By Caroline Schelle and Kieran Rooney
Eight of the 10 most popular VCE subjects were compromised in the state’s exam leak scandal, in which details of questions were revealed online by the authority that runs the tests.
The full list of the 56 compromised exams – nearly half of the 116 VCE subjects – was finally revealed on Wednesday, almost two weeks after it emerged that many questions and scenarios were inadvertently published online in advance by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) in a “hidden” section of sample assessments.
Victorian Education Minister Ben Carroll has revealed the compromised VCE exams.Credit: Joe Armao
Meanwhile, a state opposition motion in the upper house calling for the state’s ombudsman to investigate the VCAA failed to pass on Wednesday evening after Labor, the Greens and some crossbench members opposed it.
Data from the VCAA shows that 2024’s top 10 most popular VCE subjects were English (which is mandatory and had more than 45,000 students enrolled), general mathematics, psychology, business management, health and human development, mathematical methods, biology, physical education, chemistry and legal studies.
Of those, only two – general mathematics and chemistry – were unaffected by exam leaks.
At least 10,000 students were enrolled in each of the top 10 subjects. General mathematics had more than 30,000 students, while psychology topped 18,000.
List of compromised VCE subjects
- Aboriginal languages Victoria
- Accounting
- Ancient history
- Applied computing data analytics
- Applied computing software development
- Art creative practice
- Art making and exhibiting
- Australian politics
- Biology
- Business management
- Chinese first language
- Chinese second language
- Classical studies
- Dance
- Drama
- English as an additional language
- Economics
- English
- Environmental science
- Food studies
- Foundation mathematics
- Geography
- Global politics
- Health and human development
- History revolutions
- Industry and enterprise
- Legal studies
- Mathematical methods 1
- Mathematical methods 2
- Media
- Music composition
- Music contemporary performance
- Music inquiry
- Music repertoire performance
- Outdoor and environmental studies
- Physical education
- Product design and technology
- Psychology
- Religion and society
- Specialist mathematics 1
- Specialist mathematics 2
- Systems engineering
- Text and traditions
- Theatre studies
- VCE VET business
- VCE VET community services
- VCE VET engineering
- VCE VET equine studies
- VCE VET furnishing
- VCE VET health
- VCE VET hospitality
- VCE VET hospitality cookery
- VCE VET information and communications technology
- VCE VET integrated technologies
- VCE VET music sound production
- VCE VET sports and recreation
Exams for other popular VCE subjects – including history (revolutions), food studies, accounting, media, economics and specialist mathematics – were also compromised.
Education Minister Ben Carroll on Wednesday said he was satisfied the right processes were in place to ensure every VCE student achieved their best.
“That is what students deserve – and we expect, must expect, nothing less,” he said.
“I would like to again apologise to every single student, parent, carer that have been affected by this publication.”
But Carroll said he still wanted to get to the bottom of what had happened.
“I’ve still got questions that I want answers to, and that is why I have ordered a full root-and-branch review on how did this occur,” he said.
Interim VCAA chief executive Marcia Devlin – who was installed after Kylie White resigned amid the scandal last week – said the information revealed about the English exams was already in the public domain and no advantage could have been gained from the leaked material.
“I can assure all 46,000 students who sat in the English exam this year that the marking of the exam continues as usual, and the normal quality assurance processes used every year by VCAA will be applied,” she said.
Questions for VCE exams were inadvertently uploaded to the VCAA website on sample test material.
Devlin said this was also likely the case for other exams, either because the content had substantially changed or what was published provided no material benefit.
Carroll said that it was still the priority for the government and VCAA to get results to the students by December 12.
Devlin said part of the marking process was to determine whether students obtained an advantage through the leaks.
That might involve comparing student performance across the board of their assessments, and the independent expert panel would review the results of affected exams to ensure students were fairly assessed, she said.
Opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said releasing the list of compromised exams without identifying the leaked questions would only worsen the stress for thousands of VCE students.
“To ensure fairness in grading, students, teachers and school communities deserve to know the exact extent to which these assessments have been compromised,” she said.
Wilson said only an ombudsman’s investigation would get to the bottom of the saga and restore confidence in the VCE.
Credit: Matt Golding
She slammed the rejection of the opposition motion, which was voted down 19-16.
“By voting to block a truly independent investigation into this debacle, Labor, the Greens and the Animal Justice Party have put the interests of students last,” she said.
“After three consecutive years of compromised exams, how can any student completing their VCE next year have confidence in the system?”
Wilson said the opposition would write to the ombudsman requesting an investigation.
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