VET courses and meeting internal and external assessment requirements |
Who issues AQF qualifications? |
Where students achieve most or all units of competency to meet the requirements of an Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) qualification (Statement of Attainment or Certificate) through a school-delivered course, the Registered Training Organisation will award the qualification. The Registered Training Organisation advises the Board of Studies of the relevant qualification using the Board’s vocational credentialling system (e-bos vcs). The Board of Studies then issues the qualification on behalf of the Registered Training Organisation.
Where students are enrolled with TAFE and all of the course is delivered by TAFE, TAFE will issue the qualification as the Registered Training Organisation. |
AQF and the Board Of Studies |
Internal assessment - competency based |
All HSC VET requires competency-based assessment. Judgement of competency is made by the accredited VET teacher on the basis of evidence provided by the student, in a variety of forms. An holistic approach to assessment enables students to demonstrate that they can apply knowledge and skills in an industry relevant manner.
The units of competency within each course are not divided into Preliminary (usually year 11) and HSC (usually year 12). Students are assessed as achieving units of competency across the Preliminary and HSC years. |
To achieve an AQF Certificate or Statement of Attainment a student or worker must be assessed as competent according to the requirements set out in the national training package. The assessment of competencies in HSC VET should be based on the performance criteria set out under each element of competency in Part B of the Board of Studies syllabus for each Industry Curriculum Framework.It is not necessary, nor is it desirable, for individual performance criteria to be demonstrated separately for assessment purposes. An integrated, holistic approach should be used. |
External assessment - the UAI (Universities Admissions Index) |
Students who wish to include their industry curriculum framework courses in the calculation of the University Admissions Index (UAI) must
• complete a 240 hour course and
• undertake a two hour external written examination
Specimen papers are available to be downloaded from the Board of Studies website.
Student exam results will be measured against a set of performance scales, comprising 5 bands (2-6) or levels of achievement. The performance scales are used for reporting examination performance only. |
The HSC exam is independent of the competency-based assessment undertaken during the course and has no impact on the student’s eligibility for AQF qualifications. |
Estimate of Exam Performance |
The Board of Studies has advised schools that, for VET courses, they will be required to submit an estimate of exam performance (out of 100) for each student. Estimates should be based on evidence gained from at least one school based exam, marked out of 80 then converted to a mark out of 100. This estimate will only be used in the event that a student submits a successful illness/misadventure* appeal. |
(*Students who are prevented from attending an examination, or whose performance has been affected by illness or misadventure immediately before or during the examination may lodge an appeal with the Board of Studies.If an appeal is upheld, in most cases a student’s achievement may be measured by the use of the moderated school assessment mark for that subject. In the case of VET courses, the estimate of exam performance will be used.) |
