The Queensland Government, working
with the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA), has announced
that new systems for assessment in Years 11 and 12 and tertiary entrance will be
phased in, effective from Year 12, 2020. The
new systems draw upon recommendations by the Review of Tertiary Entrance
conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research. What do the
proposed changes mean for Queensland students?
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Current System |
New System |
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Subjects in the Senior Phase Students choose a pattern of subjects made up of: # Authority subjects with strong academic rigour # Authority-registered subjects with a practical focus # VETIS options through school-based courses, traineeships or apprenticeships |
Students will study a combination of General subjects and Applied
subjects: # General subjects - academic subjects which can contribute to the ATAR # Applied subjects - more practical subjects (one applied subject can contribute to the ATAR) VET options through school based courses and traineeships may still be offered |
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Assessment in the Senior Phase # Assessment
programs are developed by schools |
# Results in General subjects results will be based on a student's achievement in three school-based assessments and one external assessment that is set and marked by the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA). For most subjects, the external assessment will be worth 25% of the result, except in mathematics and science subjects, where the result will be worth 50% of the result. # Assessment in Applied subjects will be based on school assessments (ie no external exams) |
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The ATAR Not Applicable |
# An ATAR will be based on the strongest results in five General subjects; or four General subjects and one Applied subject; or four General subjects and one completed VET Certificate III, IV or Diploma # An English subject will be compulsory for students to receive their ATAR. This could be a General English subject (eg. English, Literature, English for ESL) or it could be the Applied subject of Essential English If the English result is not one of the five strongest results, the other five stronger results will be used to determine the ATAR # The new ATAR arrangements will commence for students completing Year 12 in 2020 The ATAR will be determined by the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre |
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Queensland Certificate of Education All students who complete Year 12 will receive a transcript of their results, which is called a Senior Statement. Students who meet minimum standards in terms of their learning, and for literacy and numeracy, will also be eligible to receive a QCE. |
Students will receive a Senior Statement, and a Queensland Certificate of Education if they meet minimum standards in terms of their learning, and for literacy and numeracy (ie this will not change). |
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Overall Position # Students completing 20 semesters of Authority subjects (ie 5 subjects for 4 semesters) receive an Overall Position (OP), determined by the QCAA. # The OP is based on the exit (final) results in Authority subjects, standardized in a process using QCST results # The OP is a ranking score, reported on a 1-25 scale. |
There is no Overall Position determined for students in the new system. |
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Queensland Core Skills Test # All OP-eligible students in Qld sit the QCST in Yr 12, which is made up of four external papers, set and graded by the QCAA, testing essential learnings across the Authority subjects. |
There is no Queensland Core Skills Test in the new system. |
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Tertiary Entrance # Tertiary Entrance for most institutions in Queensland is managed by the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC). # For OP-eligible students, the OP score is used for tertiary entrance in Qld. # For OP-ineligible students, QTAC determines a Tertiary Selection Rank Score which is used for entry in Qld. # QTAC also determines a Tertiary Selection Rank Score for completed Certificate III, IV or Diploma courses which can also be used for entrance. |
# Tertiary Entrance will continue to be managed by QTAC. # Instead of using an OP determined by QCAA, there will be an Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR), determined by QTAC. # The ATAR is number between 0.00 and 99.95 in increments of 0.05. This is not a score out of 100, but a rank showing student's achievement against other students.
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