Tasmanian Qualifications Authority

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Home > The Authority > About the Authority > Authority Meetings > 2007 Authority Meetings > Summary 3 April 2007 > Item 3.1

Subject

New Tasmanian Certificate of Education project update

Purpose

Update the Authority on progress achieved with the new Tasmanian Certificate of Education implementation project.

Decision

The Authority noted the report.

The Authority decided that the project should proceed on the basis that visual or hearing impairments do not of themselves prevent students from demonstrating that they have met or done better than standards for everyday adult reading, writing, communicating (in English), mathematics and use of computers and the internet.

Background

The Minister for Education accepted the Authority's advice in December 2006 that it was feasible and desirable for it to implement the new Tasmanian Certificate of Education for first issue in December 2009.

The Authority formally accredited the new qualification in February 2007.

Current Situation

A comprehensive implementation project business plan was developed in January and February. This plan was approved, with recommended modifications at the first meeting of the Project Steering Group (9 March 2007). Draft copies were circulated to Authority members at the February meeting.

The plan identifies six categories of key outputs with timelines, a comprehensive risk assessment and management strategy and communications strategy.

Implementation activity so far has included:

Establishment and convening of Project Reference Groups representing education and training leaders and industry and training stakeholders. Both Education and Training Provider and Post-School Destinations Reference Groups will have met by early April.
Convening of the in-house Project Team which has begun looking at core elements of output management and delivery.
Implementation of the marketing aspects of the communications strategy involving briefing of school and college liaison and counselling teams and pathway planning officers.
Drafting and re-drafting publicity material - the development of support materials for school and college liaison teams and Guaranteeing Futures pathway planning officers.
Consultation with Rosny College Media Studies teachers and students about the development of a range of television advertisements to commercial standard for publicity in June and November 2007 aimed at year 10 planning for post-compulsory studies.
Consultation with Launceston College Media Studies students is also looking at developing a similar range of commercial quality radio advertisements as part of the publicity campaign.
Teacher advice from March moderation meetings about the extent to which awards in courses show that students have met or done better than literacy, numeracy and ICT standards and how such judgments can be validated. The comments from these meetings are still being collated. It will, of course, be possible to assess the reliability of using awards in TCE level 5 courses to show meeting literacy and numeracy requirements from the evidence of external assessment.
Exploration of the use of results in year 10 courses to show that students have met or done better than literacy and numeracy standards. There have been discussions with Catholic Education and the government school system about how this can be done.

Briefing sessions with Claremont, Hobart, Newstead and Launceston Colleges' executive, counselling and liaison staff have been positive generally indicating a willingness to work with the TQA to effectively inform year 10 students, their high school teachers and parent and community groups about the new certificate. Some excellent suggestions regarding publicity have been made - for example, a revised student-oriented brochure with college handbooks.

Briefing sessions have also been held with Catholic Education Office personnel, Launceston Church Grammar School and Scotch Oakburn College with strong interest expressed in working with the TQA toward the successful implementation of the new TCE.

A briefing session with the Guaranteeing Futures leadership team (22/3/07) will lead to a cooperative effort in building cross-agency publicity as well as meetings with all pathway planning officers during April and May. Pathway planning officers are seen as being as significant as school and college liaison teams in directly working with year 10 students to support post-compulsory course choices and ways in which the new standards can be achieved.

Briefing sessions so far have indicated that re-issuing the original brochure retaining design and formatting but with content designed for:

Students
Teachers
Parent and Community groups, perhaps as a tri-fold.

There is support for a comprehensive new TCE website built around a podcast technology. With a range of PowerPoint presentations, radio and television advertisements, brochures as well as technical and support information, client and stakeholder groups will be able to build customised presentations for a variety of audiences.

The proposed Narrative Certificate has now been incorporated into the new TCE implementation project and the Steering Group will be re-convened as a reference group shortly.

Discussions with New South Wales Board of Studies (BoS) have identified the possibility of their making available to us an on-line test of ICT skills at a cost of about $5.80 a head. This test would provide a tool by which students could demonstrate that they meet the ICT standard for the new TCE. Further exploration of the suitability of the test and the development of a draft agreement with NSW BoS will occur soon.

We have also started exploring with the Queensland Studies Authority the possibility of our using literacy and numeracy items previously used in their testing programs to form an item bank (within stringent cost limitations) from which we can provide assessment tools for students to demonstrate that they meet the literacy/numeracy requirements.

We are also looking at the need for and possible sources of a short course in literacy and in numeracy for students who need to develop these skills at the start of their senior secondary years.

The Project Steering Group discussed questions about students with visual or hearing impairments. There was clear agreement that in modern Tasmanian society, a person is not prevented by severe visual or hearing impairment from everyday adult reading, writing, communicating, use of mathematics, computers and the internet - the standards required for the new TCE. The Group considered that employers and the broader community would see this as fair and reasonable. The Group also noted that there would be a general and reasonable expectation that reading, writing and communicating would be in English.

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