Board of Senior Secondary Studies

Transmittal letter to the Minister (106kb)

SECTION A: PERFORMANCE AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT REPORTING

A1 The organisation

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 Year 12 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 the Territory 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
• freedom of 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.

The Board delivers year 12 certification services to 23 ACT secondary colleges and five schools located in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Fiji. These are listed in Appendix C.

A2 Overview

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

• all young adults to achieve a Year 12 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 2011, the board developed a new strategic plan to guide its activities for the period 2011-2013. The key focus areas for the board are:

• an informed and effective response to international, national and local initiatives
• a high quality, high equity curriculum, assessment and certification system that caters for all students.

A3 Highlights

Processing of year 12 results occurred on schedule and certificates were issued to ACT colleges on Monday 19 December 2011 for distribution to students. Over 10,000 certificates were produced by the Board for students in year 12 and over 900 vocational certificates for students in year 10.

The Board has continued to monitor developments in the Australian Curriculum and provide feedback to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) on the structure and content of the curriculum. Through its Executive Officer and directly, the Board has also provided feedback on other national initiatives, such as the Australian Baccalaureate and National Trade Cadetships. In February 2012, the Board Chair, together with the chairs of other boards of studies around Australia, met with the Chief Executive of ACARA to discuss progress on development of the senior secondary Australian Curriculum and other national initiatives.

A4 Outlook

The Board's strategic plan will continue to guide its work during 2012-13. Key activities will include planning for implementation in the ACT of the senior secondary Australian Curriculum; participation in the Australasian Curriculum, Assessment and Certification Authorities' national comparability of standards feasibility project; redevelopment of the IT system for VET assessment and certification; development of a set of common curriculum elements for use in tertiary accredited courses and the ACT Scaling Test (AST); and a review of policies relating to support for students with special needs.

A9 Analysis of agency performance

An informed and effective response to international, national and local initiatives

The Board has continued to facilitate ACT feedback to ACARA on the senior secondary Australian Curriculum through teacher participation in workshops and video conferences. In June 2012, the Board held teacher forums on the latest draft content and achievement standards in English, mathematics, science and history courses, and forwarded the feedback to ACARA. Following this consultation, it is anticipated that the revised courses will be endorsed by Education Ministers in December 2012, ready for implementation planning by states and territories from 2013. ACT college teachers have also been involved recently in ACARA national consultation workshops on civics & citizenship, geography, economics and business.

Following the release of the report, Excellence and Enterprise: Advancing Public Schools of Distinction, the Board is reviewing its policies on accelerated learning, and the use of technology and social media for flexible learning, to ensure they continue to support a variety of learning styles and pathways for students in years 11 and 12.

A high quality, high equity curriculum, assessment and certification system that caters for all students

In 2011-12, course frameworks in tourism & hospitality; health, outdoor education & physical education; information technology and science have been revised and endorsed by the Board. Twenty-two courses were approved for delivery to year 11 and 12 students and 15 teams are currently developing courses for implementation from 2013. These courses are reviewed by expert panels of teachers, representatives from tertiary institutions, industry and the community, which provide advice on accreditation to the Board. A list of the panels that met to consider courses in 2011-12 is included at Appendix B.

The Board has continued its focus on enhancing the quality of assessment in colleges through assessment workshops and discussion of assessment tasks at Moderation Days. Recently the emphasis has been on supporting teaching and assessment of the higher order thinking skills encompassed within the AST. System-wide moderation provides feedback on the quality and effectiveness of school-based assessment and consistency in application of grade achievement standards across colleges.

The Board completed the redevelopment of its certification software in December 2011, following validation by Professor George Cooney, former Chair of the NSW & ACT Technical Committee on Scaling. Redevelopment of the VET component of the software is continuing with the design phase reaching sign-off. This has taken longer than anticipated due to the complexity of VET and changes in the VET environment.

Year 12 outcomes 2011

In 2011, 4,329 students met the requirements for an ACT Year 12 Certificate. This included 4,214 students enrolled in ACT colleges, including CIT Vocational College, and 115 students enrolled in overseas colleges. Of these students, 2,811 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 2,726 students enrolled in ACT colleges and 85 students enrolled in overseas colleges.

In 2011, 108 students (49 females, 59 males) from 19 colleges completed an H course through the Australian National University Secondary College. Of these students, 13 completed a course in mathematics, 17 in physics, 39 in chemistry, 24 in conservation biology and 15 in Japanese. Of these students, 68.5 percent used their scaled H course score in the calculation of their ATAR.

The percentage of ACT students receiving a Year 12 Certificate increased by 1.3 percent from 2010 to 2011 reflecting small increases across both the public and non-government sectors. In 2011, 92.4 percent of year 12 students in ACT colleges achieved an ACT Year 12 Certificate compared with 91.1 percent in 2010.

To achieve an ACT Year 12 Certificate students are required to study a minimum of 17 standard units, which form at least three accredited courses from 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 2011, 78.6 percent of Year 12 Certificate receivers (Standard Package) completed 20 or more standard units and 76.4 percent of Year 12 Certificate receivers completed five or more accredited courses from different course areas.

Figure BSSS 1 displays the percentage of Year 12 Certificate receivers achieving a TES from 1999 to 2011. In 2011, 65.1 percent of ACT students receiving a Year 12 Certificate also received a TES and hence ATAR. This is the same as in 2009 and 2010. Of the 2,726 students in the ACT who achieved an ATAR, 77.4 percent were at or above the University of Canberra main round general ATAR cut off of 65. Figure BSSS 2 illustrates the range of ATARs across colleges for 2011.

Figure BSSS 1: Year 12 Certificate receivers with a Tertiary Entrance Statement, 1999 to 2011

Source: ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies
Note: From 2006 students classified as Mature Age are included in the data

Figure BSSS 2: Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank by college, 2011

Source: ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies
Note:

1. The names of the colleges shown are listed in Appendix C.
2. The central line in the box represents the median score.
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 10 percent and bottom 10 percent of scores. The highest ATAR achieved was 99.95. Some circles touching the 100 line are due to congestion in the figure.

The following table gives the percentage of Year 12 Certificate and TES receivers who completed an accredited course in the nominated areas.

Table BSSS 1: Selected courses on Year 12 Certificates and Tertiary Entrance Statement, 2010 and 2011

Source: ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies

Whilst the minimum number of courses from different course areas required for a TES is two T and/or H courses, 63.6 percent of ACT students used scaled course scores from four different course areas in the calculation of their ATAR. This is a decrease of 2.5 percent from the 2010 cohort, indicating greater subject specialisation by students.

There are no compulsory courses in the ACT, however, the above data shows that 97.9 percent of ACT Year 12 Certificate receivers and 99.0 percent of TES receivers completed a course in English/ESL, and 91.8 percent of ACT Year 12 Certificate receivers and 91.3 percent of TES receivers completed a course in mathematics.

The Board recognises on a student's Year 12 Certificate the contribution of learning undertaken outside of the college environment during years 11 and 12. In 2011, 1,168 students received such recognition under Recreational Activities, 931 students received recognition under Community Involvement and 374 students received recognition under Recognition of Outside Learning.

The Board issues vocational certificates to years 10 and 12 students who have completed vocational qualifications through colleges as RTOs. In 2011, this included 486 year 10 students and 1,214 year 12 students. Of these students, 43 completed an Australian School-based Apprenticeship with their college as the RTO.

The following figure displays the number of students receiving vocational certificates issued by the Board for each RTO by year level in 2011. It should be noted that students may have received more than one vocational certificate.

Figure BSSS 3: Number of students receiving vocational certificates by college and year level, 2009 to 2011

Source: ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies

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 Year 12 Certificate. In 2011, vocational qualifications achieved through an external RTO and registered by the Board were recognised on the Year 12 Certificate as an E course. In 2011, 20 students were awarded an E course. The E courses were in the areas of business, children's services, construction, culinary skills, design, hairdressing, horticulture, media and retail.

In 2011:

• 179 students received recognition on their Year 12 Certificate for vocational qualifications awarded by an RTO other than their home college
• 291 students who undertook an Australian School-based Apprenticeship with an external RTO received recognition for it on their Year 12 Certificate.

Students may receive recognition for more than one vocational qualification completed with external RTOs.

SECTION B: CONSULTATION AND SCRUTINY REPORTING

B1 Community engagement

The Board facilitates community input through representation on committees, course writing teams, accreditation panels, working parties and at consultation forums. Groups represented include parents, teachers, principals, tertiary institutions, industry, business and unions.

The Board encourages and welcomes both positive and negative feedback and is committed to responding to complaints in a timely and positive manner. This enables staff, students, parents and community members to contribute to the Board's continuous improvement strategy. In 2011-12, the Board developed a new Feedback and Complaints policy, which is available on its website. The Board received three complaints in 2011-12. Two of the complaints related to curriculum delivery in schools and they were passed on to the schools and relevant educational authority. The third related to service provision and has been resolved.

SECTION C: LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY BASED REPORTING

The Education and Training Directorate provides funding and secretariat staff, and ministerial, financial, legal, risk management and audit services to the Board through a memorandum of understanding. Most of the Board's legislative and policy based reporting is encompassed within the Directorate's reports. This is listed in Appendix A.

C5 Internal accountability

Board membership

The BSSS Act (s8) creates a board with a broad membership of 14 from the many stakeholders in senior secondary education. Members, other than the Director-General of the Education and Training Directorate, are appointed by the Minister for Education and Training for a period of up to three years. Members can be reappointed if they are still eligible. The appointment of Professor Stephen Parker as Board Chair expired in December 2011. Ms Rosemary Follett was appointed Board Chair and one member was reappointed in January 2012.  Also, one member resigned and another member retired during 2012.

Remuneration for Board members

The Chair is the only member eligible to receive remuneration, at a rate determined by the ACT Remuneration Tribunal.

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.

Table BSSS 2: Board membership as at 1 July 2011

The Board has six scheduled meetings each calendar year. The above Board met on three occasions from July to December 2011.

Details of Board members in 2011

Professor Stephen Parker (Chair)

Professor Parker is the Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Canberra.  Professor Parker is a lawyer by profession and has worked in the higher education sector for many years. He has also chaired the board of a state secondary school.

Qualifications: LLB (Hons), PhD

Ms Carolyn Grayson

Ms Grayson is the Director, Centre for Education Excellence at the Canberra Institute of Technology and was previously Director, Centre for VET Practice at Swinburne University of Technology.  She has over 25 years' experience working in the tertiary sector and previously held positions in the Victorian State Training Authority and the Australian National Training Authority.

Qualifications: BArch(Hons), BSci(Hons), Dip Ed, MEd, Grad Cert Bus Admin

Ms Louise Mayo

Ms Mayo is a Director at Bull&Bear Special Assignments P/L and was a founding Director of the Australian Business Academy.  She has been a Member of the ACT Accreditation and Registration Council since 2005, a Steering Committee Member for the Australian College of Educators, and Chair of the Board of Governors at the McGrath Institute of Business & Technology since 2009.

Qualifications: BBus, GradDip Bus, MBus, MMgt, DBusAdmin

Professor Joan Beaumont

Professor Beaumont is Dean of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University (ANU). Prior to joining ANU, she was Dean of Arts (& Education) at Deakin University. Her key interests are in the history of Australia at war.

Qualifications: BA (Hons), PhD, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia

Professor Louise Watson

Professor Watson is involved in Education Policy in the Faculty of Education, University of Canberra. She has undertaken research in education policy in a wide range of areas, including quality schooling, performance measurement and educational leadership.

Qualifications: BA (Hons), MA, PhD

Ms Rita Daniels

Ms Daniels is the Principal of Daramalan College and was previously Principal of St Clare's College. She was a member from 2000 to 2003 and from 2004 to 2006, chairing the Board's Assessment and Certification, and Discipline committees. She has been teaching since 1977.

Qualifications: BA, Dip Ed, MEd

Ms Jan Bentley

Ms Bentley is Executive Teacher, Mathematics and Technology at Dickson College. She has over 40 years' experience in teaching mathematics in colleges and high schools in the ACT, and has been involved in course development for ACT colleges since 1974. In 2009 she received an Australian Education Union Public Education Award.

Qualifications: BA, Dip Ed, Dip in Using Computers in Education

Mrs Alison Jeffries

Mrs Jeffries has been Principal of St Clare's College since 2009. Prior to that she worked in Human Resources and Education Services in the Catholic Education Office and in various schools, including MacKillop Catholic College ACT and St Anne's Central School, NSW.

Qualifications: BEd (Dist), MEd, M Cath Ed, Grad Cert in Ed Law, Cert IV Assessment and Workplace Training

Mr Martin Watson

Mr Watson is Principal, University of Canberra Senior Secondary College Lake Ginninderra and was acting Principal and Deputy Principal at the college prior to that appointment. He has over 20 years' experience in ACT high schools and colleges.

Qualifications: BA, Grad Dip Ed

Ms Josephine Dixon

Ms Dixon has worked in computing in various government departments and has taught computing at the Canberra Institute of Technology. She was a member of the Board's Assessment and Certification Committee from 2006 to 2009.

Qualifications: BA Comp Studies, MEd, Grad Dip Information Science, Workplace Assessor

Ms Kirsten Wilkinson

Ms Wilkinson has worked at the Australian Bureau of Statistics either full or part-time for over 20 years. Prior to this she gained a teaching degree and has worked in primary schools in the ACT.

Qualifications: BEd, Dip Teaching

Dr Christopher Peters AM

Dr Peters is the Chief Executive of the ACT & Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Dr Peters represents business on numerous ACT Government boards and committees, and is on the board of several public companies and community organisations.

Qualifications: Dip Corporate Directors, Honorary Doctor of the University of Canberra, Senior Fellow Corporate Directors Association, Fellow Australian Institute Company Directors, Fellow Australian Institute of Management, Chartered Director

Mr Peter van Rijswijk

Mr van Rijswijk is a teacher at St Francis Xavier College and has worked in ACT and Victorian colleges since 1981. He has served on the Board's Media and Drama Accreditation panels and has been a Small Group Moderator.

Qualifications: BEd, Cert IV Assessment and Workplace Training, Cert IV Entertainment

Ms Trish Wilks

Ms Wilks is Director of Learning and Teaching in the Education and Training Directorate. She has had considerable experience as a school principal and teacher, and has been on the boards of several national educational associations.

Qualifications: BA, Dip Ed, Teachers' Certificate, MEd, Associate of the Library Association of Australia, Fellow of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders

Table BSSS 3: Board membership as at 30 June 2012

The above Board has met on three occasions from January to June 2012.

Details of Board members in 2012

Eleven members are the same as for 2011. Details of the new Chair are provided below.

Ms Rosemary Follett AO

Ms Follett was Chief Minister and Treasurer of the ACT in 1989 and 1991-1995.  She was the ACT's Discrimination Commissioner 1996-2004.  Ms Follett has served on a number of boards and committees including the ACT Skills Commission (Deputy Chair), Canberra Institute of Technology Advisory Board 2004-2007 and University of Canberra Council (Deputy Chancellor) 2008-2011. She is currently a Director of the University of Canberra College.

Qualifications: BArts (Administration)

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 of these committees in 2011 and 2012 is included in Appendix B.

Table BSSS 4: Board standing committees and their roles

Board secretariat

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

C21 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander reporting

The Board is committed to encouraging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to complete their senior secondary education and to aspire to high levels of achievement. In 2011, the Board expanded its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student award to enable one student from each college to be recognised rather than a single student for the system. To be eligible for the award, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students must have demonstrated a sustained high level of achievement across all courses studied in years 11 and 12; and/or have made a significant contribution during years 11 and 12 to life in their college or the broader community. Ten year 12 students received such awards at the Board's Recognition of Excellence Ceremony in December 2011.

C22 ACT Multicultural Strategy 2010-2013

The Board supports the ACT Multicultural Strategy 2010-2013 though the accreditation of curriculum and flexible approaches to certification to meet the needs of children and young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds, and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Table BSSS 5: Progress against the focus areas of the strategy, 2011-12

For more information contact:
The Executive Officer
Board of Senior Secondary Studies
GPO Box 158
CANBERRA  ACT  2601 
(02) 6205 7181
bsss.enquiries@act.gov.au
http://www.bsss.act.edu.au

Appendix A: Sections not covered elsewhere in this report

Appendix B: Board committees that operated in 2011-2012

Curriculum Advisory Committee 2011

Assessment and Certification Committee 2011

Vocational Education and Training Committee 2011

Curriculum Advisory Committee 2012

Assessment and Certification Committee 2012

Vocational Education and Training Committee 2012

Accreditation Panels 2011-2012

Appendix C: Institutions delivering courses certificated by the Board