The False Equation

At this end of the year, exams are inevitably the hot topic in the daily paper, the staffroom and around countless dinner tables.

In that climate, it is understandable that many assume the simplistic equation SACE = EXAMS. Some even go on to extrapolate x = SACE(EXAMS) + TER, where x is the value of a student's future, calculated in terms of tertiary study options.

Let me say, at this time when Year 12 exams are the "only story in town", that public examinations are not the only assessment tool used in the South Australian Certificate of Education. In fact, less than 25% of Year 12 assessments require the traditional 3-hour written examination. The SACE is not simply an exams-driven ticket to university.

SSABSA is now adjusting terminology to clarify and reinforce this important fact. When school staff consult the various operational SACE manuals and bulletins in January, they will not find reference to those "traditional" acronyms PES, PAS and SAS. While these were useful in the early days of SACE, they are essentially remnants from the Public Examinations Board days of matriculation and senior school certificates. Because modern assessment embraces tailored mixes of internal and external practices, PES, PAS and SAS have passed their use-by date. No longer should we assume that young students are locked into inflexible pathways, inevitably involving public examination for tertiary study, or school assessment for some other (apparently less prestigious) future.

By the time you read this, final central moderation for 2002 will be happening in several large rooms at Uni SA's Underdale campus, validating the standards of assessments from over 4,000 classes. This exercise, with the in-school and central assessments that precede it, is every bit as important as the more "newsworthy" public exams.

A total of 2,182 South Australian teaching professionals have worked in SSABSA's assessment panels in 2002, setting, vetting, marking and moderating, in many locations across SA and NT, looking at many types of student work.

Consider that number - 2,182. That means nearly one in every four practising teachers in our state is directly involved in the SACE assessment process. These are not backroom "number-crunchers", performing complex calculations, clinically determining the fates of our young people. They are the human face of assessment, familiar with the needs, aspirations and special circumstances of students. They are the reason why the SACE is the senior secondary credential for all South Australians, and I thank them again for their thorough, focused and professional work in 2002.

At SSABSA we look forward to continuing our alliances with students, parents, teachers and the wider community, as we respond to the dynamic needs and aspirations of all students, and offer a valued SACE which gives the best possible start down whichever pathway they choose.

Dr. Janet Keightley
Chief Executive
Senior Secondary Assessment Board of South Australia