PATHWAYS AFTER YEAR TEN Information to Help Students Select
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A COLLEGE OF THE UNITING CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA PATHWAYS AFTER YEAR TEN Information to help students select their courses for 2011 A glimpse into the future - A person leaving school today can expect: to have 6 – 10 changes in jobs to have at least 3 – 4 different occupations during a lifetime to be involved in a variety of job patterns to spend time unemployed to be involved in formal education throughout their lifetime to move away from the area or country in which they were born to be involved in jobs/careers that don’t yet exist to use technology that has not yet been thought of Source: Colin Ball, Kevin Richardson, Peter Ellyard Do not make decisions for Year Eleven and Twelve lightly. There are many sources of information available. Use them all to help you choose wisely. Front cover artwork by Mrs Louise Hardwick TRANBY COLLEGE A College of the Uniting Church Choosing a Pathway A student in Western Australia needs to remain at school, or be engaged in another approved option, until the end of the year in which he or she turns 17 years of age. Students have an important role to play in deciding where they want to be and what they want to be doing until then. These questions cannot just be answered in terms of the next one or two years. Decisions that students make during Year Ten and Eleven must take into account the goals that they have for their life after school. Very few Year Ten and Eleven students are committed to a single career. Most have a range of interests and a range of abilities. Before a pathway can be selected, options need to be explored. Students should not limit themselves to specific jobs, but should consider broader career paths. Information is available from a range of sources. Job Guides, University and TAFE Handbooks are all available in the College and on the Internet. Career counsellors at universities and TAFE are a good source of information. These institutions hold ―Open Days‖ where all courses and aspects of campus life can be explored. Industry bodies are also willing to help. The ―Careers Caravan‖ from the Kwinana Industries Education Partnership is stationed at Tranby at times during the year to provide careers counselling and advice. Students also visited one of two careers, education and employment expos in Semester One. Once students have decided upon broad career areas, they need to determine the best method to reach their goals. Most of the above sources of information will also be able to help with this step, as will teaching staff at Tranby College. There are essentially three school-based pathways beyond Year Ten available to students: 1. Preparation for entrance to university. 2. Preparation for entrance to TAFE. 3. Preparation for entrance to the workforce and apprenticeships. It is also important to note that many students go to TAFE after leaving school and then on to university. The course selection process starts in Term Three and continues until almost the end of the year. In the first instance Year Ten students are asked to select six courses for Year Eleven from the list in this book. Year Eleven students are generally asked to select six courses for Year Twelve but choosing a ―Study Line‖ is an option for students studying at Stage 2 and 3 in their Year Twelve. To support them in doing this, two separate information evenings will be held at the College. The first will be a presentation about the requirements to achieve the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) at the conclusion of Year Twelve. The second will be an opportunity to hear teachers of each course describe what is studied in the course, and to ask questions about its suitability for students. Teachers will recommend to Year Ten students which Mathematics and English course is most suitable for them. The forms containing the initial choices are returned to Mr Davies, then staff will meet with the students and discuss their choices with them. We are committed to helping students make the best choice for themselves. We will not prevent a student from studying a course that interests him or her. However, students and parents do need to be mindful of advice from teachers about the courses in which it is thought they will have the greatest success. Experience has shown that students who do not follow the advice given by their relevant teacher may have difficulty in succeeding with courses and this can lead to considerable stress and anxiety, and a poor start to Year Eleven from which it is sometimes difficult to recover. Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) All students who complete Year Twelve are eligible to receive the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE). The Curriculum Council issues this certificate to students who meet all the requirements for Secondary Graduation. Criteria for achievement of the WACE are currently different for students in Year Ten and Eleven in 2010. Both sets of criteria are listed below: To qualify for a WACE, a current Year Ten student must: Complete at least twenty course units – must include four units from English or Literature during Years Eleven & Twelve (at least two units in the final year of schooling); Achieve a C grade average or better across the best 16 course units, of which at least 8 must be completed in Year Twelve; Achieve Curriculum Council English Language Competence – automatically achieved with a C grade in any Stage 1 or higher course in English or Literature; Complete, in the final year of study, at least one pair of course units from List A (arts/languages/social science), and List B (mathematics/ science/technology). The complete lists may be found at the end of this booklet, and; Sit for Stage 2 and 3 WACE examinations, unless exempt, and ―make a genuine attempt‖. To qualify for a WACE, a current Year Eleven student must: Complete at least twenty course units or acceptable alternatives, including at least three two- unit combinations (e.g. 2A/B, 2C/D, 3A/B); Obtain an average grade of C or better in at least ten course units from at least five courses, including at least three two-unit combinations. For the three two-unit combinations, the last two units completed are used in the calculation; Achieve requirements for English language competence and complete four English course units (at least two units must be studied in the final year of schooling): Complete, in the final year of study, at least one course (two units) from List A (arts/languages/social sciences) and List B (mathematics/science/technology). The complete lists may be found at the end of this booklet, and; Sit for WACE examinations, unless exempt. All students enrolled in a pair of units at Stage 2 or 3 must sit the external examination and ―make a genuine attempt‖. Note: Lists A & B are included at the end of this booklet. The Curriculum Council issues a Statement of Results to students who complete Year Twelve. The Statement of Results will include: English language competence, if achieved exhibitions and awards granted WACE course scores school and examination results and scaled scores in Stage 2 and 3 courses grades achieved in course units VET qualifications and VET units of competency achieved endorsed programs achieved community service hours completed. A WACE course report will also be issued to all students who sit the external examination in that course. Further information about the WACE is available on the Curriculum Council‘s website (www.curriculum.wa.edu.au ) What do students have to do to gain entrance to university? There are four public universities in Western Australia, (Edith Cowan, Murdoch, Curtin and the University of Western Australia) and an independent Catholic university (Notre Dame). In each case, the entry requirements to faculties and courses may be quite different. Students are advised to consult the handbooks for each institution which are published each year and are available through their websites. Entry to Notre Dame University is quite different to that for the public universities. Less emphasis is placed upon a student‘s performance in the final examinations and course combinations than upon evidence of academic rigour and school assessment of potential. Also considered are a written application, interview, and school and personal references. Students apply directly to Notre Dame University for entry. Each of the public universities bases their selection on four selection criteria: i) Achievement of the WACE. (This is described in the preceding section) ii) Competence in English, and normally a scaled mark of at least 50 in a Stage 2 or 3 English or Literature course. iii) Australian Tertiary Admittance Rank The Australian Tertiary Admittance Rank (ATAR) is a mark out of 100, which ranks each student against all other students. To obtain an ATAR, students must sit the external examinations in at least four Stage 2 or 3 courses. Students must obtain a sufficiently high ATAR for entry to a particular university and/or course. It is very difficult to predict what ATAR will be the required score for entrance to the various courses at each university and the most appropriate course of action would be to review the entrance scores from the previous years as a guide. This information is available from the TISC (Tertiary Institutions Service Centre) website at www.tisc.edu.au . Students can also check their estimated ATAR on the TISC website at www.tisc.edu.au/tiscguide/calculator.jsp . (iv) Prerequisite Courses: A fourth selection criterion that universities may apply is the requirement that students have studied and passed certain courses at Year Twelve level prior to commencing university.