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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 1012 asked in the Legislative Council on 24 November 2010 by Hon Lynn Maclaren

Parliament: 38 Session: 1


WESTERN AUSTRALIAN CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATION — ERRORS IN EXAMS


1012. Hon LYNN MacLAREN to the minister representing the Minister for Education:

My question relates to the errors in this year’s Western Australian Certificate of Education exams.

(1) How is the minister responding to parents who are distressed and concerned about the exam results and the potential impact on their children’s educational futures?

(2) What specific actions will the minister take to ensure that students who sat papers containing errors will be assessed in a fair manner in respect of —

          (a) the physics paper;

          (b) the modern history paper;

          (c) the music paper; and

          (d) the 3A/3B maths paper?

Hon PETER COLLIER replied:

I thank the honourable member for some notice of this question. The minister has supplied the following answer —

(1)–(2) I have grave concerns about errors in a number of examination papers and mishaps at a number of individual examination centres. I have met with the chairman and the chief executive officer of the Curriculum Council of Western Australia on three occasions during the course of the examinations, and my office has been in regular contact with the Curriculum Council on these matters. I have been assured by the chairman and chief executive officer that the examination results will be closely monitored, and that the results of affected candidates will be adjusted where necessary to ensure that they are fair and that no student will be disadvantaged. The chief executive officer has also invited students who potentially may have been affected to contact him directly after the results are released if they have any concerns. The member should note that I have not been informed of any error in the 3A/3B maths paper; however, there was an error in the 3C/3D maths paper.