The Victorian Government will continue to provide extra support to students in their final years of school, with the Consideration of Educational Disadvantage process to continue in 2021 in light of continued disruptions to the school year.

Once again, Victorian students have done a remarkable job adapting to the ongoing impacts of the pandemic on schooling in 2021 – with coronavirus restrictions forcing students across the state back to remote learning and pushing back important school milestones.

With so few Australians vaccinated, and the Delta variant causing unprecedented situations right around the country, the CED process will ensure that every student is assessed fairly, with any disruptions to learning throughout the year factored into their results.

In a normal year, individual students are assessed for special consideration on a case by case basis – but the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority will again use the CED process to finalise VCE results for each and every student completing one or more VCE or scored VCE VET Unit 3 –4 sequence in 2021.

Consistent with the approach in 2020, the process considers a range of data alongside exam results to calculate final VCE results – like the General Achievement Test (GAT), comparisons of performance across all assessments and schools and other learning data.

The process will also include assessments of the individual impact of coronavirus on each student including school closures, direct impacts on student’ health, ongoing issues with remote learning and mental health challenges.

All Year 12 VCAL students will also have access to individual consideration – with schools required to apply special consideration for all students who have been subject to significant disruptions.

On advice from the Chief Health Officer that the current restrictions will continue until Tuesday 27 July, the GAT will be rescheduled to 12 August, pending further public health advice and logistical constraints on that date.

The rescheduling of the GAT will allow schools time to organise logistics and put COVIDSafe protocols in place to make sure students and staff can participate safely with minimal disruption to their assessments.