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Monitor and Manage Student Progress – Domestic Students

Revision Date: 19/02/2024 by Charter Australia

Introduction

This policy is applicable to domestic students who are enrolled in vocational courses with Charter Australia. Charter Australia monitors, records and assesses the progress of each student for the course in which the student is currently enrolled. This involves monitoring academic progress (satisfactory completion of assessment tasks) as well as attendance (classroom attendance and work placement, if applicable). Intervention strategies will be applied to any student who is identified as not making satisfactory progress, and these intervention strategies include reminders, as well as offers of academic support, counselling or other types of support. If a student’s course progress does not improve after a period of time, warning notices will be sent out to the student, followed by a cancellation of enrolment. The processes involved in the monitoring, intervention strategies, warning systems, and cancellations of enrolment are contained in this policy. Please read them carefully and be aware that different processes may apply to different courses.

Attendance Monitoring

Regular attendance and participation are necessary for the achievement of successful outcomes in vocational training. Attendance is compulsory for the purposes of receiving hands-on practical training, participation in work placement and undertaking practical assessment tasks. Regular non-attendance therefore negatively impacts a student’s academic progress. As such, Charter Australia records and monitors students’ attendance. The student support officer provides an attendance sheet to the class trainer, who marks the attendance and returns the completed attendance sheet to the student support officer. The student support officer enters the attendance data into Charter Australia’s student management system, from which each student’s attendance can be monitored. When a student is identified as having continuing non-attendance (absent for 2 consecutive classes), the student support officer contacts the student by email, SMS or phone call, to determine the reason for the absence. If the student requires support or needs to apply for special consideration, they will be referred to Charter Australia’s support services. The available support includes:
  • Timetable modifications
  • Course extension*
  • Course deferral*
  • Additional self-paced study
  • Tutoring by appointment
  • Arrange makeup class
*Any application for a deferral or extension must be made on the relevant application form, available at Forms > Student Forms Charter Australia may charge a course extension a fee of $100 per week, depending on the situation. If the student does not respond or does not have a justifiable reason for the continuing non-attendance, then the warning system will be activated. This consists of the following processes, with a minimum of one week between each reminder or notice if no response or reasonable explanation from the former reminder or notice:
  • First reminder of non-attendance
  • Second reminder of non-attendance
  • Intended cancellation notice
After the cancellation of enrolment, the student’s file would be finalised and archived and all online resources will deactivated.

Academic Progress (Assessment) Monitoring 

Regular participation in learning activities and successful completion of assessment tasks are vital for the successful completion of the course in which a student is enrolled. Furthermore, to ensure successful progress through the course, students must submit assessment tasks on time or notify the trainer as soon as possible if an extension is required. As such, Charter Australia monitors all students’ academic progress on an ongoing basis. The class trainer informs the students of the due date of each assessment task. The trainer checks each student’s submissions and progress weekly. The student should inform the trainer if any additional support is required. ‘Assessment due’ reminder will be sent to any student who has an overdue assessment that is yet to be submitted. The trainer then identifies any students who are not progressing as expected, and discusses student support options with them, which may involve granting an extension. If an extension is granted, the student support officer is notified, who then extends the assessment deadline in the student management system. The following conditions apply to assessment extensions:
  • Extensions for assessment tasks of up to 1 week may be negotiated with your Trainer/Assessor in specific circumstances.
  • You must request this prior to the due date and extensions due to illness will require a medical certificate.
  • Extensions will be confirmed by your Trainer/Assessor in writing.
  • Further extension will incur a $100 fee per extension.
If a student completes an assessment task but the result is ‘not satisfactory’, the student may make an extra attempt. The following conditions apply to extra assessment attempts:
  • Each student will be allowed three attempts for each assessment tasks.
  • A fourth or subsequent attempt will incur a $100 fee per attempt.
In cases where extensions or additional attempts are required, the trainer will have a discussion with the student to determine which support services may be required. If, after a period of time, academic progress is not being achieved, other options will be presented to the student, which may include a deferral or transfer. *Any application for a deferral or extension must be made on the relevant application form, available at Forms > Student Forms. Charter Australia may charge a course extension fee of $100 per week, depending on the situation. If the student does not respond or does not have a justifiable reason for the unsatisfactory academic progress, then the warning system will be activated. This consists of the following processes, with a minimum of one week between each reminder or notice if no response or reasonable explanation from the former reminder or notice:
  • First warning of unsatifactory academic progress
  • Second warning of unsatifactory academic progress
  • Intended cancellation notice
After the cancellation of enrolment, the student’s file would be finalised and archived and all online resources will deactivated.  

Work Placement Participation Monitoring

Regular participation in work placement is vital for the successful completion of the course in which a student is enrolled. Courses have minimum requirements for work placement participation (such as a minimum number of hours). Furthermore, many assessment tasks are conducted in the workplace, as required by some units of competency, so academic progress is not achievable without active participation in work placement. As such, Charter Australia monitors all students’ work placement participation on an ongoing basis. All students should also be reminded that unexplained absences and lateness in the work placement program causes great inconvenience to Charter Australia’s trainers and other students in work placement, as well as inconvenience to the host organisation’s clients and staff. It also reflects poorly on Charter Australia and has the potential to negatively impact the relationship between Charter Australia and the host organisation, thus reducing the opportunities available for future students. Each student’s work placement schedule is confirmed before the end of the first week of the student’s attendance. Students are given a work placement logbook, which they will use to record details of their host organisation and their work placement schedule. Each Monday, the student support officer sends out a work placement reminder email for that week to students and work placement hosts. If a student knows that they will be unable to attend a work placement shift, they must notify the student support officer as soon as possible. Or, if the student cannot attend and is unable to give advanced notice, for a justifiable reason such as illness or misadventure, they must contact the student support officer as soon as practically possible. In either case, the student support officer will re-schedule the shift and notify both the student and the host. If a student is absent without notice and without a justifiable reason, then the student support officer will activate the warning system. The following warnings and notices are sent to the student immediately after each non-attendance at a work placement shift:
  • First formal written warning for non-attendance at a scheduled work placement
  • Second formal written warning for non-attendance at a scheduled work placement
  • ‘Notice of Cancellation of Enrolment’ is sent to the student.

Work placement is arranged by Charter Australia given that the student:

  1. Demonstrates satisfactory progress and attendance
  2. Completes and passes ALL your non-work-placement assessments.

Should the students want to complete work placement in their own facility, they need to seek approval first from Charter Australia's work placement facilitator via email, note that facilities outside of the Sydney metro area are not considered.