal Harvey Wood said he believed it was important Year 12 exams were conducted before Christmas.
“You wouldn’t want to have a big break and then try and come back and do exams after Christmas,” Mr Wood said.
He said staff at the school had worked hard before the end of Term 1 to prepare for online learning.
Mr Wood said they would be advocating students use same timetable they normally would, via an online system.
“We have four period days and we are advocating students stick to that,” he said.
“Keeping it as simple as possible and normal as possible is the way forward I believe and that’s what we’re working towards at Fairhills.”
Mr Wood said about 10 of the school’s 450 students didn’t have their own computer and they were working to ensure they could get one.
He advised parents to keep engaging with their children while they were learning at home.
“The best thing you can do as a parent is engage with your child daily talking with them about what they’re learning at school and sharing the learning with them.”
Mr Wood also raised the question about the impact on VET courses, which tend to be more practical and were conducted at different locations with a mix of students.
Mr Andrews said a small number of students undertaking VET may have the award of their VCE or VCAL delayed until the beginning of 2021 so they can complete mandatory practical or workplace learning requirements — ensuring that they were not disadvantaged by the lack of hands-on practice during the pandemic.
Lysterfield Primary School principal Kendra Parker said the announcement students would be learning from home during Term 2 was what she expected and the school was well prepared.
“We will be moving some learning to online and we also have programs for kids to do that aren’t online as not every child has access to online learning,” Ms Parker said.
Students will get packs with paper copies of reading, writing and maths activities.
“It is quite difficult for our early years kids, they’re the ones I think it’s going to be a real challenge to keep their learning going,’’ she said.
“But on the other hand at such a young age they can learn so much just by doing things around the house with their parents.
“But we don’t want to pressure our parents because a lot of them are going through tough times and we don’t want to put extra weight on their shoulders — we have to be mindful of everybody’s mental health and wellbeing.”
Ms Parker said schools had the best interests of their students and community at the heart of everything they were doing.
“And we might not get it right in the first weeks and there might be some gaps but I think everybody is showing patience and understanding and acceptance of the situation and I’m confident together we will get through term 2 and our kids will be OK at the end of it all and our families too,” she said.
“We’ve put a plan in place where every child will get at least one phone call a week from their teacher or our older kids are on Google Classroom so they might get a video call from their teacher and for our younger children it will be obviously through their parents.
“Prep teachers have also filmed themselves reading books and asking questions and that’s on a private YouTube channel the kids will be able to access.
“Any students or parents who need extra support we’ve put things in place to support them.”