Brauer College principal Jane Boyle supports a move to abandon the release of VCE results by text message after the school was caught up in last year’s “fiasco”.
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Ms Boyle said it was a nervous time and created uncertainty for six Brauer College VCE students who were some of the 2293 students who received their ATAR results via text message five days early.
A damning report has found an outsourced programmer working in Sri Lanka for marketing company Salmat Digital was responsible for the bungle.
Ms Boyle said students contacted her and other teachers to confirm if their results were legitimate. “They didn’t know if they were genuine results,” Ms Boyle said. “It was quite a nervous time for those students.
“They were uncertain at that stage. I couldn’t verify the results. It was the first that I knew about it and I had to assume it was a scam or some error they were receiving those results.
“At 11pm I got confirmation that there was an error but the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority couldn’t tell me if the results were correct. A follow up phone call the next day confirmed the results were correct.”
This year students will access a new app developed in-house which will send VCE students a message notifying them of the availability of their VCE results and ATARs.
Year 12 student Casey Williams said although receiving a text was convenient, she felt more secure with the new system.
She said waiting for results already created anxiety. “Hopefully something like that doesn’t happen again,” Casey said.
King’s College principal Allister Rouse said the change wouldn’t make a difference to its VCE students. “In previous years, our students have accessed their results online, so the change in practice has no impact on our students,” Mr Rouse said.
Warrnambool College principal Dave Clift said it was a decision made by Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority which was out of the school’s control.
