By ANEEKA SIMONIS
BERWICK students will soon have the option to finish their VCE mid-year, following an Australian-first move to offer a northern hemisphere timetabling system.
Final year students at Haileybury are invited to take up the exam timetable from September this year.
The radical exam timetabling changes are designed to attract more international students as well as offer greater flexibility to Victorian students who can choose either schedule.
Currently, Haileybury has an international campus in China along with two other Victorian campuses in Keysborough and Brighton.
Principal Derek Scott said the timetable would make Haileybury’s international school more attractive to Chinese students – many of whom continue their studies at Australian universities.
“Globalisation is having a big impact on education and it is great that the VCE can be offered in a variety of jurisdictions in line with the school years that operates in those areas.”
According to the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA), 95 per cent of China-based VCE graduates, studying on the existing timetable, went on to study at Australian universities in 2014.
Ten initial subjects including accounting, Arabic, Chinese, English, physics and mathematical methods will be up for offer for students expected to sit their first written exams under the new timetabling system in June 2017.
Separate exams will be written for the June and November examination periods, with the mid-year exam times adjusted so students will not have to sit their exams at 6am.
A VCAA spokesperson said northern hemisphere timetabling was used in most schools in the world and the move toward streamlining with overseas schools enhanced local partnerships.
A number of Victorian schools have already registered their interest in the timetable.
“Six Victorian education providers are currently approved to deliver the VCE through partnership model. One is a tertiary provider, four are independent schools and one is a Catholic school,” the spokesperson said.
“The first government school has received in-principle endorsement to negotiate a partnership with an international school. We hope to have that finalised later this year.”
The VCAA expects two schools to begin the program later this year and that it will progressively increase to four schools per year over the next few years.
