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1 April 2014 Senior secondary Number: 026/14
Revised quality assurance process for
Authority-registered subjects and short courses
Purpose
To advise schools of enhancements and refinements to the quality assurance process for Authority-registered subjects and short courses.
Background
In order to ensure that the levels of achievement in Authority-registered subjects and short courses match requirements, a quality assurance process is followed.
Schools do this in partnership with the QSA. The maintenance and continual improvement of the school’s quality management system ensures the reliability of judgments about student
achievement.
There are four phases in the quality assurance process for Authority-registered subjects, and three of those phases also apply to short courses:
study plans
internal reviews
moderation meetings (Authority-registered subjects only)
external reviews.
Quality management of the moderation process requires internal processes to be transparent, reliable and responsive to external advice. Enhancements and refinements to these processes will further streamline each school's quality management system.
What has changed?
Changes to the quality assurance process include:
revised handbook for the Quality assurance of Authority-registered subjects and short courses
simplified internal review report template for school use
simplified external review report for completion by QSA officers
removal of the requirement to present sample annotated folios for the award of a notional sound for literacy and numeracy at external reviews
addition of a focused external review where significant issues are identified in the external review report.
Schools will continue to conduct annual internal reviews to quality assure the implementation of all SASs and QSA-approved short courses offered by the school.
Memo
Queensland Studies Authority
14171 R1
Revised quality assurance process for Authority-registered subjects and short courses 1 April 2014 | Page 2 of 2
External reviews and focused external reviews
All schools with one or more approved study plans or who offer one or more short courses will have an external review at least twice in a six-year cycle.
When an external review has identified:
nil or minor issues, the next full external review will be scheduled to meet the requirement for a review at least twice within a six-year cycle
a significant issue with a school's quality management system, follow-up strategies by the school will be required within the same year and a focused external review will be conducted in the following year.
External reviews will no longer confirm notional sound decisions for literacy and numeracy, as this duplicated existing processes followed in monitoring, verification and moderation meetings.
What you need to do
Please bring this memo to the attention of staff in your school responsible for the quality assurance and implementation of SASs and short courses.
Finding out more
Updated resources are available from the QSA’s Senior moderation hub:
the revised Quality assurance of Authority-registered subjects and short courses handbook at www.qsa.qld.edu.au/10773.html
moderation forms at www.qsa.qld.edu.au/1426.html.
For more information please email the Quality Assurance Unit at [email protected], or phone 3864 0375.
Kathryn Tully
Acting Deputy Director Curriculum Services Division
