WACE examinations—Principles, Policy, Procedures and Guidelines

At the October 19 Curriculum Council meeting, decisions were made about policy and procedures for WACE examinations. WACE examinations are available to all students. There will be a WACE examination set, administered and marked by the Curriculum Council for each new course that:

• enables students to use the content and learning contexts they have studied to provide evidence of the standard of their achievement of the course outcomes and which will contribute to a tertiary entrance rank (TER);
• is available for students who have completed two units in the course (or are private candidates) and will meet inclusivity standards;
• is designed and set in accordance with specifications developed by the course assessment, review and moderation panel;
• is administered under uniform conditions; and
• is marked and evaluated annually to ensure fairness and validity.

Further information is available on the Council’s new WACE website. See WACE examinations.

Professional Development Update

Professional development for teachers of new courses is planned as follows.

Day 1 PD

School administrators who haven’t received information about Day 1 PD sessions for Phase 2 and 3 courses should contact, as appropriate:

• DET: Meg Cowey (PCASS) meg.cowey@det.wa.edu.au
• Catholic Education: Sheena Barber Tel: 9212 9212
• AISWA: Mark Newhouse Tel: 92442788 ext 139

Days 2-5 PD for Phase 2 courses

The Council and the school sector/systems have consulted on the schedule for PD Days 2–5 for teachers of the 20 Phase 2 courses. Specific dates are being finalised by the sector/systems who will inform schools early this term to enable them to plan their school development days and PD calendar.

The PD agendas and support materials are being refined with teachers involved in course reference groups or the assessment, review and moderation panels. During the PD teachers will gain an understanding of the structure and components of courses. They will be supported to develop:

• an overview of all the units to be offered;
• tasks, a scheme of assessment and a teaching and learning program for a unit of work they will be implementing; and
• a comprehensive understanding of school and external assessment in the new system.

A support package comprising sample tasks, schemes of assessment, programs, an exploratory draft external assessment paper and annotated student work samples, as well as information on assessment, moderation, resources and vocational education and training will be provided to teachers at the beginning of the professional development as a starting point to assist them to develop their own materials.