VCE Consideration of Disadvantage
In recognition of the disruptions to learning caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) and the differing levels of impact at the school and individual student level, the VCAA will introduce a new “Consideration of Educational Disadvantage” process when calculating VCE scores.
This process will require schools to provide the VCAA with information on students and school circumstances to help calculate their study scores.
This will include information about the circumstances and impact of the disruption on students, as well as additional data, such as estimated assessment scores.
To ensure the fairness of final results, the VCAA will consider all available information, including the General Achievement Test (GAT) and appropriate comparisons of performance across all assessments and schools.
Based on this analysis, the disadvantage will be factored into students’ final scores, which will then contribute to the study score calculation. This approach will ensure that Victorian students are not disadvantaged in comparison to interstate students in the calculation of their individual ATAR.
Examples of significant severe impacts relating to coronavirus include:
- direct impact on the health and wellbeing of the student and/or their immediate family
- long-term or multiple school closures and significant gaps in continuity of learning
- ongoing issues while learning remotely, e.g. internet connectivity issues, unavailability of a suitable device or workplace
- students dealing with substantial extra family responsibilities e.g. increased caring responsibilities for other siblings
- ongoing mental health challenges
- financial stress
- family violence
- family member losing their job (student needing to extend their hours of employment or gain employment).
The team at Rochester Secondary College will work with individual families and students to establish the impact of coronavirus on each VCE student. Please contact Melissa Gould or Chris Sanders at the College for more information.