A cloud hangs over Ararat's Year 12 students results, despite a reassuring message from the Victorian Education minister.
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Last week, James Merino said special considerations would be made for students in their final year of schooling, primarily done via remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, Marian College principal Carmel Barker said more details are needed.
"There's still a lot of clarity to happen around it all," she said.
"Results are based on the GAT test, the final exams, and where a student was standing before (the COVID-19 pandemic).
"I think that's important to know because, for students that were doing well, you'd like them to continue to be at the same level.
"Apart from that, it (the announcement) doesn't say a whole lot about the individual subjects and the adjustments of SACs.
"At the end of the day, the message was trying to relax the kids, and that probably had an effect.
"It gives some comfort to the students, but I'm not sure that it answers a lot of questions."
On August 7, James Merlino, the Victorian education minister, said every Victorian student would be individually assessed, and any adverse impacts of coronavirus will be reflected in ATAR rankings.
Mr Merlino added the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) would introduce a wide-ranging 'Consideration of Educational Disadvantage' process to calculate VCE scores, taking into account disruptions to learning caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
"It is important," Ms Barker said.
"I think the kids are all feeling the pressure.
"We (Marian College) are trying to keep the kids motivated ... to continue to do their best.
"But, a lot of the SACs just can't be done under current circumstances."
A SAC - school assessed coursework - is the primary assessment piece of a VCE subject and must be done in class time.
With the majority of the 2020 school year undertaken by remote learning, Ms Barker fears the SACs may not have the same weight as previous years.
"A lot of the SACs just can't be done under current circumstances, because you cannot verify them if they're just in the home," she said.
"To have students come onsite to do them, we'd have dozens of kids coming on every day.
"Now that's the last thing we want at that point."
The principal said the summative nature of VCE assessments makes it challenging to rank students from across the state without SACs.
"You can't just leave out SACs because authentication is hard," she said.
"There's just so many questions still for us that we're hoping over the next few weeks that they start to become clearer to schools.
"I think VCAA is working through that."
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