Teaching and Learning Report

By Director of Teaching and Learning, Mrs Julia Petrov

GAT Trial

On Friday, June 4, a significant number of our Year 11 students participated in a trial General Assessment Test (GAT) conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research.

From 2022, the Victoria Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) will be introducing new literacy and numeracy standards to be reported on all VCE and VCAL Certificates based on a student’s performance on the GAT. This is in addition to the current functions of the GAT which are to assist as a check should a student’s exam need to be re-marked or to create a derived exam score should a student legitimately miss an exam.

By participating in the GAT trial, students had the opportunity to experience the proposed GAT writing tasks and format that will be used in 2022. They will also receive some feedback on their performance.

We were impressed with the way in which the students conducted themselves and appreciate that the excitement of returning to school after remote learning was perhaps somewhat dampened by sitting in exam conditions for an extended period of time. However, this experience puts them in good stead for when they will be required to participate in the new version of the GAT in 2022.