Board of Senior Secondary Studies Act 1997

This Act is the Board of Senior Secondary Studies Act 1997.

The dictionary at the end of this Act is part of this Act.

Note 1 The dictionary at the end of this Act defines certain terms used in this Act, and includes references (signpost definitions) to other terms defined elsewhere in this Act.

For example, the signpost definition ‘senior secondary education—see section 3A.’ means that the term ‘senior secondary education’ is defined in that section.

Note 2 A definition in the dictionary (including a signpost definition) applies to the entire Act unless the definition, or another provision of the Act, provides otherwise or the contrary intention otherwise appears (see Legislation Act, s 155 and s 156 (1)).

A note included in this Act is explanatory and is not part of this Act.

Note See the Legislation Act, s 127 (1), (4) and (5) for the legal status of notes.

Education is senior secondary education if it is normally provided to students in the final 2 years of full-time secondary schooling.

An educational institution is a recognised educational institution if it—

provides, or offers to provide, courses suitable for senior secondary education; and

is either—

established or registered under a Commonwealth or State law; or

a school declared under subsection (2).

Note State includes the Northern Territory (see Legislation Act, dict, pt 1).

The Minister may declare a school to be a recognised educational institution if the school—

is established and operates in another country; and

does not operate in Australia; and

has entered into an agreement with the board in relation to 1 or more of the following:

the accreditation by the board of courses taught by the school;

the assessment by the board of the school’s students;

the issue by the board of certificates of attainment to the school’s students;

the exercise of other functions of the board in relation to the provision of senior secondary education by the school.

A declaration is a notifiable instrument.

This section applies to an agreement if it—

is entered into by the Territory, the Commonwealth, a State or the Northern Territory; and

deals with the provision of vocational education.

The Minister may declare the agreement is a national agreement.

A declaration under subsection (2) is a notifiable instrument.

The Board of Senior Secondary Studies is established.

Note The Legislation Act, dict, pt 1, defines establish as including continue in existence.

The board—

is a corporation; and

may sue and be sued in its corporate name; and

may have a seal.

The board represents the Territory when exercising its functions, unless this Act or another territory law otherwise provides.

The main functions of the board are as follows:

to accredit or register courses taught by recognised educational institutions;

to approve, consistent with national agreements, recognised educational institutions for teaching vocational education courses;

to establish guidelines for the development of courses by the board or by a recognised educational institution;

to establish principles and procedures for the assessment of attainments of students and the moderation of the assessments;

to provide to people who have undertaken courses, or units of courses, certificates and transcripts of their attainments;

to provide information on—

the performance of students and former students; and

the policies and procedures of the board;

to review its own operations and the operation of this Act;

to advise the Minister on any matter mentioned in this section (including something mentioned in section 5A to section 5D).

Note A provision of a law that gives an entity a function also gives the entity powers necessary and convenient to exercise the function (see Legislation Act, s 196 and dict, pt 1, def entity).

For section 5 (a), the board has the following additional functions:

to establish guidelines (accreditation guidelines) for the accreditation of courses, including vocational education courses;

to ensure national agreements about the accreditation of vocational education and training courses are applied, if appropriate;

to identify the minimum resources necessary for the satisfactory provision of the courses that the board decides.

For section 5 (d), the board has the following additional functions:

to prepare guidelines and requirements for the assessment of student attainments;

to make arrangements for the administration by recognised educational institutions of the test known as the Australian Scaling Test, or any other test instead of the Australian Scaling Test that is approved by the board;

to develop and implement procedures for the moderation of student assessments;

to develop procedures for—

recognised educational institutions to review the assessments of their students; and

the board to review the procedures used by recognised educational institutions to assess their students or review their student assessments; and

recognised educational institutions, or the board, to review disciplinary action taken by recognised educational institutions in relation to their student assessments.

For section 5 (e), the board has the following additional functions:

to prepare guidelines for the issue of certificates of attainment;

to make the arrangements that the board considers appropriate to ensure to the greatest extent possible that certificates issued by the board are recognised by employers and providers of further training or higher education;

to consult institutions that provide tertiary education or vocational education or training for the purpose of reviewing from time to time the effect of their requirements and procedures for the admission of students and to provide appropriate guidance to the institutions;

to issue, consistent with national agreements, certificates or other evidence of the achievements of vocational education or training qualifications.

For section 5 (f), the board has the following additional functions:

to collect and record information about the performances of students;

to provide, to institutions that provide tertiary education or vocational education or training, information on applicants for admission to the institutions;

to publicise the guidelines, requirements, procedures and standards for assessments, certification and accreditation used by the board;

to make available, as decided by the board, statistical information about—

senior secondary education in the ACT; and

the functions of the board;

if appropriate, to recognise secondary educational attainments obtained outside the ACT and provide statements of equivalence if asked.