Board of Senior Secondary Studies Annual Report 2017-18

Section B: Performance Reporting

B.1 Organisational Overview

The Board of Senior Secondary Studies (the Board) was established in 1991 and the Board of Senior Secondary Studies Act 1997 (the BSSS Act) was enacted in January 1998.

The key functions of the Board are to:

• provide students with ACT Senior Secondary Certificates, Tertiary Entrance Statements and vocational certificates
• maintain the credibility and acceptance of courses through a regular accreditation program
• monitor and support the validity of assessment in years 11 and 12
• improve the comparability of standards across ACT and overseas schools through moderation procedures
• gain the widest possible recognition for the credentials awarded by the Board
• service the information needs of the community.

The Board is committed to:

• a general education of high standards providing equal opportunity for all students to the end of year 12
• choice of courses for students supported by expert advice
• senior secondary college responsibility for course development
• senior secondary college responsibility for the assessment of its students
• shared responsibility for education
• open access to information.

Twenty five ACT colleges and seven schools located in Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and China are delivering courses certificated by the Board. These schools are listed in Appendix B. Students from the Australian Curriculum Centre, Shanghai, China received ACT Senior Secondary Certificates for the first time in December 2017.

The Board’s goal is to provide a high quality curriculum, assessment and certification system that supports:

• all young adults to achieve an ACT Senior Secondary Certificate or equivalent vocational qualification
• high levels of achievement in literacy and numeracy
• improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged students
• effective transitions from school to post-school pathways.

In 2016 the Board developed a new Strategic Plan to guide its activities for the period 2017-2021. Work on several aspects of the plan commenced in 2017.

The plan differs from previous plans in three major respects. Firstly, the aims of the new plan are strategic in nature as opposed to previous plans which have been mainly operational. Secondly, the plan is the first BSSS Strategic Plan to be made available to the wider community in a publication format on the BSSS web site and on social media. Finally, the plan will run over five years rather than three as has been the case with previous plans. This allows for longer term strategic objectives to be addressed.

The key focus areas of the plan are:

• Community engagement – Working collaboratively with community groups to identify, address or discuss issues that impact the well-being of students
• Tertiary partnerships – establishing collaborative partnerships with the Australian tertiary sector who share common goals, knowledge and resources
• Digital assessment – innovating in the adoption of the methods or tools that educators use to evaluate, measure and document academic readiness, learning progress and skill acquisition of students
• Quality assurance – maintaining a desired level of quality in all programs, products and services delivered by the BSSS
• Global education – integrating multiple dimensions, perspectives and citizenships into the BSSS senior secondary system
• Sustainability – Bringing an entrepreneurial mindset to governance, programs and financial planning to ensure long term relevance, sustainability and economic viability.

Key focus areas over the next year will be based on the Board’s latest Strategic Plan.

Rosemary Follett AO completed her second three year term as Board Chair in December 2017. In June 2018, after an open selection process, the Minister for Education appointed Roberta McRae OAM as the new Board Chair. Roberta currently holds the position of Director, Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice (GDLP) in the School of Legal Practice, ANU.

Roberta has a distinguished record of public service as highlighted by her Order of Australia Medal for contribution to migrant services, her work as a volunteer for Legal Aid ACT, consultancy in the national context for the Department of Health and Aged Care across a range of health training programs, distribution initiatives for computer technologies all over Australia through Commonwealth and State Government Departments and Agencies, and broad experience across a range of Ministerial appointments. Roberta also served as a member of the ACT Legislative Assembly with distinction.

In 2017, the Board established an Innovation Committee with the following terms of reference.

• To advise the Board on the implementation of the Board’s Strategic Plan
• To recommend to the Board additions to the Strategic Plan
• To advise the Board of innovative practices in senior secondary education in other jurisdictions and internationally
• To provide the Board with an Annual Report.

Processing of year 12 results occurred on schedule and certificates were issued to ACT colleges on Tuesday 12 December 2017 for distribution to ACT students. Over 10,000 certificates were produced by the Board for students in year 12 and over 500 vocational qualifications were issued for students in year 10.

Internal Accountability

Board membership

The BSSS Act (s8) creates a board with a broad membership of 15 from the many stakeholders in senior secondary education. Members, other than the Director-General of the Education Directorate, are appointed by the Minister for Education for a period of up to three years. Members can be reappointed if they are eligible. Four new members were appointed to the Board and one member was reappointed.

Table BSSS 1: Board membership as at 1 July 2017

The Board has six scheduled meetings each calendar year. The Board met on three occasions from July-December 2017.

Table BSSS 2: Board membership as at 30 June 2018

The above Board has met on three occasions from January to June 2018.

Remuneration for Board members

The Chair is the only member eligible to receive remuneration, at a rate determined by the ACT Remuneration Tribunal. The Chair’s remuneration was reviewed in 2017 by the ACT Remuneration Tribunal and as a result was increased from $18,655 to $28,655 per annum.

Risk Assessment and Management

The Board operates under an MOU with the Education Directorate. The Office of the Board is a section within the Directorate. The Office of the Board provides support to the Board on policy, procedures and innovations. Under the MOU the Directorate includes the Office of the Board and its activities within its Risk Assessment and Management Framework and consults with the Board Chair as appropriate. The Office of the Board monitors areas of significant risk including data systems and end of year processing of senior secondary and vocational certificates.

Ethical standards

Prior to appointment, Board members are provided with the Bowen Code of Conduct as a guide to ethical behaviour. Members sign a declaration that they have read and agree to observe the principles of the code, and agree to disclose all conflicts of interest that arise during their term on the Board. The Board meeting agenda has declaration of conflicts of interests as a standing item. ACT public servants on the Board are also bound by the ACT Public Sector Management Act 1994.

Resources Available

Board members have access to staff at the Board Secretariat if they require assistance or advice to carry out their duties.

Standing Committees

The Board appoints committees and panels to provide advice on specific matters. The main standing committees and their roles are listed below; membership is for 2017 and 2018.

Table BSSS 3: Board Standing Committees and their roles

Table BSSS 4: Board Sub-Committees that operated in 2017

Table BSSS 5: Board Sub-Committees that operated in  2018

Table BSSS 6: Accreditation Panels 2017-18

Board Secretariat

The Board Secretariat is managed by the Executive Director of the Board and consists of 10 other staff; six teachers and four administrative officers, all employed through the Directorate. The Executive Director reports to the Board on its legislated functions and to the Directorate on ministerial, financial, audit, human resource and other corporate functions.

B.2 Performance Analysis

An Informed and Effective Response to International, National and Local Initiatives

The Board has continued to provide and facilitate ACT feedback on national curriculum and reporting initiatives through formal responses, teacher participation in curriculum development and surveys, consultation and membership of national working parties. The Board has made contributions to the Consultation on the Transparency of Higher Education Admissions Processes, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) Review of Senior Secondary Outcomes, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) Review of Unique Record Identifiers, the Australasian ATAR Technical Group, the NSW/ACT Universities Admissions Centre’s Technical Committee on Scaling, the Review of the NSW/ACT meshing processes for the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), the national International Baccalaureate/ATAR conversion process and the Australasian Curriculum, Assessment and Certification Authorities’ research partnership with the University of Melbourne to investigate the benefits of Vocational Education to students after completion of secondary education.

In 2015, the Office of the Board (OBSSS) assumed responsibility for the leadership for the Australasian Curriculum, Assessment and Certification Authorities (ACACA) when the ACT BSSS Executive Director was appointed as the Chair of ACACA and the Technical Advisor assumed responsibility for secretariat services to ACACA. ACACA is a high level forum composed of the Chief Executives of Australian and New Zealand Boards of Studies, the Chief Executive of ACARA and a representative from the Commonwealth Department of Education. The Office of the Board continued to occupy this national role throughout 2016 and 2017 before handing over responsibility for 2018 and 2019 to the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority.

A High Quality, High Equity Curriculum, Assessment and Certification System That Caters for All Students

In 2017-18, the Shape of ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies Curriculum frameworks was endorsed by the Board. This paper outlines a conceptual model for organising frameworks and provision for development of discipline-based courses and increase the senior secondary system’s capacity to develop integrated or interdisciplinary courses.

In order to develop quality courses that provide authentic pathways and grow the senior secondary systems capacity to be at the cutting edge of pedagogy and curriculum, partnerships were established with local universities in order to inform curriculum directions and pathways for students in a number of learning areas.

Fourteen courses were approved for delivery to year 11-12 students. Eleven were redeveloped and three are new areas for study. Courses developed include Physical Education Studies, Sports Development, Outdoor & Environmental Education and Exercise Science, Sport, Recreation and Leadership, Philosophy, Automotive Technology, Business Services, Flight, Forestry, Furniture Making and Australian & Global Politics. During this year the BSSS approved innovative courses that expand the opportunities for learning within contemporary educational directions. New courses were written in Health & Wellbeing Studies, Integrated Science and Interdisciplinary Inquiry Project. All curriculum documents were mindful of global education integrating multiple dimensions, perspectives and citizenships which aligns with our strategic plan.

The process and criteria for accrediting quality courses was reviewed and updated to include current indicators of quality curriculum. Courses are reviewed by expert panels of teachers, representatives from tertiary institutions, industry and the community, who provide advice on accreditation to the Board. A list of the panels that met to consider courses in 2017-18 is included at Table BSSS 6.

The Language Eligibility Criteria was reviewed and updated to provide guidelines on the appropriate placement of students in language courses.

The Board has continued its commitment to Vocational Education for senior secondary students. In 2018, the Board joined with all other national jurisdictions in partnering with the University of Melbourne in a research project designed to examine the wider benefits of vocational studies during the final two years of secondary education. This ambitious project will track individual students from year 12 and through their future pathways for a numbers of years to ascertain the contribution that vocational studies have made to their progress in life after school.

Funding was gained in the ACT Government Budget 2016–2017 for the upgrading of the course moderation database within the BSSS certification database (ACS). Work commenced on this project in October 2016 and was completed in time for the second Moderation Day in August 2017. The upgrade enables the Office of the Board and colleges to analyse longitudinal data on the quality assurance of their grades in courses delivered.

The upgrade of the course moderation database has been well received by teachers. On Moderation Day 2, 2017, 94 percent of teachers surveyed found it easy to use. On Moderation Day 1, 2018, this figure moved up to 95.6 percent of teachers surveyed as improvements had been made. Moderation Day provides valuable conversations for teachers about assessments. In 2017, 76 percent of teachers agreed that is was a positive professional development experience. This rose to 81 percent on Moderation Day 1 of 2018. Further Teacher Quality Institute (TQI) accredited training in assessment for the subject group leaders has been implemented this year and this has been received positively by all involved.

The Board has continued its focus on the enhancement of assessment in colleges. Feedback on the quality and effectiveness of school-based assessment and consistency in the application of grade achievement standards has continued to be provided to colleges through system wide moderation. Over 1,000 senior secondary teachers from the ACT and overseas participated in each of the Moderation days in August 2017 and March 2018.

The Australian Curriculum Centre, based at Shanghai Paddington Bilingual School, commenced operation in February 2017 after gaining Board approval in December 2016. The first graduating cohort all gained entry to Australian universities. The Board is working closely with Austrade in China to identify other schools who may be interested in delivering the ACT Senior Secondary Certificate.

In August 2014, the Review of Certification committee recommended to the Board that the Assessment and Certification Committee (ACC) explore online, adaptive literacy and numeracy testing developed with a view to:

1. implementing online, adaptive literacy and numeracy testing in the ACT for years 10 to 12
2. deciding on how and to what extent students’ literacy and numeracy attainment could be reported on the ACT Senior Secondary Certificate
3. determining how students who do not meet the requisite level of literacy/numeracy can gain the necessary support to do so.

In the Strategic Plan 2017–2021, the Board has made a commitment to introduce online literacy and numeracy testing by 2020. After extensive trails of the Western Australian Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment OLNA during 2015 and 2016, discussions were held the Western Australian School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) in 2017 and 2018 with regard to the possibility of a partnership between the ACT and WA. The possibility of a partnership with the New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA) has also been explored.

As part of its Strategic Plan, the Board intends to deliver the Writing Task component of the ACT Scaling Test online. Three colleges were involved in an online trial of the Writing Task in 2017 and further trials are planned for 2018. Students were surveyed at the conclusion of the trial and strongly supported the Board’s plan to deliver the Writing Task online.

Year 12 Outcomes 2017

In 2017, 4,683 students met the requirements for an ACT Senior Secondary Certificate. This included 4,550 students enrolled in ACT colleges, including CIT Pathways College, and 133 students enrolled in overseas colleges. In the ACT, this represented 90.7 percent of year 12 students compared with 91.2 percent in 2016.

Of the Senior Secondary Certificate receivers 2,907 students also achieved a Tertiary Entrance Statement (TES), having met the requirements for university entrance and calculation of an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR). This included 2,815 students enrolled in ACT colleges and 92 students enrolled in overseas colleges.

One hundred and fifty seven students (76 females, 81 males) from 20 colleges completed an H course through the Australian National University Secondary College Program in 2017.

Table BSSS 7: H courses studied by graduating students in 2017

One hundred and ten students (70 percent) used their scaled H course score in their ATAR calculation.

To achieve an ACT Senior Secondary Certificate, students are required to study a minimum of 17 standard units, which form at least four accredited courses from three different course areas. However, it is pleasing to see that a large majority of students are studying more than the minimum number of units across a broader range of course areas. In 2017, 75.7 percent of Senior Secondary Certificate receivers (Standard Package) completed 20 or more standard units and 79 percent of Senior Secondary Certificate receivers completed five or more accredited courses from different course areas. These percentages have increased since 2016.

Figure BSSS 1 displays the percentage of Senior Secondary Certificate receivers achieving a TES from 2002 to 2017. In 2017, 62.1 percent of ACT students receiving a Senior Secondary Certificate also received a TES. This is lower than in 2016 when it was 64.1 percent.

Figure BSSS 1: Percentage of ACT Senior Secondary Certificate Receivers who achieved a Tertiary Entrance Statement 2002-2017

Source: ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies

Note: From 2006 students classified as Mature Age are included in the data.

Figure BSSS 2: Range of ATARs across colleges for 2017

Source: ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies

Note:

1. The names of the colleges are listed in Appendix B.
2. The central line in the box represents the median ATAR.
3. The block indicates the spread of 50 percent of the scores.
4. The single vertical line indicates the spread of the next 15 percent of scores.
5. Circles represent individual results in the top and bottom ten percent of ATARs.

The horizontal lines show an ATAR of 80 (green) and an ATAR of 65 (Red).

Of students in the ACT who achieved an ATAR, 76 percent achieved an ATAR of 65 or more.

The following table gives the percentage of Senior Secondary Certificate and TES receivers who completed an accredited course in the nominated areas.

Table BSSS 8: Selected courses on Senior Secondary Certificates and Tertiary Entrance Statements, 2016 and 2017

Source: ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies

Whilst the minimum number of courses from different course areas required for an ACT Tertiary Entrance Statement is two T and/or H courses, 65.3 percent of ACT students used scaled course scores from four different course areas in the calculation of their ATAR. This is a decrease of 1.3 percent from the 2016 cohort.

A course from the English course area is now compulsory for graduating students in the ACT. For Mathematics, 93.2 percent of ACT Senior Secondary Certificate receivers and 95 percent of TES receivers completed courses.

The Board recognises on a student’s Senior Secondary Certificate the contribution of learning undertaken outside the college environment during years 11 and 12. In 2017, 957 students received such recognition for Sport and Recreation, 710 students received recognition for Community Service, 255 students received recognition for Cultural Studies and 1,077 students participated in Work Exploration (Work Experience).

The Board issues Vocational Certificates to years 10 and 12 students who have completed vocational qualifications through college based Registered Training Organisations (RTOs). In 2017, this included 520 year 10 students and 1,213 year 12 students. Of these students, 12 completed an Australian School-based Apprenticeship with their college as the RTO. In 2017, an additional 2,324 students received recognition on their Senior Secondary Certificate for undertaking an Australian School Based Apprenticeship or Traineeship with an RTO other than their home college.

The following figure displays the number of students receiving vocational certificates issued by the Board for each RTO by year level in 2017. It should be noted that students may have received more than one vocational Certificate.

Figure BSSS 3: number of students receiving vocational certificates, 2017 by college and year level

In addition to vocational studies undertaken during years 11 and 12 in colleges, vocational programs undertaken with external RTOs can contribute to the requirements for year 12 certification and be included on the ACT Senior Secondary Certificate. In 2017, vocational qualifications achieved through an external RTO and registered by the Board were recognised on the Senior Secondary Certificate as an E course. In 2017, 301 students were awarded an E course. The E courses were in the areas of Business, Beauty Training, Early Childhood and Companion Animal Services.

For more information contact:

The Executive Director
ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies
GPO Box 158
CANBERRA ACT 2601
(02) 620 57181
bsss.enquiries@act.gov.au
http://www.bsss.act.gov.au

Appendix A: Sections Not Covered Elsewhere in This Report

Appendix B: Institutions Delivering Board Certificated Courses

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