The future for Tasmanian Year 11 and 12 students is under a cloud, with revelations today a flawed system has miscalculated TCE, ATAR and VET results for many students.
Shadow Education Minister Josh Willie said Jeremy Rockliff has failed Tasmanian students through a lack of effective oversight, and hundreds of students may be affected.
"The Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification (TASC) has a history of making mistakes, including the end of last year when ATAR results had to be recalled because they were wrong. This is the third year in a row there've been issues with end of year assessments.
"Now there are concerns about the integrity of the new TRACS database system, throwing into doubt the higher education pathway for many young Tasmanians.
"Students can't apply for university courses they aspire to without having the correct results; if they don't get those results quickly, they could miss out on first round offers as courses fill up."
Mr Willie said Labor had raised concerns about the TRACS system with Jeremy Rockliff in the parliament throughout the year.
"At the start of the year he said minor bugs with the system were being resolved and he had 'full confidence in TRACS'. That's cold comfort to students who are now in limbo.
"Jeremy Rockliff has had all year to fix this.
"Concerns have been raised with him in no uncertain terms, he's ignored those concerns, and this outcome falls squarely at his feet. Coming on the back of last year's disaster, today's news completely undermines confidence in TASC and in the results process.
"Jeremy Rockliff must tell students and their families how he will resolve this in time for young people to make higher education cut-off dates. They shouldn't have to go through this stressful experience at what should be a time of celebration at the end of the school year."
Josh Willie
Shadow Minister for Education
