VCAA has not outlined how it will distinguish between students who worked hard and did well, and those whom they believed had accessed the leaks

The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority has made the controversial call to mark down any student who appears to have taken advantage of the leaked material.

The VCE exam authority is gearing up for a deluge of student appeals amid revelations it is using a “positive” grading system for students affected by the leaks scandal who are not thought to have seen the cheat sheets.

However they are also vowing to mark down any student who appears to have taken advantage of the leaked material.

Schools are set to make mass applications for score reviews, with exam results being delivered to principals on December 11 ahead of the public release of scores on December 12.

At least one private school is understood to be pushing ahead with a claim for exam irregularities for all affected students, which would result in a derived score.

It’s likely there will be mass applications for score reviews.

Such irregularities are “events that significantly interrupt and adversely affect a student’s performance immediately before, or during, a VCE external assessment that are outside their control”.

An internal briefing by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) reveals the exam body is grading according to “the principle of positive marking, which means we look for opportunities to award marks, not for reasons to take marks away”.

However, some principals and teachers are concerned about what this approach means for students who are doing subjects that are not compromised by leaks.

The VCAA briefing, obtained by the Herald Sun, also acknowledged the “volume of requests (for exam marking review) will increase this year as a result of the publishing error”.

Exam results will be delivered to principals on December 11 ahead of the public release of scores on December 12.

In an online webinar with principals on Monday, VCAA acting CEO Marcia Devlin said any grade adjustment “will not proceed on the basis of taking marks from any students” who have just done better in the exam than expected.

But she committed to identifying those who had accessed the questions leaked by the VCAA itself and said “if there is any real suspicion there might have been an advantage, we will be looking at it further”.

She did not outline how the VCAA would distinguish between students who worked hard and did well, and those whom they believed had accessed the leaks.

Education Minister Ben Carroll has admitted there is no way of knowing who has accessed the leaked material last month accidentally included on exam cover sheets.

In the 10-minute webinar, Dr Devlin said marking was complete and subjects were now being subjected to a two-step moderation scheme.

But the details of this process have not been made public, and teachers question how students can appeal a moderation which is not transparent.

Tina King, Victorian branch president of the Victorian Principals’ Federation, said the “exam blunder by the VCAA has escalated into a system wide problem impacting thousands of students”.

“Despite the commitment to releasing results on December 12, many students and families are likely to seek clarity on whether their study scores have been adjusted and what avenues for appeal are available,” she said.

Originally published as VCAA has not outlined how it will distinguish between students who worked hard and did well, and those whom they believed had accessed the leaks