Senior learning and assessment at Oakey State High School must adhere to both Department of Education (DoE) and Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) requirements.
The QCAA require schools to adapt the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook to create a school-based policy to suit the context of each school. Accordingly, Oakey State High School's Senior School Learning & Assessment Policy can be accessed on the right side of this page.
Some key questions/points from the policy are listed below.
What if I miss an exam?
Where a student is not present for an exam, the following principles apply:
- The illness or event is unforeseen and beyond the student's control, such as personal circumstance or emergent cultural obligation e.g. summons/subpoena to appear in court or close family members' death/funeral.
- An adverse effect must be demonstrated.
- The situation cannot be of the student's own choosing or that of their parents/carers, such as a family holiday.
- See QCAA QCE & QCIA Handbook Section 6.5.1 Illness and Misadventure – internal assessment
- Students MUST provide the school with the QCAA Confidential Medical Report (attached to the right side of this page) to apply for Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments (AARA). Extensions to assignments and the sitting of exams on a new date will not occur without a completed QCAA form returned to the Head of Department Senior Schooling & VET.
Due dates for assessment
- Low rates of attendance will not be accepted as suitable explanation for extension or adjustments to tasks.
- When a student does not submit a final response to an assessment item on, or before, the due date set by the school, a result should be awarded using evidence available on, or before, the due date as applicable (i.e. draft work previously submitted). QCAA has mandated this response – see QCE & QCIA Handbook Section 8.2.7. In the case of practical assessment (e.g. performance tasks), as noted in Section 5.3.1., performance draft evidence is to be collected by the subject teacher and then used to make a final judgement.
- Where a student has not submitted
a draft (as defined in Section 5.2.1.), or met checkpoints, where an extension has not
been granted, a medical certificate has not been provided or illness and
misadventure has not occurred (AARA), the teacher will follow their normal
behaviour management strategies in line with the school’s behaviour management
policies (e.g. Student Code of Conduct; PBL) in the first instance. See Section 5.2.4.1 for a flowchart explaining this process in further detail.
- Assessment is considered to be submitted on time when received by 11:59 pm on the day it is due (except where a practical task is to be performed such as in Sport & Recreation or Furnishing).
What if I need an extension for assessment?
Where a student requires an extension, the above information around due dates applies. The following also applies:
- A Student Request for Assessment Extension Form must be completed by the student and their teachers/HODs. The Head of Department Senior Schooling & VET is the contact for the student to receive this form and begin this process.
- Where there is not an emergent situation, extensions will not be discussed if the due date is within two days. I.e. minimum two days notice required.
- No student can be granted exemption or extension for assessment under the following examples:
- unexplained absence
- family holiday
- representative sports
- misreading assessment tasks or calendars
- technology breakdown
- teacher absence
- any other condition as set by QCAA
- Computer or printer or any
other hardware failure is not an acceptable reason for an extension to be
granted.
Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments (AARA)
Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments (AARA) are designed to assist students whose disability, medical condition, or other circumstance act as a barrier to their performance in assessment.
These barriers fall into three broad categories – permanent, temporary, or intermittent. QCAA uses the same categories as NCCD and the Disability Discrimination Act for the application of AARA:
- cognitive
- physical
- sensory
- social / emotional
The application of AARA to student assessment is based on the functional impact of the condition or circumstance. A student with a disability may require AARA for one piece of assessment, but not necessarily for the next. Each situation must be assessed on its own merit.
AARA is complex and, as such, this policy will defer to the detailed information surrounding AARA in Section 6 of the QCE and QCIA Policy and Procedures Handbook. The information in this section will always be privileged about what is written in this policy.
Should you have questions around AARA, please contact the following people:
- Social/Emotional - Tony Clearwater (Guidance Officer)
- Cognitive/Physical/Sensory - Jennifer Timperley (HOSES)
- Illness or Misadventure (short-term) - Lachlan O'Connell (HOD Senior Schooling & VET)