Seeking the Parent Voice: Pathways to Post School Success Review Survey

The Department of Education, in partnership with Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA), and the Association of Independent Schools Western Australia (AISWA), is conducting a review of senior secondary pathways. The primary intent of the review is to help all Western Australian school students reach their full potential by accessing the post-school study, training or employment pathways that align with their abilities and aspirations.

Following an initial round of stakeholder consultation, the Expert Review Panel has now released a preliminary report (the Consultation Draft). The report highlights the need for further enhancements to ensure our senior secondary education system offers accessible and meaningful pathways for all students.

Within the Consultation Draft, there is a suite of 35 draft recommendations against 3 distinct areas for change:

Reframing the purposes of senior secondary education
A system built from learning goals
More fully recognising student diversity and achievement.

The Expert Panel is now inviting all interested stakeholders to submit a response to the Consultation Draft. WACSSO will be submitting a response, and we are seeking parent input to help inform our submission.

Please provide a response to any of the below questions on which you have an opinion or experience to share. Responses will be treated confidentially and the information we receive used to inform our broader response.

More on the review can be found here. Any questions or comments on this survey can be sent to: communications@wacsso.wa.edu.au.

1.Do you agree that the purpose of senior secondary education has changed significantly over the past 5-10 years?

2.What do you consider the purpose of senior secondary education to be now?

3.Do you think the data provided on student outcomes is useful to you as a parent? If yes, why? If no, why not?

4.Has your family experienced any issues with the delivery of Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs in schools?

5.Do you have any feedback on the suitability of VET offerings at your school?

6.Have you noticed a shift to higher enrolments in general courses at your school? If so, do you know why?

7.Do you support a wide range of assessment tools for senior secondary students (rather than a reliance on end of semester/year exams)? Do you have any concerns about widening the assessment tools used in schools?

8.Have you found the terminology of Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR) course to be off putting or helpful for your children?

9.As a parent, does the median ATAR result of a cohort factor into your decision-making when choosing a school for your child? Would there be an issue if this data was not available to parents?

10.Do you consider the current Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) achievement requirements to be complex?

11.Do you think students should have more flexibility when it comes to what is included in the WACE achievement requirements?

12.Do you have experience to share where VET courses are less-well resourced than ATAR courses? What has the outcome been for students?

13.Do you have a view on allowing/encouraging students to complete a combination of courses (eg ATAR and VET) should they choose to do so, and for all these courses to contribute to an ATAR?

14.Do you have any experience with a child completing a tertiary enabling program? If so, can you share this with us? Was it a positive experience for your child? Did they feel prepared and ready for university and have they continued?

15.Has your child used their Western Australian Statement of Student Achievement (WASSA) when applying for jobs or for any other purpose (eg, university applications?) Do you feel the WASSA if valuable? What else would you like included on the WASSA?

16.What is your view on including and assessing complex competencies (eg active citizenship, acting ethically, communication etc) in senior secondary courses?

17.What could/should be included for consideration if a new offering were designed for students with disability (eg, a course akin to the NSW Life Skills course)?

18.Do you have a view on other measures (aside from the Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment or OLNA) that could be used, when needed, to demonstrate literacy and numeracy achievement?