Melbourne VCE – early commencement period: students starting ‘term 1a’

Sonia Francis of Avivo Elite Tutoring said she was juggling many questions for tutoring as students begin early start periods for the International Baccalaureate and VCE this week.

He said mostly selective and private schools have a longer early start period, but not all.

“If schools aren’t doing ECP, we start saying, ‘Well, let’s review, let’s look at your issues,'” he said.

Avivo is also offering a “head start” program a week before school starts, including one-on-one sessions for students to catch up on homework they missed over the school holidays or just to get ahead.

Meanwhile, MCET tutor Sandy Abey offers a summer “enrichment program” in chemistry and mathematics, with classes held once a week for five weeks during the summer holidays.

Abey says students sign up for private lessons either because they are recommended by teachers or to gain a competitive advantage.

Victoria State Secondary School Principals’ Association president Colin Axup said most state secondary schools had a two-week head start period for VCE.

But many didn’t extend it to four or five weeks. “From a VCE perspective, this is important because we are preparing them for the next year,” Axup said.

But even during the transition period, teachers sometimes struggle to cover everything in the curriculum, he said.

“We are a little concerned that the VCE study designs are too intensive,” he said. “Are we really teaching them to the best of our ability in the time we have? Because of the limited time, 32 weeks or 30 weeks is not a lot of time to complete the study design.”

Jordana Hunter of the Grattan Institute said the ECP made sense and “there’s no good reason why all schools can’t do it”.

“It would probably also help prevent the end-of-year slump that occurred in previous years between end-of-year assessments and the actual end of classes,” he said.

Mary Poulos’ son Michael, who completed his grade 11 exams in October, started grade 12 at Ivanhoe Grammar School last week.

“I believe they have completed a whole subject and are familiar with their subject and their teachers,” he said. “So they do a lot of work.”

Thornbury’s Poulos said he believes starting 12th grade early means students are familiar with their textbooks, teachers and classmates, as well as their expectations.

Michael said this was an opportunity to prepare for next year’s VCE assessment.

“There is a benefit to preparing for exams because we have an extra three or four weeks compared to other schools,” he said. “It gives us a little more study time where we can prepare for better results in the exams.”

A Department for Education spokesman said schools were responsible for planning their own teaching and learning programmes.

“Many secondary schools use the final weeks of the school year to provide VCE orientation programs for students in Years 10 and 11, allowing students to catch up on assignments they have missed throughout the school year,” the spokesperson said.