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Collection NoticeThe Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) is a statutory authority continued under the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic).  The VCAA has developed the Digital Assessment Library (DAL), an online suite of assessments available for use by all Victorian schools to assess student performance over time, and on demand, in a range of learning areas. The DAL is an optional teaching and learning tool for teachers and is designed to complement pre-existing assessment tools.  

The VCAA has engaged a third party contractor, SoNET Systems, to design, implement, host, support and maintain the required infrastructure of the DAL. SoNET Systems is an Australian registered company.

Collection of information

The personal information of government school students for only those schools who have opted in to the program is automatically imported onto the DAL nightly via the government school administration system, EduHub. The personal information of non-government school students is only imported by schools that opt-in to use the DAL.

All information imported onto the DAL by schools (either manually or automatically) is collected and stored on SoNET Systems’ cloud-based servers on the VCAA’s behalf.

The VCAA (through its contractor, SoNET Systems) collects the following personal information within the meaning of the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) (PDP Act) for the below purposes:

Personal information collectedPurpose of collection
School staff
  • Name
  • Local staff identifier
  • Email address
  • DAL user name
  • DAL user password
  • School and campus identifier
  • DAL user status (teacher, administrator, principal)

To register school staff as users of the DAL so they can:

  • access and use the DAL assessments;
  • administer school assessments with the school’s students
  • analyse student and class assessment performance and growth; and 
  • use assessment results to develop teaching programs to more effectively address Victorian Curriculum
Students
  • Name
  • Date of birth
  • Local school identifier
  • Gender
  • School
  • Year level
  • Enrolment time fraction1
  • Home group
  • DAL user name
  • DAL user password
To improve teaching outcomes for students, the school sector and the state, and to improve learning outcomes for students.

1Enrolment time fraction is gathered for instances where students share time with special schools, e.g. language schools and another school

Use and disclosure of information

The personal information collected by the VCAA (through its contractor, SoNET Systems) will be used by VCAA employees and disclosed to and used by VCAA contractors for and in connection with the abovementioned purposes.

The personal information stored on the DAL, including student test results, will be accessible to the following persons:

  • authorised staff at the student’s current school;
  • the Department of Education and Training’s (DET) service desk employees
  • authorised VCAA employees; and
  • SoNET Systems employees for ‘back end’ system support purposes.

The VCAA also discloses student personal information, including student test results, as set out below:

  • DAL test results are given to the student’s parent/guardian;
  • Student test results will be given to the student’s current school and any school they attend in future, for analysing student growth over time; and
  • Authorised staff in DET and the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV) will receive student personal details and test results about students in their sectors for use in planning.

Personal information collected for the above mentioned purposes will not otherwise be used or disclosed by the VCAA, except with the prior consent of the student (or student’s parent or guardian where applicable) and in accordance with the PDP Act, or if the VCAA is required or otherwise permitted by law to do so.

De-identified assessment results and data may be disclosed to educational and government bodies for educational and research purposes.

Consequences if information is not provided

If staff and/or student personal information is not provided, schools will be unable to utilise the DAL.

Access and correction

An individual may request access to personal information the VCAA holds about them, if any, and request its correction if inaccurate. To do so, contact the Digital Assessment Library Helpdesk on 1800 648 637, or email vcaa.dal@edumail.vic.gov.au.

Further information

Further information about the DAL is available on the VCAA’s website.

View the VCAA Privacy Policy.