SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATION BOARD TRAVEL

In reply to Mr PISONI (Unley) (30 June 2011) (Estimates Committee B).

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Education and Child Development):

1. Malaysia—March 2010

From 14 to 19 March 2010 a total of four SACE Board staff travelled to Malaysia:

Dr Paul Kilvert, Chief Executive

Mr Graham Benger, Executive Manager, Information Systems

Ms Kate Cooper, Manager, Learning and Assessment Design

Ms Lois Ey, Curriculum Officer

Purposes of travel:

Mr Benger undertook site visits to two colleges (one located in Johor Bahru and the other in Ipoh) that had applied to the SACE Board to become accredited providers of the South Australian Matriculation (SAM) Program.

Mr Benger and Dr Kilvert met with the senior management of the SAM schools to provide information and advice relating to the SACE and the delivery of the SAM Program:

Taylor's College Subang Jaya

Taylor's College Sri Hartamas

INTI International University

Institut Sinaran

Kolej Disted

International Education College (INTEC)

Ms Cooper and Ms Ey provided professional development workshops and training to staff of the SAM colleges on changes to the SAM Program resulting from the introduction of the new SACE.

2. Malaysia—September 2010

Mr Graham Benger travelled to Malaysia from 1-3 September 2010 to meet with senior management of the SAM schools to discuss issues of importance identified by the SAM schools:

Branding and marketing of the SAM Program

Assessment and quality assurance processes in the context of the introduction of changes resulting from the new SACE

SAM College operational matters

3. China—September 2010

Dr Antonio Mercurio, Executive Manager, Curriculum Services, travelled to China from 27-30 September 2010 for the following purposes:

Annual visit to Qianhuang International College, located in Jiangsu Province, to provide the schools with information and professional development in the delivery and assessment of the SAM Program.

Site inspection visit at Ningbo International School, located in Ningbo, south of Shanghai. Ningbo International School has expressed interest in seeking accreditation as a SAM school.

Dr Mercurio also held a meeting with staff from Dipont, another educational institution which has expressed interest in the possibility of offering the SAM Program.

4. Singapore Third Languages Project: 5-9 July 2010

Dr Antonio Mercurio, Executive Manager, Curriculum Services,

Fayrouz Akaja, SACE Examiner for Arabic

Lee Pereira, SACE Examiner for Bahasa Indonesia

Over the past six years the SACE Board has worked with the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) and the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) in the areas of assessment, curriculum development and languages education. In September 2007 the SACE Board entered a commercial agreement with the SEAB to conduct the setting of the syllabus and examinations for Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia as third languages of the SEAB.

The purpose of this trip was to set the standards for the Third Language subjects, and to carry out a site inspection visit of a prospective new SAM school in Singapore.

Note: Travel, accommodation and consultancy fees for 5, 6 and 7 July was funded by the SEAB, not the SACE Board.