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Administrative Information: Schools and registered training organisations

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Schools and registered training organisations

The term ‘school’ is used here to cover any organisation registered by the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) as a senior secondary provider.

Schools that want to offer the VCE or VPC must receive permission to deliver from the VCAA and be registered as a senior secondary education provider with the VRQA.

Single study provider registration

A school wanting to provide only a single VCE study must receive permission to deliver from the VCAA and be registered as a senior secondary single course provider with the VRQA. Enquiries about registration should be directed to the VRQA.

Allocation of a VASS identity

Once the school has registered and has been given permission to deliver the VCE or VPC, the VCAA oversees the allocation of its identity on VASS and contacts it to provide training, if required.

Schools providing the VCE

Schools providing the VCE can be viewed on VASS for contact details.

School name changes and school closures

Schools that change their name must advise the VCAA in writing and provide proof that the relevant registration body has endorsed the name change.

Schools that no longer offer the VCE should notify the VCAA in writing.

School address, telephone and coordinator changes

Schools must make sure their address, telephone number and the details of their principal and coordinators are correct and confirmed on VASS. Schools must contact the VCAA Student Records and Results Unit to change the school email address.

Registered training organisations

A Registered Training Organisation (RTO) is responsible for delivering, assessing and certifying VET. An RTO may be a technical and further education (TAFE) institute, a group training company, an industry training organisation, enterprise, school or adult and community education (ACE) provider.

School–RTO partnerships

A school may enter a partnership with an RTO to deliver VET to VCE and VPC students. An agreement between a school and an RTO may enable a school to deliver components of the VET qualification or a whole qualification. Schools may contract an RTO to deliver the whole qualification. Details of partnerships are available through the Department of Education’s Student resource package — targeted initiatives page.

Both these options incur costs. Advice on eligibility for funding is available from the relevant sector authority – the Department of Education (DE), Independent Schools Victoria or the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria. Schools should confirm that the RTO with whom they enter an agreement has the scope of registration to deliver the VET programs offered.

Schools as RTOs

Schools may apply to the VRQA or Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) to become an RTO to deliver specified qualifications. A school recognised as an RTO is responsible for delivering, assessing, certifying and quality assurance. The school is also responsible for providing enrolment and results data to the training sector. Schools as RTOs may contract other providers for delivering training and assessment, however the school remains responsible for quality assurance and validating assessments.

All RTOs must comply with either the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015 or the VRQA guidelines for VET providers.

School obligations to the VCAA

School principals are the formal authorities for many important procedural and managerial requirements in the VCE (including the provision of 50 hours of classroom instruction per unit).

Each year schools provide student enrolment details to the VCAA through their enrolments on VASS, which indicate to the VCAA the programs the schools will offer. The principal makes sure students have access to adequate facilities and resources to complete any VCE study the school is offering.

Communication from the VCAA to school staff

The VCAA uses email, notices to schools, the VCAA Bulletin (through direct teacher subscription) and its website to officially communicate with schools. Schools are responsible for making sure VCAA communications are forwarded to appropriate school staff (VCE coordinators, VASS administrators etc). Teachers and VASS administrators must be kept informed of VCAA administrative and assessment requirements, including official notification of changes to VCE procedures. Teachers must have access to copies of:

  • relevant accredited VCE study designs
  • relevant VCE Support materials, Advice for teachers and Assessment handbook publications
  • assessment criteria sheets and assessment advice for VCE school-assessed tasks
  • relevant VCE VET program booklets, extracts or summaries
  • current units of competency (UoCs)
  • VCE VET Scored Assessment Guide
  • VCE Administrative Handbook
  • VPC Administrative Handbook
  • VCAA Bulletin
  • Notices To Schools (NTS).

Principal endorsement

The principal’s signature or of their delegate is required on some documents to certify that the information they contain is accurate and complete. These documents relate to:

  • making amendments to results
  • providing confirmation of grades
  • awarding credits
  • confirming through Declaration a VCE Modern Languages Units 3 and 4 student’s status as a first or second language learner
  • certifying Derived Examination Scores (DES)
  • carrying out inspection of examination response materials
  • addressing matters concerning International Baccalaureate (IB) students
  • certifying a student’s Interrupted Studies status
  • acknowledging late entry of data on VASS
  • certifying a student’s English as an Additional Language (EAL) status
  • outlining Special Examination Arrangements (SEAs).

Other documentation requiring principal or delegate verification include:

  • agreements to conduct and administer VCE external assessments
  • accurate identification lists of fee-paying international students
  • forms for GAT and VCE written examination centres
  • material related to appointment of supervisors and delivery of all examination materials
  • partnership agreements
  • endorsed lists of VCE VM-eligible students at mid-year.

Victorian Assessment Software System

The Victorian Assessment Software System (VASS) is a database where schools maintain student details, assessment information and school details. It is imperative that the accuracy, privacy and security of VASS data is maintained at all times.

All VCE and VPC schools are required to have access to VASS. The VCAA is notified of schools eligible to offer VCE and VPC by registering authorities. Schools can apply to the VASS Operations Team for a user ID and password.

The term ‘school’ refers to both VCE and VPC providers and schools registering Year 10 students without programs as part of the Department of Education’s (DE) On Track survey.

The VCAA and schools are jointly responsible for protecting the privacy of students’ personal information held in VASS. School-based authorised users of VASS are responsible for the use and disclosure of students’ personal information when it is extracted from VASS, either in printed or electronic form. Schools should take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, loss or unauthorised access. Students’ personal information should not be provided to staff, students or any other person who does not have a legitimate reason to access that information.

Schools are responsible for respecting and protecting the confidentiality of students’ personal and academic details. VASS system security is designed so schools can view the details of students only if the school is their ‘home school’, or if they are being assessed in at least one unit by the school.

RTOs that are not senior secondary qualification providers need to apply for read-only access to VASS. Once approved, they will be limited to only viewing the details of the students undertaking their training. RTOs should contact the VASS Operations Team to initiate access.

VASS users

There are several school-based VASS user types that allow each school to control and maintain the security of their students’ data. The VASS administrator has system control for their school and is responsible for setting up and managing other school-based users.

VASS administrators use their high-level access to administer the VCE, VCE VET and VPC for the school. This includes setting up the school’s program, enrolling students, entering results and producing reports. Schools may have one or more VASS administrators appointed at the principal’s discretion. However, the VCAA recommends that each school have no more than 4 VASS administrators. Schools may have many VASS users, for example, every teacher could be given VASS teacher (restricted) status to enter their own results.

Data security and VASS

VASS has a 3-layer security system. Users have a username, password and passcode to access the authentication grid.

Schools must contact the VASS Operations Team to set up new VASS administrators or modify existing VASS administrators. VASS administrators can set up other VASS users. All users should change their own password regularly. Other VASS user groups include Clerical (CL) and School Statistics and Results Group (SSRG).

VASS administrators should refer to the VASS New User’s Manual for comprehensive details on using VASS. If VASS administrators experience problems, including password and login issues, they should contact the VASS Operations Team.

Staff must not share their VASS usernames and passwords. Each person required to use VASS must have their own username and password.

Data entry on VASS

Enrolment, unit completion and assessment data must be entered into VASS in accordance with the VCAA’s administrative requirements and critical dates. Penalties apply for late data entry.

The first enrolment deadline of each academic year is critical as the VCAA uses it to:

  • develop the VCE examination timetable
  • plan the General Achievement Test (GAT) and VCE external assessments
  • identify schools for the VCE school-based assessment audit.

Schools can modify Units 3 and 4 enrolments up until the final enrolment deadline. Student transfers must be processed according to VCAA requirements.

Home schools

The home school is the student’s main school. A student can have only one home school at a time, and each home school is responsible for ensuring its student program enrolments are correct. This is achieved by printing and checking the Student full details report on VASS.

Only a student’s home school may enter or amend the student’s personal details. The home school or assessing school can enrol a student in a unit or units on VASS.

A home school that is not the assessing school can enrol a student in a unit if the assessing school has indicated on VASS that it is offering the unit. If the home school is to enrol the student, the assessing school must complete the Assessing school enrolment notification form for that student and send it to the student’s home school. The correct VCAA school code for the assessing school for each unit must be entered on VASS.

The home school may view a student’s enrolments and results across all studies and all years. The assessing school may view only a student’s details, enrolments and results for units in which the student is enrolled at that school. The home school is responsible for ensuring that all its VCE and VCE VET students have been allocated an examination centre.

For VCE VM, VET and VPC enrolments, the home school is generally the assessing school, however the RTO code must be entered against the enrolment if appropriate. The home school remains responsible for all data entry pertaining to enrolments and results for VCE VM, VET and VPC, regardless of delivery arrangements.

Assessing schools

The assessing school is the school responsible for providing the assessment for one or more units and for fulfilling the requirements of the VCE school-based assessment audit. A student may have one or more assessing schools. The assessing school is usually the home school.

To ensure student data is secure, an assessing school that is not the home school must have access to a student number and home school code before that student’s details can be viewed for the first time. The assessing school may then enrol the student in units that it offers.

Timelines and summary of data requirements

Schools must adhere to published dates for entry of enrolments and results on VASS. Some dates are important for both school administration and the VCAA. Others are cut-off dates, and the VASS will not allow data entry after these dates. Due dates and warnings on the VASS home page prompt users to meet scheduled dates. School administrators should also refer to Important Administrative Dates 2024.

There are 4 types of data required from schools:

  • School programs – schools must identify the units comprising their VCE and VPC programs before enrolling students in their programs
  • Student registrations – these can be entered at any time but must be completed before the end-of-academic-year results processing
  • Student program enrolments – refer to the Important administrative dates page for details. Changes to student enrolments after the due dates require VCAA approval. Late fees will be charged, except for late withdrawals approved on compassionate grounds. Schools cannot change the enrolment status of students who are in either VCE Unit 3–4 sequences or scored VCE VET Unit 3–4 sequences or both and who indicate that they no longer want to continue with a unit after the relevant closing date for withdrawal
  • Student result data – schools must provide data by several dates throughout the year.

Schools must set dates for students to complete school-based assessment that consider the effects of workload on students and teachers. Schools can access the Assessment schedule for guidance. The schedule provides information to schools on what school-based assessment scores are required for studies and cycles at various times throughout the year.

The list of completion dates can be entered on VASS. The dates should be distributed to students and accompanied by the rules for ensuring the dates are complied with. If students do not submit their work by the specified date, the school may accept the work and assess it in the normal manner or refuse to accept it and award an NA, in accordance with school policy. Students should be awarded 0 only if work was submitted and did not meet any of the specified criteria for that task. VCAA submission dates cannot be varied.

The principal is responsible for making sure all data required by the VCAA is entered into VASS by closing dates.

Teachers are responsible for making sure they set submission dates for school-assessed tasks (SATs) and school-assessed coursework (SACs) that allow adequate time for them to be completed and marked, so that entry of results can be maintained within VCAA timelines. Teachers should not be scheduling SATs or SACs after a VCAA submission date.

Extensions of time to enter enrolment or results data

If a school does not meet deadlines for entry of enrolment or results data due to unforeseen circumstances, they can seek permission from the Student Records and Results Unit for an extension of access to VASS for a short period of time beyond the published submission date. This service can be made available to schools only if the VCAA administrative processes are not compromised. An extension of time is not possible for the specific results deadline.

Special circumstances beyond the school’s control will be taken into account, otherwise the school will be charged a fee for this service (see Fees and charges).

Accuracy of personal and enrolment data

The accuracy of personal and enrolment data is a school’s obligation to its students. Data may be entered into the VASS database manually or by data import.

Student data imports

A students’ personal details and program data can be imported from other applications, including CASES21 for government schools. For advice on file formats, consult the VASS help screens and the VASS import document, which is available as a download through VASS.

Student number errors

If a student has either 2 VCAA student numbers in the current year of enrolment or multiple numbers across various years, schools should notify the Student Records and Results Unit immediately so the issue can be resolved ASAP.

If a student has not been enrolled before sitting an examination or the GAT or before submission of school-based assessment scores, schools are advised to register the student on VASS through the entry of the student’s personal details, so the student is assigned a student number. This will allow the student to use that number for their examination or other assessments. Schools should then email the Student Full Details Report and the Late Enrolment Amendment form (both on VASS), along with any related school‑based assessment, to the Student Records and Results Unit so the student can be enrolled in their required studies. Late fees for enrolment changes after published deadlines will apply.

Reporting the death of a student

Schools must communicate the death of a student to the VCAA by sending a letter signed by the principal to the Manager, Student Records and Results. The student’s record will be amended on the VCAA database accordingly. If the VCAA is not informed of the death of a student, the student’s data will be included in VCAA senior secondary data collections, which may result in the student’s family experiencing further distress.

Student enrolment data

The Student Full Details Report on VASS is the key report for checking students’ personal details and enrolments. As part of the school’s audit procedures, this report must be printed and given to students for checking and signing at the beginning of the academic year, and always when changes have been made to either a student’s personal details or enrolment details.

VASS-generated class lists should also be produced and handed to class teachers at the beginning of each unit. Class teachers should confirm the list against the students they are teaching. When a student’s enrolment changes, the relevant class lists should be produced and given to the class teachers for signing to confirm acknowledgement of the changes. These quality assurance procedures are essential for ensuring the accuracy of students’ personal and enrolment data.

Accuracy of results data

The accuracy of results data is a school’s obligation to its students. Results data may only be entered into the VASS database manually.

Reporting unit results for the VCE, and VCE VET

Schools report student results as follows:

  • VCE results are reported as S (satisfactory), N (not satisfactory) or J (discontinued a study without formal withdrawal and no form of assessment has been completed)
  • VET UoC results are reported as S (competent) or N (not yet competent) for all certificate types
  • VET results entered as N (not yet completed) will appear on the Student Full Details Report from VASS but are not printed on the official documentation by the VCAA.

While VCE and VPC unit results are due to the VCAA by specific dates, the VCAA recommends schools enter unit results as they are received to reduce the amount of data entry required closer to the deadline.

Scores for VCE school-based assessment (Units 3 and 4)

Scores may be entered continually up until the relevant administrative date. If a student withdraws early in the academic year, the school should keep a local record of any scores achieved by the student in that study. If the student re-enrols in that sequence, these scores may then be re-entered.

Best practice supports checking all results thoroughly before they are entered. This is made possible when:

  • VASS administrators distribute class lists to teachers for entry of school-based assessment scores
  • teachers return completed lists to the VASS administrator for data entry
  • class lists that include the entered school-based assessment scores are distributed to teachers for checking
  • all teachers check the results, make any changes and return signed class lists to the VASS administrator
  • any required changes are made and class lists are distributed to the teacher for final sign-off before collection.

Entered scores cannot be removed after the due date on VASS. If a student no longer wants to be assessed for levels of achievement for all or any graded assessments, the school should make sure that NA scores are entered for the remainder of that study. The scores already entered will remain.

Scores for VCE externally assessed tasks

Scores may be entered on VASS until the date communicated on the Important administrative dates page. After this date VASS will not allow schools to enter scores for the externally assessed task. If a student has withdrawn after the official VCAA closing date, the school should enter NA as the result. Blank scores are not permitted, and any scores not entered by the due dates will incur late fees.

Missing results and scores

VASS can be used to produce input, summary and missing result reports for all types of results. Schools must check these reports to make sure all students’ results are entered. Failure to do so may lead to unit results or certificates not being awarded or a study score not being calculated for the student.

If results for a whole class are not available for entry by the scheduled submission date, contact the Student Records and Results Unit for advice.

The student’s home school is responsible for entering results where the assessing school is a private provider, as is the case for VCE Dance and VCE Music for example.

Data amendments and late fees

Procedure for amending enrolments after the due date

Data will be locked after the due date for enrolments in each cycle. The Student Records and Results Unit must be notified of any errors that have occurred in entering VCE and VPC unit data as soon as they are detected. Schools are reminded that enrolment changes will not be accepted if students have indicated their intention to withdraw from the unit after a closing date or have left school without formally exiting from the VCE or VPC.

Acceptance of an application for amendment is at the VCAA’s discretion. Applications for amendments must be submitted on the appropriate form, available as VASS downloads.

All requests for changes to VCE VET and VET UoC should be made on the Application for late VET Enrolment Amendments form available on VASS. If the results submission date has also passed, the form must include the result for the new enrolment.

Requests for the addition of UoCs to certificates or a new certificate should accompany the student’s training plan, scanned and emailed to the VET Unit for approval.

If the request is made after the VCAA cut-off dates, the request must include:

  • a letter from the school principal explaining the reason for the error
  • evidence supporting the enrolment change, such as copies of a class attendance sheet, and evidence of the student’s intention to withdraw.

The application for amendment must be accompanied by the appropriate fee (see Fees and charges). No GST is payable on late fees.

After the deadline for withdrawing from a Unit 4 study has passed, the VCAA will only withdraw a student from a Unit 4 study if the student is able to prove they intended to do so before the cut-off date. Unit enrolments will not be withdrawn if the student’s notification was after the cut-off date or if the student has formally exited from the VCE or VPC.

Procedure for amending results for VCE school-based assessment or externally assessed tasks after the due date

Student results for an assessment period will be locked after the due date for submitting results. The Student Records and Results Unit must be notified of any errors that have occurred in entering the results as soon as they are detected. The acceptance of an application for amendment is at the VCAA’s discretion.

The relevant results amendment forms are available on VASS. All requests to amend scores for the VCE should be made on the Score Amendment Sheet generated through VASS.

If a request for an amendment is made after the final results have been released and it will change the course result or a VCE study score, the request must include:

  • the principal’s explanation for the error
  • evidence supporting the new result, such as copies of a class attendance sheet or a teacher’s mark book or both.

The application for amendment must be accompanied by the appropriate fee (see Fees and charges on the VCAA website). No GST is payable on late fees.

School obligations to students

Schools should:

  • advise students in writing of the VCAA’s rules, and the school’s rules and responsibilities
  • make sure subject matter that students investigate through self-directed research, and/or produce as an artwork, performance or product is consistent with community standards, appropriate for study by school students and does not place them or other students at risk of contravening Victorian or Australian laws
  • make sure teachers use the accredited VCAA curriculum and assessment documents as the source of content for teaching and learning programs
  • provide comprehensive course advice to students, including the consequences of receiving an N or a J result for a unit
  • provide a process for students to check their personal details stored on the VCAA database each year
  • keep students’ personal details secure from unauthorised access
  • make sure that there are established procedures for VCE school-based assessments and that these procedures are applied consistently
  • allow for student appeal on adverse school decisions
  • make sure that students understand and have access to special provision for VCE or VPC studies
  • issue VCE examination timetables to students
  • run VCE and VPC student eligibility reports regularly to make sure students will meet the satisfactory rules of completion of the nominated senior secondary certificate.

Provision of accredited curriculum and assessments

Teachers must provide learning experiences and assessment opportunities that are in accordance with the intention of the currently accredited study designs without undue assistance.

VCE advice

Students undertaking VCE units should be advised in writing:

  • that initial school assessments for Units 3 and 4 may change following statistical moderation of school‑based assessments
  • of the procedures for requesting an extension of time for submitting school-based assessments.

Checking the accuracy of student data

Student personal details

Students must complete a VCAA Student Personal Details and Declarations form that includes their personal details and program information for the year. The information on this form should be entered on VASS.

Each student’s personal details, particularly their date of birth, consent permissions and subject enrolment details must be entered on VASS. Schools are responsible for issuing Student Full Details Report from VASS to students to ensure all student personal details and programs are correct, and make sure eligibility reports for the VCE and VPC are run periodically and checked and signed by the students and their teachers. Failure to run these reports could severely affect students’ eligibility for satisfactorily completing their VCE or VPC certificate. Students should be provided with a new Student Full Details Report to sign at the end of each enrolment cycle to guarantee any requested changes have been made. Students should also be advised that their Year 12 results will be mailed to the postal address on their Student Full Details Report at the end of the academic year.

Students must be enrolled on VASS using their legally registered name as per the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria, or the relevant state or national agency. When signing their personal details form under the General declaration, students attest that they are enrolling using their legally registered name.

All fee-paying international students must be correctly identified.

The onus is on VASS users to make sure students’ personal details are entered accurately on VASS. It is essential to include the correct date of birth. Without this, the system cannot accurately or efficiently match a student’s academic history with their current enrolments. A student’s date of birth should never be invented or guessed, as it cannot be changed later.

Gender-diverse students

A student who does not identify as male or female may elect to have ‘self-described’ as their nominated gender identity. The self-described gender category refers to any person who does not identify as either exclusively

Transgender students

Schools with students who are in the process of gender affirmation should contact the Student Records and Results Unit for further advice relating to recording student details on VASS and reporting their results.

From 1 May 2020, a student who has legally changed the sex that is recorded on their birth certificate, through the Births, Deaths and Marriages registry process, may present this birth certificate to their school (if under 18 years of age and currently in school) or to the VCAA (if over 18 and no longer in school) so their record can be updated.

Student postal addresses

VASS only stores a student’s preferred postal address. It is mandatory to enter an address line, suburb, state and postcode. If a student’s postal address is unknown, home schools should enter the school address as the student’s address. The VCAA uses the postal address when mailing final results.

To make sure final results are successfully delivered, the VCAA undertakes to validate the postal addresses of all students enrolled in at least one Unit 3–4 sequence and all students who are claiming past results. If an error is detected, schools will receive an email before results processing that lists the affected students. Schools should then contact students to amend the information.

Student email addresses

The VCAA requires schools to enter a non-school email address for each student enrolled at senior secondary level into VASS. This will support results delivery (at Unit 3–4 level), enable post-results service statements to be provided by email and support communication with students, including any communications about the Premier’s VCE Awards.

Changes to student personal details

Results will be printed using the student’s name as entered on VASS. The results for students with enrolments in any VCE Unit 3–4 sequence will be mailed to the student addresses as entered on VASS. The Important administrative dates page has deadlines for amending this information. The VCAA cannot accept changes of address after this date as results processing would have already begun. Students who have applied for tertiary studies through the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) must notify VTAC directly of changes to personal details occurring after the deadline.

Matching students with previous results

Matching of student details is undertaken based on name, date of birth and gender. Slight differences in spelling, an inaccurate date of birth or a change of name may mean that a student who has attended more than one school might be assigned multiple student numbers, each having only part of the student’s academic record.

As the matching process will occur as soon as a student is registered, it is essential that the personal details entered for the student are accurate. This ensures the system can match the student’s academic history with their current details. If a match is found on the database for a particular student, the student is allocated their previous student number and their previous results and enrolments for the current year are combined to make up a complete academic history.

Schools should not estimate dates of birth to enrol students. If details are not correct, these matches cannot occur and the student will have 2 student numbers, each having only part of their academic history. This may lead to the student not being awarded the certificate in which they are enrolled.

Security of student data

All VCE, VPC and VET data on VASS must be kept securely and the privacy of students’ personal and academic details must be protected (see Privacy).

Security of student numbers and Results Service password

The student number is a key identifier that allows the VCAA to securely maintain student result data and to identify the student for a VCE examination. Students should have full confidence that the enrolment and result record maintained by the VCAA is accurate, complete and confidential.

The confidentiality of a student record should be restricted to the student and administrative staff at their home school and assessing school. Select VCAA staff have a specific role in the maintenance of that data, and VTAC uses the data for the purpose of calculating the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR). Any other access requires the written consent of the student.

Each student should be given a printed copy of their Student full details report so they are aware of their student number. Lists of student numbers and corresponding names should not be printed and published or displayed on school noticeboards or otherwise made available to members of the school community.

Students are required to create a password when registering for the Results and ATAR service, to access the Results and ATAR website or app. Students should be advised that they should keep their Results service password in a secure place to avoid unauthorised access to their results via the Results service at the end of the year.

Integrity of VCE school-based assessments

At the beginning of the academic year, schools must provide students with clear written details of both the VCAA’s rules and the school’s rules and procedures for VCE school-based assessments, including the rules for authentication of school-based assessments.

Principals are responsible for the administration of the VCAA’s rules and instructions in their school. They must make sure that teachers are using only the currently accredited VCE study designs.

To ensure the integrity of school-based assessment in all VCE units, schools should:

  • carefully plan, develop, document and implement plagiarism, cheating and authentication policies, processes and strategies for their school to make sure that student work completed is the student’s own and completed without undue assistance from another person, including their teacher
  • develop a document that clearly states the school’s expectations in relation to the development and delivery of school-based assessment and the steps teachers must take to ensure the security of the content
  • keep assessment tasks, including tasks in development, out of the reach, view and access of students until they are delivered
  • avoid storing assessment tasks on open school networks and unsecured media such as USB sticks where possible, and avoid sending assessment tasks by unsecured means such as emails
  • ensure teachers understand their professional responsibility to ensure the integrity and security of school-based assessments
  • have students sign a declaration that they will abide by their school’s policies and rules relating to the appropriate use of technology including the internet
  • minimise the time lag between classes when delivering the same school-based assessment across several discrete classes. If this is not possible, the assessment task should be suitably modified for each class
  • make sure that tasks are not recycled from one academic year to another to prevent student use of other student work from previous academic years, including previous tasks that were not returned to students
  • suitably modify commercially produced materials and publicly available materials to make sure the school can authenticate student work.

For all units in the VCE, schools must inform each student in writing at the beginning of each VCE unit of the following:

  • all set work (learning activities) and assessment tasks (including school-based assessment) they need to complete to achieve an S for the unit and the conditions under which the work is to be completed
  • all work they need to complete for school-based assessment for the assessment of levels of achievement and the conditions under which the school-based assessment is to be completed
  • requirements for class attendance
  • rules on plagiarism, cheating and authentication of school-based assessments
  • instructions on how to submit work
  • timelines and deadlines for completing work
  • procedures for obtaining an extension of time
  • procedures for lodging an internal school appeal.

The school is solely responsible for deciding about the satisfactory completion of a unit. Results for each unit must be based on a judgment of satisfactory or non-satisfactory achievement of outcomes across a combination of set work (learning activities) and assessment tasks (including school-based assessments) related to the outcomes.

To support students with additional opportunities achieve a satisfactory result, schools should have an established process to support the delay of satisfactory completion decisions for the VCE that is applied consistently across studies and units. The teacher is responsible for judging the satisfactory completion of a unit. By reporting satisfactory completion, the teacher is certifying that the student has achieved the set of outcomes for the unit according to the rules set out by the VCAA and the school.

A teacher’s judgement on whether the student has satisfactorily achieved the outcomes for a study as determined by evidence gained through the assessment of a range of set work (learning activities) and assessment tasks (including school-based assessments) must be consistent for all students who are being assessed for levels of achievement in the study and those who are not. Schools should refer to the Scored Assessment - School-based assessment section for more information.

Each VCE unit result must be determined based on evidence of achievement of outcomes completed during the academic year in which the student is enrolled. The VCAA recognises that some schools will begin teaching programs in the last weeks of the academic year before enrolment in the study. These programs are generally one to 3 weeks in length and, for Units 3 and 4, they must not include formal school-based assessment for the assessment of levels of achievement or to determine a unit result.

Administration of special provision

Procedures must be established to identify students who may require special provision, to make sure consistent and fair decisions are made about appropriate assistance for students. Application procedures for special provision must be given in writing to all students and the school must retain the necessary documentation used to support decisions.

Students may apply to their school for special provision for classroom learning and school-based assessment. Schools are responsible for making an application to the VCAA on behalf of a student for Special Examination Arrangements (SEAs) for VCE external assessments. Students are responsible for applying for a Derived Examination Score (DES).

If a student’s application for special provision for classroom learning and school-based assessment is rejected, either in full or in part, the student should be advised in writing of the reasons for the decision within 14 days. The student has the right of appeal to the school within 14 days of receiving the decision.

When schools fail to meet their obligations to students

It is the responsibility of schools delivering VCE studies to ensure that teachers use the accredited VCAA curriculum and assessment documents, including the current prescribed text lists and approved works.

In exceptional cases, the VCAA may consider an application by a principal that students have, or may have been, disadvantaged because of a teacher’s failure to teach and/or assess a significant part of an accredited VCE study design or VCE VET program.

Where a teacher error is identified during the academic year, the principal should ensure that, as far as possible, issues are managed by the school during the academic year.

The VCAA can provide support to schools seeking advice about how to address situations identified during the school year.

Teacher error enquiries should be directed to the VCAA Senior Project Officer, Quality Assurance.

A formal teacher error application must be submitted by the principal, in writing, to apply on behalf of students who have or may have been disadvantaged by an alleged teacher error and provide an outline of the error and any action taken to determine how the error occurred. Further advice about eligibility should be sought from the Senior Project Officer, Quality Assurance, prior to lodging a formal application.

On receipt of a principal’s formal application, an investigation into the matter may be undertaken by the VCAA. This may include interviewing relevant parties. The VCAA may determine:

  • that there is no teacher error or no evidence of student disadvantage.
  • that the school must provide an additional opportunity for each student to complete the assessment.
  • whether the circumstances warrant an adjustment to the student's assessment result and, if so, the level of adjustment that should be made.

The VCAA will not consider matters concerning teacher qualifications, teacher availability or quality of teaching staff. The VCAA will not enter into a dispute between a student and their school as to whether an error occurred.

The application must be lodged at the VCAA no later than the last day of the academic year in which the teacher error is alleged to have occurred. Late applications will not be accepted.

Partnerships

The VCAA recommends that schools with fewer than 5  enrolments in any VCE Unit 3–4 study (note that English and EAL are separate studies) form a partnership with another school to enhance the curriculum provision or assessment arrangements for students. Possible formal arrangements include VCE small-group partnerships for statistical moderation of school-based assessment, and informal VCE partnerships for the extension of learning programs and resources.

Forming and documenting a partnership

Schools can search for potential partner schools through VASS.

Once schools have formed partnerships, the details must be entered on VASS and approved by each school in the partnership.

The VCAA partnership agreement form is available on VASS. Schools must first exchange partnership agreements and then enter the partnership details directly on VASS. Each school is required to keep their own copy of the partnership agreement and each copy must be signed by the principal of each school. The agreement is to be retained at the school and should not be forwarded to the VCAA; however, the VCAA may request partnership agreements for audit purposes.

Managing small-group partnerships for statistical moderation of VCE school-based assessment

Best practice

The VCAA expects that participating teachers will follow best practice when conducting partnerships, including the following processes:

School principals should be informed of the initial formation of the partnership, the ongoing maintenance of the partnership, and the resulting moderation of school-based assessment scores.

Teachers in the partnership should make contact as early in the academic year as possible and keep emails and written records of meetings, telephone calls and any other relevant interaction.

School principals should be kept informed of any conflict that arises and the measures taken to resolve any issues.

There should be an initial meeting that covers the requirements of the study design for each of the chosen assessment tasks and the assessment criteria, and for coursework.

Teachers are required to agree on the procedures for ensuring comparability of assessment tasks as well as the schedule and marking schemes of any tasks to be done in common.

Teachers should be clear and consistent about the application of the mandated criteria and descriptors for the school-assessed tasks.

Each school should mark the assessment tasks of its own students and select student tasks for moderation.

Each school should enter the scores for its own students on VASS.

Each school should send a copy of the VASS printout of the scores for all school-based assessment tasks to its partner schools to verify that scores have been entered correctly.

Schools can run the School scores by partnership (ranked) report on VASS to maintain correct rank order of students in the partnership. The report can be used to verify that scores have been entered correctly into VASS by each partner school.

Refer to Scored assessment: School-based assessment for information on producing a combined set of comparable school-based assessment scores.

Reporting scores to the VCAA

Each school enters the scores for its own students on VASS and sends a copy of the VASS printout of the assessments for all school-based assessment tasks to the partner school to verify that the scores have been entered correctly. If a Score Amendment Sheet is subsequently filed with the VCAA, it must be signed and dated by the principal of each school in the partnership.

Each partnership school must keep copies of the following documents at the school:

  • a single list of the moderated scores for all students in the partnership (from all schools involved)
  • a copy of the partner school’s VASS printout of the assessments for all school-assessed coursework tasks (to verify that the scores have been entered correctly)
  • a VCAA partnership agreement form signed by the school principal.

Once partnership details are entered on VASS, schools must check that each school in the partnership has checked (‘ticked’) the approval button. The VCAA cannot consider a partnership valid unless all schools in the partnership group have approved their involvement. In addition, the statistical moderation process cannot run for partnerships in which one or more schools has not checked the approval button. Partnerships cannot be entered directly on VASS after the closing date.

Exemption from partnership requirement

Exemption from the requirement to form partnerships may be granted following written application to the VCAA outlining why the formation of a partnership is impossible or undesirable in a particular circumstance. The exemption request letter must be endorsed by the school principal. Exemption requests can be accepted up until the submission of student results in any given academic year.

Exemption requests will be processed within 10 working days. The outcome of each request will appear in the status column on the VCE Partnerships screen on VASS. If an exemption request is unsuccessful, the principal will be notified in writing.

Schools with moderation groups that comprise fewer than 5  enrolments at the time of moderation should retain all student work contributing to school-based assessments and make this work available to the VCAA if requested.

Assistance for schools participating in small-group moderation

The VCAA provides a wide range of resources to support schools and teachers engaged in small-group partnerships, including access to professional development and examples of best practice.

When to dissolve a partnership

If a teacher in a partnership deems a partnership to be unsatisfactory, it may be in the best interests of the students that the teacher dissolves the partnership.

Unsatisfactory partnerships can result when:

  • regular and sufficient communication is not maintained
  • teachers do not agree, or a compromise cannot be reached, on such matters as the standard of set tasks and assessment, the outcomes of moderation or the level and spread of student scores
  • a teacher feels pressured to agree to carry out assessments they believe do not best reflect student ability.

How to dissolve a partnership

If a partnership is not working satisfactorily despite teachers’ attempts to reach a resolution, the partnership can be dissolved before student results are entered. Requests for dissolution of a partnership must be submitted in writing and endorsed by the principal of each school involved. These requests are to be addressed to Student Records and Results and must list the reason or reasons for the request. The VCAA will then remove the partnership from the database and award an exemption, if necessary (that is, for the school with fewer than 5 enrolments). Alternatively, the smaller school can form a new partnership with another school.

Maintenance of school records

Schools must establish procedures to keep records and documentation of decisions relating to:

  • unit completion and graded assessments (including VCE school-based assessments)
  • student appeals and resulting decisions
  • applications and decisions relating to VCE Second Language and English as an Additional Language (EAL) eligibility
  • VCE Modern Language student declarations and statuses
  • agreements to work in partnership with other providers in determining initial school-based assessments
  • applications for extensions of time, with supporting documentation
  • applications for, and approvals of, special provision, with supporting documentation
  • student absences, and whether these have been approved
  • any interviews with a student and any resulting decisions.

Retention of VCE school-based assessments

The decision to return school-based assessments to students rests with the school. Schools should have access to work completed for assessment until the end of the academic year in which the work was undertaken. The earliest date School-assessed Tasks (SATs) may be returned to students is published annually on the Important administrative dates page.

Schools who do return school-based assessments to students should advise students that they need to retain work completed for assessment until the end of the academic year in which the work was undertaken. Schools may want to maintain digital or physical copies of student work or supervise the storage of student work for this purpose, but this is not required.

Work assessed as N, or which may for other reasons be the subject of dispute at a later date, should be retained at the school. Such work may be retained in original or photocopied form.

As part of the school-based assessment audit program, the VCAA may request copies of specific items of school-based assessment completed by students. The school-based assessment audit dates are published as part of the Important administrative dates.

Privacy

Laws relating to the privacy of personal information affect collection, use, disclosure, security and storage of, as well as access to, information regarding each student and their parent(s) or guardian(s).

The Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) and the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) set legal standards for the way the Victorian public sector collects and handles the ‘personal information’ and ‘health information’ of individuals. The Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) requires public authorities to act compatibly with human rights, including the right to privacy. Victorian government schools must comply with the Privacy and Data Protection Act, the Health Records Act and the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act. The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) may apply to how non-government schools collect and handle personal information about individuals. The Department of Education (DE) or the relevant sector authority may require these schools to have their own privacy policy.

Access to student data

Schools registered with the VRQA are required to make sure that the parent(s) or guardian(s) of a student have access to accurate information about the student’s achievement and performance. This information must include at least 2 written reports per academic year relating to the student’s performance. This is a requirement of the minimum standards for registration of a school (regulation 60 and Clause 3 of Schedule 4 of the Education and Training Reform Regulations 2017 [Vic]).

Schools should seek their own advice from DE, the relevant sector authority or their legal adviser about providing information to the parent(s) or guardian(s) and students to make sure they comply with applicable privacy legislation.

Students should be allowed to access their VCE or VPC records during the course of their study and, at the principal’s discretion, after completing the course

Security and storage

Schools should store personal information about students and their parent(s) or guardian(s) securely and protect it from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure, and in accordance with applicable privacy legislation and policies. This may mean a locked filing cabinet or cupboard within a locked room that is accessible only to persons authorised by the principal, or secure data storage with appropriate access controls for digital records.

School copies of results should be held separately from collections of student work. Duplicate master records should also be stored separately. Information stored electronically, on databases or portable storage devices, should be kept securely and in such a way that records are not accessible by unauthorised persons.

Schools should seek their own advice in relation to compliance with legislation and good practice for the storage of personal, confidential and sensitive information, and digital and cloud-based storage. School privacy policies (if required) should address data security.

Freedom of Information requests

At government schools, students and their parent(s) or guardian(s) may be able to request access to school documents by making a Freedom of Information (FOI) request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic). To find out how to make a FOI request for access to government school records, go to the Victorian Department of Education’s Freedom of information requests page.

The VCAA holds records relating to students’ personal details, enrolment and assessment. FOI requests for access to documents held by the VCAA should be sent to the VCAA Freedom of Information Officer. Schools must not process such applications. Further information about FOI and the VCAA is available.

Maintenance and disposal of records

Advice for government schools and providers

Government schools are obliged to keep and dispose of school records in accordance with retention and disposal authorities (RDAs) made under the Public Records Act 1973 (Vic). RDAs describe the categories of records kept by schools and specify the minimum period for which they should be retained.

The relevant government school RDAs are:

  • PROS 22/06 Retention and Disposal Authority for Records of Schools
  • PROS 10/09 Retention and Disposal Authority for Records of Education and Early Childhood Development Functions.
RDAs can be viewed through the Public Record Office Victoria

Advice for non-government schools/providers

To comply with the Child Safety Standards Ministerial Order 1359, non-government schools should meet the minimum retention periods for records relevant to child safety and wellbeing in PROS 22/06 Retention and Disposal Authority for Records of Schools, excluding the transfer to PROV obligation.

Non-government schools may otherwise be guided by the retention periods specified for government school records, or they may want to use the Records Retention Schedule for Non-Government Schools produced by the Australian Society of Archivists. Alternatively, they may have their own internal records authority for school records and may want to seek their own advice about record keeping.

VASS administrators should refer to the VASS new-user’s manual for comprehensive details on using VASS. If VASS administrators experience problems, including password and login issues, they should contact VASS Operations.