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The Standard | Term 3 2024
On this page
- Message from the Chief Executive – Passport to Thrive lifts off!
- Subject Renewal kicks off
- Subject improvements to be delivered in 2025
- South Australian educators ready for AIF implementation
- Symposium hears that student capabilities are much more than facts and figures
- Next steps for Recognition of Aboriginal Cultural Knowledge and Learning
- The Engine Room: SACE end-of-year processes
- SACE International
Message from the Chief Executive – Passport to Thrive lifts off!
Last time we connected, the SACE Board had just launched its Strategic Plan - Passport to Thrive. You may recall the headline was ‘Passport to Thrive kicks off’. Well a lot has happened since then, and while there is still a way to go, the first few steps taken to activate the strategy have been impressive and uplifting.
Passport to Thrive is supported by the five priorities of subject renewal, recognition, quality assurance, the SACE Board engine room and a co-design approach. We’ve provided an update on our work in these areas in this edition of The Standard.
Subject Renewal
Our program of Subject Renewal will sharpen the content of subjects and how they are designed, to provide students with deeper, real-world learning, disciplinary knowledge and embedded capabilities.
This program of work took its first steps earlier this week with the gathering of over 450 educators at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. It was a privilege to witness the collaboration, innovative-thinking and contribution of all involved as they commence the work towards ensuring the SACE is a modern and responsive qualification for an ever-changing world.
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In the meantime, we have been working to finalise more straightforward improvements to Stage 1 and Stage 2 subject outlines based on comprehensive consultation with educators at Curriculum Forums during term 2. These changes – which will be considered amendments to current subject outlines – are designed to create space for teaching and learning that is flexible, authentic, equitable, consistent and manageable. We look forward to sharing these with you as you prepare for teaching in 2025.
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Preparation for the South Australian roll-out of Activating Identities and Futures (AIF) is also progressing following the near-completion of 20 teacher implementation workshops held across term 3. Teachers from some of the AIF pilot schools co-presented at the recent workshops, sharing invaluable on-the-ground experience and reflection on the subject.
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Recognition
Our Recognition work aims to fairly and formally recognise more of what young people know and can do. Thriving learners are learning more than subjects and more than what the SACE currently values and recognises. Students develop capabilities through subject learning and should also have other learning recognised alongside subject achievement.
During term 3, 100 teachers, leaders and students from our pilot schools convened at the Adelaide Convention Centre for the Capabilities and Learner Profile pilot symposium. The purpose of this event was to share practice and learnings, and to connect with each other, student perspectives, and our tertiary and industry partners. It was particularly insightful to hear from students about how they value broader recognition of the things they know and can do.
Some more great news in the recognition space is our Recognition of Aboriginal Cultural Knowledge and Learning program reaching the end of its pilot phase. This program offers Aboriginal students the opportunity to have their cultural knowledge and learning formally recognised within the SACE. To date, eight students have received credit under the program, including one who received authority to teach, which means she holds significant cultural knowledge of which she is now considered the custodian.
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Engine Room
And finally, it’s anything but business as usual in the SACE ‘engine room’ as the 2024 academic year starts to wind up. Activity towards the October-November exam period and 16 December release of SACE results is well underway. As always, our team is ready to provide assistance, support and guidance to schools in the lead up to, and during the end-of-year period.
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Also, a reminder that nominations are now open for our 2024 Governor of South Australia Commendation. I encourage all schools to consider nominating students for their inspiring work. You will find more information on our website.
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And, let me thank you all in advance for your dedication and support of our students as we inch closer to the ‘business end’ of our school year.
Wishing you a happy and productive term 4.
Regards,
Michaela Bensley
Chief Executive
SACE Board of South Australia
Subject Renewal kicks off
Our program of Subject Renewal took its first earlier this week (Monday 16 September) with the gathering of 450 educators representing 57 Subject Renewal groups at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
In her opening address, SACE Board Chief Executive Michaela Bensley shared:
We have an incredible opportunity to work across sectors and schools, to be reflective, bold, innovative and open to different perspectives.
With this great opportunity comes great responsibility. How you work together, consult with each other and listen to your peers, students and school communities will be critical to the success of subject renewal. Reflect on the value of your subject to students studying it now and in the future.
You have permission to be pioneers. To think outside the square. And to debate openly, honestly and respectfully.
During the morning session, participants also heard a student’s perspective from one of our Community Associates, Vinnie Wells, and a thought leadership perspective from esteemed educational researcher Michael Bunce.
As a Community Associate Vinnie shared the insights gathered from engaging over 130 students in 2023. As a recent school-leaver. Vinnie reflected personally on how he wished he had focused more on discovery and exploration of his passions during his final years at school, rather than chasing the highest grades.
While Michael Bunce challenged us to think about student’s agency in the learning process and how students and teachers naturally appreciate that curriculum is both structured and dynamic.
Across the afternoon, educators were lead through a deep dive into the key drivers behind Subject Renewal: student agency, deep authentic learning, natural evidence of learning, metacognition and capabilities. We have added a resource to our website that explores the concepts further.
The day culminated with each of the 57 Subject Renewal Group (SRGs) working together to prepare a first draft vision statement for their subject.
Initial feedback indicates that participants valued the opportunity to work as a team with colleagues in their SRG and confirmed their support of the strategic direction for Subject Renewal. There is certainly a great sense of momentum and enthusiasm for the work ahead.
Although it is still too early to confirm the scale and complexity of the Subject Renewal process, how long this process will take, and to what degree the subjects will change, we are confident that all subjects will begin this journey to ensure content is up to date and relevant to the current and future needs of our students, and that the learning is assessed in a contemporary and relevant way.
Once we have completed the process of analysing the data gathered on 16 September, we look forward to sharing this with Principals and school leaders. Moreover, we look forward to working closely with Principals, leveraging their knowledge, experience, and expertise. By testing and refining our approaches with your input, we aim to ensure your full engagement with this body of work, to ensure your confident in supporting it.
Each SRG member will bring their unique perspective, and carry a shared responsibility to imagine renewal of subjects from a whole system perspective. The SACE Board is deeply thankful to school leaders for supporting their staff to contribute to this program of work, on behalf of the senior secondary education sector.
Read more about our Subject Renewal progress on our website.
Subject improvements to be delivered in 2025
Greater curriculum and assessment flexibility will benefit teachers and students from 2025 when improvements to SACE Stage 1 and 2 subjects are implemented following consultation and feedback with the community.
These changes are amendments to current subject outlines and aim to revise and sharpen content, and provide greater opportunities for teaching and learning that is flexible, authentic, equitable, consistent and manageable.
Some of the expanded assessment options for subjects have been used during and following COVID with overwhelming support from school communities.
The 2025 subject improvements follow feedback and data collected from approximately 3,000 teachers in SA and NT who participated in 122 curriculum forums held during term 2. This has informed decisions about the changes that will be implemented based on the level of support, endorsement and confidence from the community.
More information about these subject improvements will be provided later this year, ready for teaching in 2025.
This element of Subject Renewal is a key component of Passport to Thrive – the SACE Board’s Strategic Plan. The way they are designed and assessed, in consultation with teachers and students, will ensure the SACE is a modern and responsive qualification for a changing world.
South Australian educators ready for AIF implementation
Educators from across South Australia are ready to implement SACE Stage 2 subject Activating Identities and Futures (AIF) next year following the successful delivery of co-presented professional learning workshops.
About 650 teachers from across all three education sectors have participated in 20 AIF teacher implementation workshops held across July to September in metropolitan and country SA, including Mt Gambier, Port Pirie and Port Lincoln.
AIF replaces the Research Project, and is a compulsory SACE Stage 2 subject being rolled out across all South Australian schools in 2025. This follows a three-year pilot program involving 68 schools and more than 15,600 students.
AIF has been developed by the SACE Board in partnership with schools to revitalise the former Research Project to better meet the needs of current and future students in a changing world.
Teachers from some of the AIF pilot schools co-presented at the recent workshops, sharing invaluable on-the-ground experience and reflection on the subject.
A common theme from co-presenting pilot teachers was the importance of student agency. Many spoke of students having more opportunities to take ownership of their own learning and using broad and varied ways to share that learning using different modes of evidence.
The 2025 school year will involve a transitional phase-in of AIF. Schools will have the flexibility to introduce AIF from the beginning or the middle of 2025, or in 2026. This allows schools to work AIF into their timetables for future success.
Later this year, the SACE Board will introduce new features in PLATO to develop an online community of practice for AIF teachers to broaden their peer networks, share insights and resources, and advance their professional development.
The AIF PLATO community will complement:
- existing professional learning
- support resources on the SACE website
- our ask SACE team
There are plans to introduce PLATO Connect for additional subject communities in the future.
Additional resources from the AIF teacher implementation workshops will be added to our website in the coming weeks.
Symposium hears that student capabilities are much more than facts and figures
More than 100 principals, teachers and students converged on the Adelaide Convention Centre in July for the Capabilities and Learner Profile pilot symposium. The purpose of this event was to share practice and learnings, and to connect with each other, student perspectives, and our tertiary and industry partners.
The SACE Board’s Capabilities and Learner Profile project has introduced the development and recognition of capabilities - alongside grades - to provide a more holistic view of students’ strengths and achievements.
Through the project, the SACE Board is working to develop, showcase, and formally recognise, students’ full range of capabilities. This spans everything from critical thinking and problem solving to personal enterprise.
The symposium provided a face-to-face opportunity for 21 schools to share what they have learned during the pilot. School representatives enjoyed the chance to connect with colleagues from other schools and have meaningful discussions about the pilot.
Some schools brought student representatives to the event, which provided a valuable forum for them to share their own perspectives and insights into the recognition of student capabilities.
Schools spoke about their individual practices and shared what they had learned since commencing the pilot.
Attendees visited the displays of other pilot schools and heard from a panel of guest speakers, including our project partners.
Stuart Mossman (Chief Executive Officer) and Alyssa Warrick (General Manager, Customer Engagement and Success) from SATAC spoke to attendees along with Sara Longbottom from the South Australian Skills Commission about the value of the capabilities work to employers, industry and the tertiary sector.
A video message from Sandra Milligan (Executive Director of Melbourne Metrics) from the University of Melbourne was played as part of the panel presentation.
The symposium was a significant event in the calendar for the Capabilities and Learner Profile pilot.
The SACE Board gained valuable insights into the different innovations occurring across pilot schools and the shared insights will inform future directions of the project.
The third pilot of the Capabilities and Learner Profile is continuing until the end of 2024, with a focus on learning design, developing student agency, and building opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate capabilities.
Following the completion of pilot 3, outcomes will be shared with all schools and will inform further development of the project and next steps.
Follow project developments on our website.
Next steps for Recognition of Aboriginal Cultural Knowledge and Learning
The Recognition of Aboriginal Cultural Knowledge and Learning program is reaching the end of its pilot phase. The SACE Board’s Accreditation, Recognition and Certification Committee is scheduled to make a recommendation to the Board on the future of the initiative before the end of the year.
The program offers Aboriginal students the opportunity to have their cultural knowledge and learning formally recognised within their SACE qualification. By the end of term 2 this year, eight students had received credit under the program. Three of these students were awarded credits for leadership roles in their community and one student received credit for her authority to teach, which means she is now considered the custodian of significant cultural knowledge.
Designing an AFL guernsey, learning and teaching Kaurna language, and two cultural dance projects were among the student-led projects.
The Recognition of Aboriginal Cultural Knowledge and Learning program is understood to be the only one of its kind in the world and forms part of Passport to Thrive, the SACE Board’s Strategic Plan, which aims to broaden the definition of learning and better recognise the full range of capabilities of students.
A 12-week initial pilot in 2022 involved seven SA and NT schools, with a second longer pilot involving 15 schools starting in July last year.
The Recognition of Aboriginal Cultural Knowledge and Learning program is not a SACE subject, rather a recognition program that awards credits to students for their work, which counts towards their SACE.
The SACE Board has worked with communities and schools across SA and NT to develop a framework and quality-assurance process for the recognition pathway. The program involves rigorous assessment and quality assurance, guided by community cultural authorities who evaluate the depth of students’ skills and understanding. Community cultural authorities look for the student to be demonstrating cultural leadership, authority, or responsibility, and make assessments about students’ level of understanding.
Further updates about the program’s next steps will be shared with schools in early 2025.
The Engine Room: SACE end-of-year processes
Planning is well underway for the assessment and resulting processes in preparation for results release which is scheduled for Monday 16 December.
During August, two information sessions were held to assist schools in preparing for the remainder of the year.
As part of the SACE Board’s partnership with schools, an e-exams Technical Readiness Information Session for school ICT coordinators was held, to ensure that they are technically and operationally ready to support the best possible exam day experience for students.
Term 3 also saw a second SACE Coordinators Online Information Session for 2024. This semester 2 session focused on providing information SACE Coordinators need for end of year processes, with a recording shared with all after the event.
The e-exam practice window for schools closed last Friday (20 September). Thank you for working in close partnership with the SACE Board to ensure that your schools and students are technically and operationally ready for the e-exam period.
A Practice Window Debrief Session on 24 September will provide an opportunity for the SACE Board to regroup with school ICT staff and SACE coordinators to share learnings and monitor the impact of emerging generative AI tools on students’ examination experience.
Since 2023, the security settings for the SACE Exam Browser (SEB) have been raised to the highest setting, and recent testing has continued to verify that known generative AI tools including Grammarly and ChatGPT are blocked in e-exam settings. Your expertise is vital in monitoring local examinations. We remind you that SACE Board expertise is your primary source to guide you through any issues associated with the Secure Exam Browser software (SEB) during the delivery of e-exams.
As with every year, if something unforeseen does occur, students have our support to ensure they are not disadvantaged by factors outside of their control.
We’re also pleased to advise that improvements to the SACE website are on the horizon. We’ve heard from schools that they have struggled to navigate information about SACE subjects on our website. Consequently, a project is currently underway to simplify and standardise these sections. We will provide more information about this project before the end of year. Stay tuned for more information on the mini-sites’ update.
The askSACE team is on-hand to provide schools with any support they may require ahead of and during the end-of-year period.
SACE Board new phone number
Finally, we are excited to announce that the SACE Board has transitioned to a new phone system offering enhanced features designed to elevate our customer service experience. As we gear up for our busiest season, this upgrade allows callers to leave a voicemail requesting a callback, minimizing wait times.
From today, the SACE Board has a new phone number: 1300 322 920.
To ensure a smooth transition, calls to our current phone number will be redirected for several weeks.
SACE International
Appointment of Education Manager, SACE International
Delivering a robust professional learning and support model for SACE International schools is a key element of our 2024 -2025 strategy.
A new role was created in August this year to enhance how onboarding, professional learning workshops, advice, annual subject support sessions and resources best support SACE International leaders and teachers.
Reporting to the SACE Board’s Director of Education Services the role is an additional and dedicated resource responsible for coordinating the development, delivery, and evaluation of SACE International education deliverables.
We are delighted to announce that Leanne Jarvis has been appointed in the newly created SACE International Education Manager role.
Leanne brings over 30 years’ experience as a teacher and leader in South Australian schools and is passionate about effective assessment and pedagogy.
Leanne has been a key member of the Health and Humanities faculty in the SACE Board’s Education Services team since 2022. In this role she has been an active contributor to the SACE International program through delivering workshops to our international network of teachers.
Well known to the SACE International school network we are excited by Leanne’s appointment and what this will mean for our schools, teachers, parents and students who chose the SACE as a progressive alternative to other international curriculum.