ACACA Project

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ACACA Project

• A national approach to access and incentives to
  study Asian and other languages at the senior
  secondary school level

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• Project initiated by
• Australasian Curriculum, Assessment and
  Certification Authorities (ACACA)
• funded by the
• Department of Education, Employment and Workplace
  Relations (DEEWR)
• as part of the
• National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools
  Program (NALSSP)

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NALSSP

• by 2020 at least 12 of Year 12 students will
  exit school with fluency in one of the four
  target Asian languages Chinese (Mandarin),
  Indonesian, Japanese and Korean.

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Current NALSSP Projects

• A National Approach to Access and Incentives to
  Study Asian and other Languages Courses at the
  Senior Secondary School Level
• Expected completion date December 2009
• Development of Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese,
  Indonesian and Korean for Heritage Speakers at
  the Senior Secondary Level
• Expected completion date September 2010
• Examination of Student Achievement in Asian
  Languages Education
• Expected completion date June 2010
• Investigation into the Current State of
  Indonesian, Japanese, and Korean Language
  Education in Australian Schools
• Expected completion date August 2009

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A National Approach to Access and Incentives to
Study Asian and other Languages Courses at the
Senior Secondary School Level

• There are two key objectives for this Project
• Investigate and analyse effective access to Asian
  language courses of study at the senior secondary
  level and
• recommend a national approach to determining
  student access to appropriate courses of study in
  Asian languages Chinese (Mandarin), Indonesian,
  Japanese and Korean at the senior secondary
  level, and
• Investigate and analyse incentives to study
  languages at the senior secondary level and
• recommend an approach to maximise student
  participation in Asian and other language studies
  at the senior secondary level.
• Expected completion date December 2009

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Working Party and Reference Group Membership

• ACACA Agencies
• Asian Education Foundation (AEF)
• Australasian Conference of Tertiary Admissions
  Centres (ACTAC)
• Ministerial Council on Education, Employment,
  Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA)
• Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social
  Sciences and Humanities (DASSH)

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About the Project

• A National Approach to Access and Incentives to
  Study Asian and other Languages Courses at the
  Senior Secondary School Level

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Project Progress

• Completed
• Investigation of current eligibility criteria
• In progress
• Nationally consistent set of names for the levels
  of language matched to the characteristics of the
  content and standards of the courses
• Development of options for an incentive-based
  model for student enrolment in language courses

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ACCESS

• Ensuring students are able to access language
  courses at an appropriate level in the senior
  secondary years of schooling
• Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean
• are offered at more than one level in most
  Australian states and territories
• have language cohorts that contain distinct
  groups of students with particular language and
  cultural experiences, skills and learning needs
• From the range of levels offered,
• how do students access courses at the level
  appropriate to their learning needs and
  proficiency in the language?
• compete with like students for high tertiary
  entry scores?

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ACCESS

• Mechanisms for student access to levels of
  language study in Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese
  and Korean
• Current practice
• Students meet defined criteria for eligibility to
  study a level
• based on accepting some students into a level and
  excluding others
• in the students interest to get into the lowest
  level of study possible
• Other mechanisms
• A preferred alternative is an incentive-based
  model

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INCENTIVES

• What would motivate students to enroll in the
  highest possible level of language study in
  Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese or Korean at senior
  secondary level
• without being disadvantaged?
• without being unfairly advantaged compared to
  other students?

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Characteristics of an incentive-based approach

• Undertaking development of options for an
  incentive-based model for student enrolment in
  language courses represents a move to a model
  where the student makes a choice of which course
  to do, to maximise their gain in the senior
  secondary years.
• This requires a change from systems in which
  students are allocated to courses, to one where a
  student chooses a suitable language course based
  on perceptions of their own talent, commitment
  and likely result.

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In an incentive-based model for student enrolment
in language studies provided at multiple levels

• the choice of level would not in itself confer a
  disproportionate advantage or disadvantage in
  terms of competing with other students for
  tertiary entrance, public credit through
  reporting, or other credit, and
• the balance between the gains and the effort
  demanded is set so that students with background
  or prior learning are more likely to undertake
  the more demanding courses because they can get a
  higher reward by doing so, or lower reward for
  not doing so, and
• the competition between language students at the
  senior secondary level would be fair.

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An incentive-based model may also

• be applicable to a broader range of languages
• work alongside the extra incentive of bonuses for
  the study of languages at senior secondary level
• provide incentives to attract more students to
  the study of languages at the senior secondary
  school level

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• This project supports work being done to promote
  the study of languages on other fronts and could
  make a major contribution to achieving the NALSSP
  goals.
• The provision of Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese
  and Korean language studies involves addressing
  issues specific to the Australian context.
• Effective provision of language studies in the
  Australian context is complex.