Teachers’ integral role in successful 2019 for SACE
Teachers have played an integral role in a successful 2019 for the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE).
This year, the SACE Board has continued its work to modernise the SACE and the ways we work to better support SACE teachers.
In electronic assessment, more subjects than ever had teachers submit students’ work electronically and then marked and moderated online.
There were 13 online dispersed moderation subjects this year, which allowed more moderators to carry out this quality assurance process at a time and place of their choosing, rather than at a central location at a predetermined date.
Next year, the SACE Board will be building on the successes of electronic assessment.
All investigations will be submitted online next year, and the SACE Board is currently talking with moderators about which subjects might have their school-based assessments submitted online in 2020, to understand what the potential impacts might be. A final decision will be announced before the start of Term 1, 2020.
It’s also been another successful year with electronic examinations, with almost 5,000 students completing their exam online for Stage 2 Modern History, English Literary Studies, or Psychology.
In 2020 there will be another six subjects that will have an online exam – Biology, Geography, Legal Studies, Nutrition, Tourism, and our first language subject – Indonesian (continuers). The SACE Board will work with teachers and schools as the electronic exam program continues to grow.
Through the Institute of Educational Assessors (IEA), IEU members have had the opportunity to develop their teaching practices throughout 2019.
On April 1, more than 450 educators and school leaders from all Australian states and territories and New Zealand came together to talk about the future of education and student success at the fourth annual IEA Conference – ‘Educating for the Future’.
The OECD’s Director for the Directorate of Education and Skills, Andreas Schleicher (below right), joined fellow keynote speakers A/Professor Sandra Milligan (below left) of the Assessment Research Centre at the University of Melbourne, and SACE Board Chief Executive Professor Martin Westwell (below middle), at the event.
In addition to the annual conference, the IEA also held two masterclasses for teachers of Mathematics and PE respectively, as well as an industry spotlight session for Accounting teachers.
In 2019, more teachers in metropolitan Adelaide and country South Australia accessed professional learning courses through the SACE Board’s online professional learning platform PLATO.
PLATO has facilitated high quality professional learning that is available to all SACE teachers anywhere, anytime; it’s building a community of experts and is broadening teacher knowledge and their networks.
SACE teachers will also be able to come together and collaborate professionally in the new online community PLATO Social.
PLATO Social has been developed to connect SACE teachers and support them through the subject implementation phase.
The interactive platform enables teachers to share and create new information, bounce ideas around, ask questions and discuss emerging developments about their specific subject, in a safe environment.
Teachers are free to upload and share ideas and approaches to teaching and task design, but the content will not be quality assured by the SACE Board.
PLATO Social is available to teachers who attended implementation workshops for Physical Education, Dance, Drama, Outdoor Education, or Design, Technology and Engineering, and is due to be rolled out to remaining SACE subjects in Term 1, 2020.