Big changes ahead for years 9 and 10
By Wendy Currie
The Board of Studies is proposing a fundamental change to the nature of schooling in stage 5.
Following a pilot that operated in 25 schools in NSW, both public and private, involving 528 students, the Office of the Board of Studies is recommending that the Board's rules be changed to allow the study of industry-specific, competency-based and formally assessed vocational education and training (VET) courses for all students in years 9 and 10.
Among other things the proposed rule change would remove the current restriction on early commencement of VET Industry Curriculum Frameworks (ICFs). The intention is for the ICFs to form part of the School Certificate credential, or count for credit towards the HSC as an acceleration.
The pilot of VET in stage 5 has operated for 12 months. The evaluation was undertaken at the same time. Very few people, including the vast majority of members of the teaching profession or the broader education community, were aware of it, nor were they consulted about the proposed changes.
The aim of the pilot was to determine the effect of this strategy on retention rates (both school and further study) and school to work transitions. It is impossible to determine this from a one year study, evaluated as the pilot proceeded. The evaluation contained no longitudinal studies, with the results limited to anecdotal evidence from some students and VET teachers in the pilot schools, some parents and local industries.
Education policy decisions about years 9 and 10 should not be made on political grounds nor should they be based on the needs or desires of industry. They should be informed by sound evidence, high quality data, critical evaluation and broad consultation. This has not occurred with these proposed changes.
Federation's major concerns
1. The union is well aware that not all schools would choose to offer this option. Indeed a major consideration is that it will probably only be offered to students in low socio economic status areas, with the result that there will be two divergent streams that may limit the future choices available to some students.
2. Research has shown that the literacy and numeracy demands of VET courses is high and that many students "at risk" do not have the required literacy and numeracy to complete the courses. VET is not the panacea for these problems.
Unfortunately, there has been no attempt to explore in a systematic and rigorous way whether the solution to retention and engagement of students "at risk" is a matter of pedagogy rather than curriculum change and resultant streaming.
3. There has been no serious consideration given to the impact of this strategy on the organisation of schools and the disruption to the stage 5 curriculum. The NSW Government, the Department of Education and Training and the Federation are well aware of the implementation problems associated with HSC VET courses. The extension of these to stage 5 will only exacerbate them.
4. Recent research for the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) is highly significant showing that, contrary to anecdotal evidence, the debate about whether VET is a valid retention strategy is in its infancy.
A key feature of current Board of Studies policy supports the provision of a broad general education in the years 7-10 curriculum. These proposals are fundamental changes in that they conflict with this principle.
Wendy Currie is a Research Officer.
For further information
December 2007 contents
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