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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 278 asked in the Legislative Council on 31 March 2020 by Hon Peter Collier

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

CORONAVIRUS — ATAR AND SENIOR SECONDARY ASSESSMENTS

278. Hon PETER COLLIER to the Minister for Education and Training:

My question is asked on behalf of Hon Donna Faragher, who is on urgent parliamentary business.

I refer to the Education Council's communique of 27 March 2020 and the current uncertainty regarding Australian tertiary admission rank examinations and senior secondary assessments for 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

(1) When in April is the decision expected to be announced about ATAR examinations and senior secondary assessments?

(2) Can the minister provide further details on the options currently being considered?

Hon SUE ELLERY replied:

I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.

(1) The date for a special Education Council meeting in April has not yet been determined, but we are anticipating it will be in April.

(2) Options include changes to the way that the Australian tertiary admission rank may be calculated and presented and how student assessments may be undertaken. Adjustments to university admission processes were also discussed. I just note that I have had discussions with the vice-chancellors of each university. They will be desperate for students next year and they will be bending over backwards to accommodate them. Some of the potential options under consideration include reducing the length of examinations, changing the date for the administration of the examinations to allow for extra teaching and learning time, and reducing the amount of syllabus content to be examined. In addition, work is being undertaken with universities in relation to their approaches to admissions, given the impact of COVID-19 on senior secondary students. I continue to work on the premise that no student will be disadvantaged. Year 12 students are the group of students for whom we are under the most pressure to provide an immediate sense of certainty. They will generally finish school in October and proceed to exams. We have a very short time to help them get through what will be an extraordinary year in their lives, never mind an extraordinary year in their education, and we are doing the very best that we can to ensure that they will not be disadvantaged.