Disgruntled parents could take legal action over VCE exams bungle

Some private school parents, spending up to $50,000 for year 12 fees, are “set to go nuclear” if their children miss out on prestigious tertiary offers.

Disgruntled parents of students who miss out on university course offers are likely to “go nuclear” and consider legal action over the catastrophic VCE exam blunder, after the Education Minister admitted the leaks had affected 56 subjects.

It comes after it was revealed on Monday that VCE exams boss Kylie White had resigned at the weekend, days after the Herald Sun uncovered one of the biggest scandals to rock the education sector in decades.

Education Minister Ben Carroll announced her departure at a snap press conference, where he also was forced to concede 56 out of 116 exam cover papers contained leaked questions and case studies.

Mr Carroll also admitted a “handful” of test papers had substantial leaks, which threatened the integrity of the whole exam process, but could not say which subjects.

Education Minister Ben Carroll announced VCE exams boss Kylie White’s resignation on Monday. Picture: Getty

With the scale of the problem now confirmed, the release of exam results on December 12 will be the next key date for anxious families, before university offers from December 23.

On Monday, Dr Mark Merry, principal of Yarra Valley Grammar, said parents “may consider the option of legal action if students miss out on a course they had their heart set on by a matter of points”.

“This would be an option if they felt others had received an unfair advantage by accessing leaked questions,” he said.

“Sadly, there’s no great outcome in all of this.

“The whole process unravels if it is seen to be unfair.”

Paul O’Halloran, partner at Dentons Lawyers, said such “failure to educate” claims were popular in the US.

But he warned that “unless specific promises are made to students in enrolment contracts that mistakes of this type will never happen or that students will achieve a particular high level of academic success, such cases are unlikely to succeed”.

He noted that parents are “becoming more litigious in all areas”.

“No doubt they will try.”

Parents may consider legal action if students miss out on a course they had their heart set on. Picture: Supplied

One source said some private school parents, spending up to $50,000 for year 12 fees, were “set to go nuclear” if their children missed out on prestigious tertiary offers.

While in damage control on Monday, Mr Carroll said an assessment tool would be used to uncover anomalies in students’ performance and ensure no students were disadvantaged – or advantaged – by the assessment authority’s cover note bungle.

The Herald Sun first unveiled the VCE exam leak saga on November 13, when an investigation found that exams already sat in three subjects – Business Management, Specialist Maths and Legal Studies – had been compromised, with more under scrutiny.

The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority has since apologised for the biggest leak of VCE exam material in decades.

Mr Carroll reiterated his fury and disappointment in the VCAA, but didn’t confirm exactly why Ms White resigned.

Veteran educational administrator Dr Marcia Devlin will be her interim replacement.

Mr Carroll promised no student would be punished, and said a “robust and nationally recognised” assessment tool would be used to address errors that occurred in the exams and ensure every student was assessed fairly.

The implementation of this process will be overseen by an independent advisory panel of experts chaired by Professor John Firth, a former chief executive of the VCAA from 2006 to 2017.

But Professor Firth couldn’t rule out whether marks would be taken off for those students who had anomalies in their performance.

“I don’t want to pre-empt anything but that could happen,” he said.

Students online expressed confusion and concern about such a possibility.

Another option included invalidating questions and awarding all students a full mark if necessary.

One whistleblower teacher said the marks adjustment process outlined on Monday was “the best result we could have wished for”.

“Students could be forgiven for being a little sceptical with regard to how their final study score will be determined when there are so many variables,” he said.

Another was highly critical that the marking process would be fair.

“Are they honestly going to lower the grade of any student who did better than expected because that student will be assumed to have had an advantage?” he said.

“Will a student be told their grade was lowered because VCAA decided they ‘cheated’?

“Will the student have the chance to contest that decision? Many students do much better than expected in exams for a variety of reasons.”

As for whether students’ ATARs would be released on time, Mr Carroll said: “If we look like we do need more time, we will work towards making sure that all that information is distributed.”

VCAA chief Kylie White resigned on Monday. Picture: Supplied

Opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said Monday’s announcement would be “cold comfort for the tens of thousands of students who are deeply concerned about how this debacle will impact” their final VCE score.

“VCE students have been comprehensively let down by the Education Minister who is more interested in covering up problems than fixing them. Minister Carroll is not putting Victorian students first,” she said.

In contrast, Australian Catholic University Associate Professor Steven Lewis, who specialises in education politics and policy, said the VCAA’s decision to check exam answers for anomalies was a “fair” approach to ensuring no student was disadvantaged.

“The minister coming out and announcing this process and a new independent review, which will start next year, goes a long way … but it’s a shame it’s taken a week of stress and strain,” he said.

Independent Schools Victoria chief executive Rachel Holthouse also welcomed Mr Carroll’s announcement regarding assessment. But she had concerns about whether it would restore confidence in the VCAA’s processes and the integrity of final results.

“School communities have well-founded concerns that some students have been advantaged, and others disadvantaged, by this failure,” she said. “Confidence has been further eroded by a lack of candour on the part of the VCAA when it became aware of the leak.”

It comes as the Herald Sun also discovered two more leaked exam questions on final papers, although hastily rewritten: Food Studies and Systems Engineering.

In Systems Engineering, two multiple choice questions were vastly similar to the content that was leaked, while two multiple choice questions were leaked from the Food Studies exam, along with a 14-point case study and questions from Section B.

Originally published as Disgruntled parents could take legal action over VCE exams bungle