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    A Report for the NSW Department of Education on Vocational Education and Training Delivered to Secondary Students
    Polesel, J ; Gillis, S ; Leahy, M ; Guthrie, H ; Klatt, M ; Suryani, A ; Firth, J ( 2019-11-01)
    This report presents the findings of an external review and analysis of relevant recent practices, research and data on the delivery of Vocational Education and Training (VET) to secondary students. The review and analysis were commissioned by the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education and were conducted by the Centre for Vocational and Educational Policy at the University of Melbourne to identify best possible practices and make recommendations for future practice.
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    The Australian Senior Certificates: after 50 years of reforms
    Polesel, J ; Gillis, S ; Suryani, A ; Leahy, M ; Koh, S (SPRINGER, 2021-07)
    This article maps current senior secondary certification arrangements in Australia, drawing on data on school completion rates, certificate attainment and post-school destinations, as well as policy documents within and across jurisdictions. It argues that irrespective of the jurisdiction, numerous changes over nearly 50 years to the rules governing the senior certificates have been principally responses to the original and continuing need to prepare young people for university and the more recent need to cater for near universal participation in the senior secondary years. It argues there is no consistent and shared view of the purpose of the senior secondary certificates, no consistent approaches to dealing with disadvantage, and continuing difficulties in meeting the needs of the full range of young people in the senior years, particularly those from regional and remote areas, Indigenous communities and low socio-economic status students. There is also considerable variability in retention rates and rates of attainment of the senior secondary certificates as well as the calculation of the Australian Admissions Tertiary Rank (ATAR) score which was primarily designed for university selection purposes. The certificates also have limited emphasis on capabilities in their design and considerable variation in the manner in which literacy and numeracy minimum standards are defined, set and assessed. Furthermore, there is no consistent approach regarding compulsory subjects or a core curriculum, the design and implementation of VET courses and the evolving role of the ATAR.
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    Evaluation of Chances for Children 2015
    KLATT, M ; Gillis, S ; Polesel, J ; North, S (Chances for Children, 2015)
    This study was undertaken to evaluate the Chances for Children program, established in 2000, which supports children and young people in the Mallee region of Victoria and south west New South Wales. It aims to remove financial barriers for those who, without financial support, would not be able to achieve their full potential (in tertiary education, secondary school, or sporting and musical activities). It also provides assistance for those with learning difficulties.
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    PISA Data: Raising concerns with its use in policy settings
    Gillis, S ; Polesel, J ; Wu, M (Springer, 2016-03)
    This article considers the role played by policy makers, government organisations, and research institutes (sometimes labelled ‘‘think tanks’’) in the analysis, use and reporting of PISA data for the purposes of policy advice and advocacy. It draws on the ideas of Rizvi and Lingard (Globalizing Education Policy, 2010), Bogdandy and Goldmann (Governance by Indicators/ Global Power through Quantification and Rankings, 2012) and others to explore the ways in which such ‘‘agents of change’’ can interpret, manipulate and disseminate the results of data arising from large scale assessment survey programs such as PISA to influence and determine political and/or educational research agendas. This article illustrates this issue by highlighting the uncertainty surrounding the PISA data that have been used by a number of prominent, high profile agents of change to defend policy directions and advice. The final section of this paper highlights the need for policy makers and their advisors to become better informed of the technical limitations of using international achievement data if such data are to be used to inform policy development and educational reforms.
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    VET in Schools: strengthening delivery and assessment outcomes
    Gillis, S ; BATEMAN, A ; Dyson, C (TVET Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, 2011)
    The National Quality Council (NQC) funded a consortium led by Victoria University to design and implement 11 interactive sessions across each state and territory. The aim of the sessions was to communicate outcomes of the NQC’s current work on assessment to schools involved in the delivery of VET qualifications recognised under the AQF. This included schools that were either school-based RTOs and/or those schools who had partnership and/or auspicing arrangements with other RTOs. The relevant findings of the NQC funded projects to be communicated as part of the dissemination strategy included the reports and support materials available from the NQC website in relation to assessment, validation and moderation. The NQC completed these projects in 2009 and 2010 and was interested in ensuring that the key outcomes of the projects were shared with school teachers/assessors delivering nationally recognized VET qualifications.
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    Mapping adult literacy performance — support document
    Gillis, S ; Dulhunty, M ; Wu, M ; Calvitto, L ; Pancini, G (Victoria University, 2013)
    In 2010, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) conducted a preliminary study to determine the feasibility of mapping the performance levels of the international Adult Literacy and Life Skill Survey (ALLS) to those of the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF) using a Delphi technique (Circelli, Curtis, Perkins, 20111 ). In that study, a small number of adult literacy and numeracy experts used their professional judgement to qualitatively align a sample of ALLS items to the ACSF levels. At the completion of the study, there was general consensus among the participants that: • the mapping process was feasible for the: o Reading domain of the ACSF to the ALLS prose and document literacy domains; as well as the o Numeracy domains of the two frameworks. • a larger-scale research study should be undertaken to empirically align the two frameworks onto a single scale for each of the two domains (i.e., Reading and Numeracy). The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) commissioned Victoria University (Shelley Gillis) in conjunction with Educational Measurement Solutions (Margaret Wu and Mar k Dulhunty) to undertake the larger-scale research study.
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    Career Development: Defining and Measuring Quality.
    Rice, S ; Gillis, S ; Leahy, M ; Polesel, J (Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne, 2015)
    In August 2014, the NSW Legislative Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recommended that: by June 2015, the Department of Education and Communities conduct an evaluation of the quality and appropriateness of career advice provided in schools. To undertake such an evaluation, it is first necessary to determine what is meant by ‘quality and appropriateness of career advice provided in schools’. Given that there are no universal definitions or measures of quality career advice, the University of Melbourne has been engaged by the NSW DEC to: • Undertake an extensive literature review to identify best practice indicators of quality career advice within school contexts. • Determine to what extent existing data available from within the three data collection programs within the DEC (i.e., the Expectations and Destinations of NSW Senior Secondary Students Survey, the Student Pathways Survey and the annual Online School to Work Program reporting) can be re-analysed to provide evidence of ‘quality career advice’ in accordance with the best practice indicators identified. • Recommend further strategies and actions the Department should consider to adequately respond to the Public Accounts Committee’s recommendation.
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    Overview of the Empirical Validation of the Strengthened Australian Qualifications Framework
    Gillis, S ; DULHUNTY, M ; Wu, M ; CALVITTO, L ; BATEMAN, A (Australian Qualifications Framework Council, Australian Government, 2010)
    The aim of this study was to undertake an empirical analysis of the revised design of the strengthened Australian Qualifications Framework. In particular, four elements of the revised framework were to be examined: the levels structure, with 10 levels expressed as learning outcomes (referred to as 'levels criteria'); revised descriptors for each of the existing 14 qualification types (and two kinds [the Master's and Doctoral Degree qualifications types had two kinds: other and research]) expressed as learning outcomes (referred to as 'qualification type descriptors'); the relationship between the qualification types and the levels structure; [and] an estimate of the notional duration of student learning for each qualification type. The major aims of the empirical validation were to: estimate the complexity of the criteria for each of the levels, and for each set, compare the estimates with the proposed 10-level structure; estimate the complexity of each qualification type descriptor for each of the 14 qualification types; identify any potentially redundant and non-discriminating levels criteria and/or qualification type descriptors; determine where each qualification type is typically positioned within the proposed 10-level structure; [and] investigate the adequacy of the suggested duration for each qualification type.
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    Empirical validation of the Strengthened Australian Qualifications Framework using Item Response Theory
    Gillis, S ; Wu, M ; DULHUNTY, M ; CALVITTO, L ; BATEMAN, A ( 2010)
    This study set out to empirically examine the revised architectural design of the Strengthened Australian Qualifications Framework. There were four elements of the strengthened framework that were to be examined: 1. A levels structure with ten levels expressed as learning outcomes (referred to as Levels Criteria) 2. Revised descriptors for each of the existing 14 Qualification Types (and two kinds) expressed as learning outcomes (referred to as Qualification Type Descriptors). 3. The interaction between the Qualification Types and the Levels Structure. 4. A measurement of the notional duration of student learning for each Qualification Type. The study was designed to examine the measurement properties of three of the four elements listed above (i.e., 1, 2 & 3). It was also designed to examine the appropriateness of the assigned notional duration of student learning for each Qualification Type (i.e., 4).
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    Industry e-validation of assessment exemplars: Independent Review Report
    Gillis, S ; Clayton, B ; BATEMAN, A (Flexible Learning Advisory Group, Australian Government, 2013)
    This report first summarises the common features of the six e-validation programs piloted in terms of the unit/qualification focus, industry areas, partnership arrangements and assessment methods validated. It then attempts to summarise the common steps and activities undertaken by each RTO to prepare and conduct the e-validation. Next, the resourcing implications for the industry partners are discussed in terms of professional development needs, technology requirements, financial and workload implications. Finally, the benefits of the program and its implications for policy and practice are discussed.