By Bruce Wardley
ASSURANCES from the State Government that measures are now in place to prevent a repeat of last year’s leaked VCE exam papers scandal has done little to reassure nervous VCE students in local secondary colleges.
Expressing sympathy for regional students worried about the advantage city-based kids may gain from leaked exam papers South Coast Breakfast Presenter and 40-year VCE mathematics specialist Richard K said the exam process is far from foolproof.
At the Minister’s request in December 2024 the Secretary to the Department of Education established an independent review of the VCAA in response to issues arising from the 2024 Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) examinations.
Every year the VCAA develops and delivers over one hundred VCE examinations to more than 70,000 students across Victoria as the final milestone in their secondary school education.
A small but significant number of errors in the development and delivery of these examinations over successive years has necessitated a number of reviews.
Errors were identified in 2022 in the mathematics exam paper and in 2023 there were multiple errors in the mathematics and chemistry exam papers as well as the incorrect distribution of a Chinese second language paper to two schools.
Last year’s VCE exams were hit by the unintentional disclosure of examination content on sample cover pages published on the VCAA website to allow students to familiarise themselves with the ‘look and feel’ of the first pages of each examination.
The need to make up for lost time past a critical production deadline led to the flawed suggestion that a new process be adopted for the way sample cover pages were created leading to the unintentional disclosure of questions in 65 of 116 VCE exam papers.
To expedite the production of sample cover pages the previous process which involved creating new files was revised and a new tool was adopted to ‘link’ the cover page to the finalised examination with restrictions on what could be viewed.
Intended to make up for lost time the revised process instead allowed data on linked pages including stimulus materials and questions to be unintentionally found using commonly available software.
The Department of Education Chief Executive Officer decided that 53 of the 55 exam papers identified as containing sensitive materials should be rewritten, a report by cybersecurity specialists later revealed 65 examinations had been impacted.
In order to meet examination deadlines, the VCAA engaged additional printing contractors and reprinted all examination content but there were several errors in the packaging process and of the 76,000 students sitting written VCE examinations a number of students are known to have received an incorrect examination paper.
South Coast FM Breakfast Club Presenter Richard K, a VCE teacher for 43 years and a mathematics specialist said the philosophy of the VCE when it was introduced in 1987 was very good.
“Prior to that everything was exam based,” said Mr K.
“I thought the philosophy behind the original VCE was an excellent thing.
Common Assessment Tasks were originally set centrally but even then there were problems with leaks and corruption according to Mr K.
“Exams are far from foolproof. It’s like hacking bank accounts when the banks think they have it all sorted but clever minds find a loophole. The error in last year’s sample cover pages was completely avoidable.”
A simple (single) PDF version would have been bulletproof he claimed, sympathetic for VCE students in South Gippsland and the Bass Coast.
“There’s got to be justice in the process.”
For those disappointed with last year’s results Mr K advised students should not make a life judgement on one bad or disappointing outcome.
“You’ve got to be resilient. There are many pathways to achieve your ambitions and aspirations.”
His advice for this year’s VCE students is to keep your eye on the prize.
“It’s not you versus the rest, it’s you showing what you’ve got. Your time to shine,” he said.
With offers of fake exam papers likely to be rife Mr K said it was an integrity thing.
“What does it say about you?”
Mr K said the obvious risk is if you put all your eggs into the one basket relying on what is likely to be a fake paper, you could pull the rug from under your own feet by it being nothing like the real thing.
“If you won the lotto and saw the exam paper beforehand you will no doubt carry the guilt of an undeserved result and won’t give yourself the proper preparation to complete your studies at a higher level.”
Richard K can be heard on the South Coast FM Breakfast Club from 6am to 9am every Wednesday morning. South Coast FM broadcasts on 88.1, 89.5 and 89.1.
