Why were juries set up?
Following a directive of the Minister for Education (22/1/07) teacher juries were established to provide independent advice to the Curriculum Council on the readiness of senior secondary courses for implementation in 2008. Go to http://newwace.curriculum.wa.edu.au/pages/teacher_juries.asp for further information.

Who runs the teacher juries?
Independent consultant Dr Christina Gillgren, from the Department of Premier and Cabinet, undertook to design and oversee the teacher juries. All juries are run by independent facilitators who are assisted by scribes. The Curriculum Council provides logistical support such as mail out of course materials to jurors, venues, catering, juror accommodation and travel, and so on.

How are teacher juries selected?
Teacher jury selection for Rounds A, B and C was based on schools nominating teachers who were currently, or will be teaching a particular course when it is implemented. This information was provided to the Electoral Commission of WA who randomly selected teachers from across WA who collectively and fairly represented the teacher cohort for each of the courses. The demographics used to determine the jury selection included gender, location (i.e. metropolitan/rural), and whether they taught at Catholic, Independent or public schools. Once potential jurors were identified by the Electoral Commission, invitations to participate on the jury were sent to each teacher. Teachers had the option to either accept or decline the invitation to participate on the jury for their course. When a teacher declined, the next randomly selected teacher would be invited to attend.

What is the role of the teacher jury?
The role of the jury process is to provide an opportunity for consultation and collaboration across the sector to deliver high quality courses in the future.

What are the parameters of the types of decisions and recommendations a teacher jury can provide?
Juries are able to make any decision or recommendation they feel is necessary to improve a particular course. The parameters imposed are that juries must answer the questions put to them, and they should be able to demonstrate the reasons why they have made each decision and/or recommendation.

How were the teacher juries set up?

The teacher juries were initiated by the Minister for Education and Training Mark McGowan in January 2007. To ensure the process was transparent and credible, an independent consultant was engaged to oversee the teacher juries, which would review the proposed and existing new WACE courses. The process was set up in three parts — courses not implemented; mathematics; and, the current eight courses. Stages two and three are now underway.

Schools were asked to nominate teachers who may teach any of the new courses in 2008. These names were provided to the WA Electoral Commission, which conducted an independent jury selection for each course, ensuring there was gender and system/sector equity. Generally, there were 10 jurors for each course.
Jurors were provided with course information, as well as public submissions, to prepare for their jury deliberations. Course writers and submission writers were available to juries for clarifications as required.

However, they were not present for discussions or deliberations.

How are teacher jury facilitators selected?
Submissions were requested from leading Perth facilitators with facilitators chosen by Dr Christina Gillgren, an independent consultant engaged to oversee the teacher jury process, after an evaluation of responses.

What are the questions being posed to the juries?
The questions that are being posed for the juries are different and are based on the main role of each jury.
Go to http://newwace.curriculum.wa.edu.au/pages/teacher_juries.asp for more information.

What questions are the jurors asked?
For the juries considering the readiness of courses not yet implemented (excluding the maths courses), it was determined that the juries, in making their decisions, needed to answer the core question, “Is this courses ready for implementation in 2008?”

In considering this question, jurors focused on four factors which affect implementation.
• Clarity — is the information in the course clear?
• Sufficiency — is there sufficient information in the course?
• Coherence — do parts of the course come together as a whole?
• Appropriateness — is the course of an appropriate standard for current and future students and their post school destinations such as employment, TAFE or university?

Jurors for the 30 July Maths juries considered the question, “For this course to be accredited, are there any further improvements to the course that need to be made?” Jurors for the second round of maths juries will consider the two questions, “Is this course now ready for implementation in 2009” and “What further supports will be required to ensure teachers are adequately prepared to begin implementing this course in 2009?”.

Jurors for the existing eight courses were asked to consider the core question, “In what ways can the ongoing implementation of this course be improved?”
In considering this question, jurors focused on two factors.
“Given the opportunity for minor syllabus adjustments, are there any issues related to any aspects of the course syllabus?” and “If so, what are they, and what improvements do you recommend?”

Where do teachers send submissions?
A public call was made for submissions for the maths courses, via advertisements in the Western Australian Newspaper on 18 and 20 July and Sunday Times on 23 July.
Advertisements calling for submissions for the existing eight courses were published in The Sunday Times on July 15 and The West Australian on July 18 and 21.

Why is the English Jury different to other juries?
English is a course that all secondary students must complete and has the largest number of teachers engaged in delivery. In recognition of these factors, the English jury comprises 50 randomly selected teachers. Additionally, to ensure that all jurors have the opportunity to engage in the deliberations, the jury will be held over a full day. Given the number of teachers involved, the English jury will be assisted by an independent facilitator and scribe for each table of 10 jurors as well as a team to record findings/outcomes as they occur. A final report will be generated on the day to enable the final sign-off on jury outcomes by all jurors.

How is the Mathematics and Mathematics Specialist jury process different from other courses?
The Round B Mathematics juries on July 30 considered if the courses were ready for accreditation. In November 2007, the Round D Mathematics and Mathematics Specialist juries will consider if the courses are now ready for implementation.

There are two Mathematics jury dates, one in July for accreditation (Round B) and the other in November for implementation (Round D) - will the same jurors be involved in both juries?
No, two separate juries will be selected for each course.

When will jury decisions and recommendations be released to the public, and what happens before this information is released?
At the completion of each jury in Rounds B-C, jurors will be provided a copy of the final course specific report for their sign-off. As jurors now sign off the reports immediately, the report will be released as soon as possible thereafter.

What happens after juries make their decision?
The reports that are generated on the night/day of the jury will be incorporated into a larger report to the Curriculum Council and the Minister of Education and Training. Upon receipt of the reports, the Council will then begin to work on the course-specific recommendations provided by each jury. Jurors will receive a copy of the final report as soon as it becomes available.
A validation process that determines if all recommendations have been carried out by the Curriculum Council will be undertaken by the Council. Oversight of the validation process will be retained by the independent consultant (see below regarding validation process design) who will provide a report of the activities undertaken.

Once a course has been accredited and implemented what post-implementation process has been developed to review courses?
The Curriculum Council is in the process of designing a validation process in collaboration with the independent consultant. In essence, a validation process will usually be based on developing a process to confirm that expected outcomes (i.e. such as teacher jury recommendations) have been undertaken to a standard that is appropriate (i.e. Curriculum Council work on course improvement).

How is the teacher jury process evaluated?

A total of 344 teachers completed their jury duty for Round A. Evaluation forms were submitted by 333 jurors (96.8 per cent) and as such the data has statistical significance. Overall, the reported responses for the teacher juries were very positive. The data provided insight into the views of the participants about the jury process and the support offered to individuals to contribute to their capacity to participate in the required deliberations.

Full details are available at http://newwace.curriculum.wa.edu.au/pages/teacher_juries.asp.

Round B and C will also be evaluated using a standard questionnaire developed specifically for teacher juries. The results of the evaluation for teacher juries B and C will be included in the reports generated after these juries have been convened.

Will submissions and the names of submission authors be released?

Consistent with international best practice in community engagement and the need for transparency, the names of the submission writers will be made public on the Curriculum Council website. This list of names will not provide any indicator to the specific submissions received.

Subsequent to the finalisation of jury reports, submissions will also placed on the site. All identifying information will be removed and each submission will be provided a number to act as the identifier.
The names of authors will not be associated with any particular submission.

What is the process for juries for the courses already implemented?
Juries for Applied Information Technologies; Aviation; Earth and Environmental Studies; English; English as an Additional Language/Dialect; Engineering Studies; Media Production and Analysis, and Physical Education Studies will be conducted on the 29 and 30 August. The focus for these juries is to provide advice on changes that might be necessary to improve implementation.

How did teachers find out what changes were to be made to the courses to be implemeted in 2008?

The Curriculum Council, in collaboration with the school sector/systems, delivered professional development to about 1500 teachers of the 13 courses that are to be implemented in 2008. The sessions were hosted at 12 venues in the metropolitan area (11 of these were schools). About 200 teachers attended sessions in the regional centres of Albany, Bunbury/Warren Blackwood, Geraldton and Kalgoorlie. Project officers designed the PD based on feedback gathered from teachers of the course and worked with key stakeholders as part of the development process.

The following content and support materials were developed and presented:
• final course syllabus adjustments
• grade information
• guiding principles for examinations
• assessment outlines
• sample unit programs
• sample assessment tasks and marking keys
• new course content — PD opportunities, and
• other resources/support planned for 2007

Examinations working parties had been convened to develop new sample examination papers and marking keys. The initial documentation of this work was included in the Day 2 PD..

Which courses will proceed in 2008 with minor changes?

Thirteen new courses were approved. They are: Career and Enterprise; Chinese; Computer Science; Dance; Drama; Italian; Marine and Maritime Technology; Materials Design and Technology; Outdoor Education; Philosophy & Ethics; and, Psychology.

Juries were not held for Aboriginal Languages of WA and Aboriginal and Intercultural Studies in recognition of the cultural sensitivity relating to the processes used and responses received during consultation with Elders, other community members and Aboriginal groups at State and national levels. There was also an insufficient number of teachers in schools, with expertise in Aboriginal languages and culture, to be jurors.

Which courses will proceed in 2009 with minor changes?

Twenty courses will proceed with minor changes. They are: Animal Production Systems; Automotive Engineering and Technology; Building and Construction; Chemistry; Children, Family and the Community;

Design; Economics; Food Science and Technology; French; German; Health Studies; History: Ancient and Modern; Human Biological Science; Indonesian; Japanese; Plant Production Systems; Physics; Politics and Law; Religion and Life; Visual Arts.

The first juries for Mathematics and Mathematics Specialist courses were held on July 30. Subsequent juries for the mathematics course will be held in November to determine their readiness for implementation in 2009.

Which courses will proceed in 2009 with significant changes?
Seven courses are having their content, support materials and structure significantly updated in line with the jury recommendations. They are: Accounting and Finance; Biological Sciences; Business Management and Enterprise; Geography; Integrated Science; Literature; and, Music.

When will teachers see the changes that have been made to the courses?

For the 13 additional courses proceeding in 2008:
• revised courses in response to jury recommendation will be available by the end of August or on the
  website as soon as they have been finalised
• all sample examinations will be ready by the end of August or on the website sooner if available
• grading information for stages 1 and 2 will be ready by October 15 and on the website sooner if available.
  For the 20 courses proceeding in 2009 with minor changes and for the two mathematics courses:
• revised courses in response to jury recommendations will be on the website from the end of September,or                    
  as soon as they have been finalised
• all sample examinations will be ready by the end of August, or on the website sooner if finalised.
• grading information for stages 1 and 2 will be ready by October 15 and on the website sooner if available.

For the seven courses proceeding in 2009 with more significant changes:
• Revised courses in response to jury recommendation will be on the website as soon as they are finalised.
• All sample examinations will be ready by 15 October, 2007 for final validation by teachers, or on the website    
  sooner if available.
• grading information for stages 1 and 2 will be ready by 15 October, 2007 for final validation by teachers,
  or on the website sooner if available.