New TCE qualifications for Year 12 students

This morning I attended a Reference Group meeting at TQA in Battery Point, of relevant people who might be able to distribute information regarding the new TCE qualification which will be issued for the first time at the end of this year (2009) to all eligible Year 12 students.

Basically, over the past few years, TQA have been undertaking a total revamp of the qualifications our students receive at school. The feedback TQA received prior to that indicated that in the world of work, employers couldn't understand what the school results meant in regard to the student's capabilities and qualification to do the actual job of work required of them by the employer.

The former TCE qualification was introduced in 1991, and, as a qualification that new entrants to the workforce wave under the nose of a potential employer, has been essentially dismissed by industry.
There will be two new qualifications issued now:

TCE - Tasmanian Certificate of Education, which has 5 requirements for the students to have attained before they are issued with it.
QC - Qualifications Certificate, which will be issued to cover additional qualifications a person achieves later in life, or in studies that are not covered or included in the TCE, for instance if a student is doing their TCE at school, and outside school are learning to play the piano, so end up with an AMEB qualification.

The 5 requirements the student MUST have to gain their TCE are:
*must have reached an agreed literacy standard (ie practical, everyday writing, reading and communication)
*must have reached an everyday standard of numeracy
*must have reached an everyday adult use of ICT/computer (familiar with Word packages, email etc)
*must have 120 units of credit in education and training, 80 of which must be at Level 2 or higher
*must have a Pathway Plan lodged with TQA at the end of Year 10, signed off by the school and stating where they are going in Years 11 and 12.

There will also be an additional qualification issued named TCEA - Tasmanian Certificate of Educational Achievement, which will be a special purpose certificate issued to a small number of people with difficult circumstances, for example, autistic or deaf or critical family issues. A panel of experts will evaluate the eligibility of students to achieve this qualification. It will reflect their achievement as a fairer account of what they have achieved in their trying circumstances.

The main message I came away with, apart from finding out the details of the new TCE, was the fact that TQA are wanting feedback on this qualification. They want anyone and everyone who is interested enough to do so, to feed back their responses to this new TCE. Obviously that won't be till next year, after this years batch of Year 12 students gain it, then use it to get jobs in 2010. So round April 2010, they will be looking at industry and employers and anyone else to provide feedback.