The head of Victoria’s Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) – the agency overseeing the VCE – has resigned over controversy surrounding year 12 exam papers.
Sample papers for nearly half the subjects included in this year’s final exams were found to have similar material to the actual tests.
The Victorian Government has announced an investigation into the tests. It also said students’ marks could change if they’re found to have been advantaged by the leak.
The chief executive of VCAA, Kylie White, has resigned.
Context
Ahead of VCE exams, the VCAA publishes sample questions and study guides to help school leavers prepare.
It also publishes “cover pages” for the final exams, which include details like the allocated reading time and sections of the paper.
This year, questions for some exams were found to be hidden within digital cover pages. Students were able to find these questions by selecting the text on the cover pages and then copying and pasting that text elsewhere.
Sample cover sheet
The hidden text
Matches
The VCAA said it became aware of the hidden questions in mid-October and removed the impacted cover sheets from its website.
However, the sample sheets can still be accessed through an online archive.
Last week, Melbourne newspaper The Herald Sun revealed some of the questions hidden on the cover pages almost exactly matched the final VCE exam.
Resignation
When reports emerged of the exam question leaks last week, VCAA CEO White told media the error was due to an accidental “production issue”.
On Monday, Education Minister Ben Carroll announced White’s resignation, finding the VCAA failed to make “sufficient enough changes to the VCE questions”.
“VCE exams are stressful enough,” Carroll said.
“The last thing our Year 12 students need is additional stress and uncertainty”.
What now?
The leak affected 56 VCE exams out of the total 116, including legal studies, Australian politics, and business management.
Carroll said a full-scale review of the VCAA is underway. He said it would consider if affected students should get full marks for a question that was published.
“Whilst I’m extremely disappointed and angry by what has occurred, we are taking the right steps to ensure… no student is disadvantaged in the marking of this year’s examinations.”
Shadow Education Minister Jess Wilson welcomed White’s resignation, but said “more needs to be done to ensure that the systemic failures of the last three years are not repeated in 2025.”
Last year, the VCAA was subject to a review after the 2023 maths exams were found to have contained a wrongly labelled graph and multiple questions on content not covered by the VCE course.
In 2022, University of Monash maths professors alleged there were “major errors” in high-level maths exams.
