Learning and Teaching
VCE Units 3-4 Extended Investigation Funding success
I am excited to announce that we were successful with our application for funding as part of the VCE Collaboration Fund (Round Five). The Department of Education and Training will provide us with $35 500 to partner with North Geelong Secondary College so that we can offer VCE Units 3-4 Extended Investigation to our Year 12 students in 2022 and develop a course that we can sustain into the future.
The VCE Extended Investigation enables students to develop, refine and extend knowledge and skills in independent research and carry out an investigation that focuses on a rigorous research question.
The investigation may be an extension of an area of curriculum already undertaken by the student or it may be completely independent of any other study in the student’s VCE program. Through this study, students develop their capacity to explore, justify and defend their research findings in both oral and written forms to an educated non-specialist audience. Rationale The VCE Extended Investigation develops students’ understanding of what constitutes a good research question. They develop an ethical, robust, disciplined and rational approach to gathering, interpreting and evaluating evidence in order to answer the research question.
In this study, students consider how research questions are developed and refined to enable the researcher to address the key issues proposed by the research within the limits that time and resources impose. Students conduct a review of relevant literature, develop research project management knowledge and skills, and develop ways of effectively presenting and communicating research findings. Students are introduced to a broad range of research methods and explore their comparative suitability for the investigation of particular questions. The skills that students develop in this study are transferable to any higher education course or vocational education and training program.
https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/extendedinvestigation/Pages/Index.aspx
Victorian Senior Secondary Certificate Reform
https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/victorianseniorsecondarycertificatereform/Pages/Index.aspx
Victoria is moving to a new integrated senior secondary certificate that will bring together the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) to give students greater choice and flexibility to pursue their strengths and aspirations and develop the skills and capabilities needed to succeed in further education, work and life.
The move to a single certificate will occur in stages. The first stage is the introduction of a new vocational specialisation pathway within the VCE commencing in 2023. This will replace the existing VCAL at the Intermediate and Senior levels.
The next stage will see a fully integrated senior secondary certificate rolled out across all Victorian schools and senior secondary providers by 2025. The new certificate will retain the same high standards of excellence that currently apply to Victoria’s world-class VCE and will be recognised nationally and internationally and highly valued by employers and industry.
A new foundation pathways certificate to replace Foundation VCAL will also be created to formally acknowledge student achievement, facilitate clearer pathways and provide a more enriched curriculum offering.
The new certificates will offer students the opportunity to take greater control of their education pathways and provide the flexibility in their learning environment to build the knowledge and capabilities to thrive in their personal, professional and civic lives.
Students will be able to gain valuable workplace knowledge and practical skills that will allow them to transition successfully into apprenticeships, traineeships, further education and training or directly into employment.
Parent-Carer Term 1 Learning Progress Survey - 4 tips for parents and carers
- 1. If you’re using Compass to look at student progress, teacher feedback etc, use a laptop/computer and not a phone.
- 2. Prior to coming to MFG for a Parent-Teacher-Student Conference, do some ‘detective work’ using Compass. You could look at:
- ATTENDANCE – do any absences need to be approved by me?
- TASKS – Are they on-time, over-due or pending?
- FEEDBACK – click on the Learning Task and the Feedback Tab:
- 3. Any task in ALL-CAPITALS is a CRLT (Common Reportable Learning Task). These are usually the important assessments. Focusing on how your child performed on these will save you time when looking at their list of Learning Tasks.
- 4. ROUTINE: Develop a routine of using Compass. My son is in Year 8 and I have a quick scan of his Learning Tasks every Thursday so I know what to ask him about.
Pathways and subject selection (P&SS) for 2022
This process is in motion for 2022 and Ms Crofts and Ms Toone have run Zoom assemblies with students explaining the subject selection process using Griddle – the new subject selection process we are trialling this year through Compass.
Thanks to all of our Year 10 parents and carers who participated in the Year 10 Pathways interviews through Zoom – we hope you and your child found this useful and worthwhile.
The final date for all Year 9, 10 and 11 subject selections for 2022 is Wednesday 4th August.
The updated Curriculum Handbooks for Years 7-12 are available on our MFG website:
https://www.mfgsc.vic.edu.au/our-learning/
Subject offerings for 2022
- No French in Year 7
- Year 10 – same subject offerings as 2021
- VCE Units 1-2 – same as 2021 + Unit 1-2 Environmental Science
- VCE Units 3-4 – Extended Investigation (new)
Subjects not being offered in 2022
- VCE Units 3-4 Geography (no Units 1-2 this year)
- VCE Units 3-4 Theatre Studies (no Units 1-2 this year)
Damien Toussaint, Assistant Principal, Learning and Teaching
