The faculty uses a variety of methods for assessing the performance of enrolled students, including assignments and other prepared work, practical work, examinations, presentations and performance. The specific means of assessment for each subject is generally included within the outlines of subjects contained in this handbook. Further information, including prerequisites, corequisites and reading lists may also be found there or will be distributed at the initial class for each subject.
In terms of examination grades, the faculty applies the following grades and symbols to its courses:
* High distinction - HD
* Distinction - D
* Credit - C
* Pass - P
* Fail - NN
The faculty does not allocate marks.
The three schools of the faculty each have their own boards of examiners which meet at the end of each semester to approve results for all courses. Results are then forwarded from each school through the faculty registrar to the examinations office of the university for official publication
Students who believe their performance in a subject has been adversely affected may apply for special consideration which may include the sitting of supplementary or deferred examinations. Students are advised to consult in the first instance with the lecturer in charge of the relevant subject.
Unsatisfactory progress
A student is generally considered to have made satisfactory academic progress when he or she has successfully completed all subject requirements in a given year. The definition of unsatisfactory progress is more complex, however, and each school uses different criteria to assess it.
School of Early Childhood and Primary Education
In the School of Early Childhood and Primary Education, the academic performance of a student is deemed to be unsatisfactory if:
* the student fails for the second time to pass a subject;
* the student fails in the two most recent semesters during which the student was enrolled to pass subjects amounting to one-half or more of the student's workload;
* the student fails to meet the requirements of two successive teaching rounds;
* the Unsatisfactory Progress Committee or the Academic Appeals Committee has imposed a condition upon the enrolment or re-enrolment of the student and the student fails to comply with the condition.
School of Graduate Studies
In the School of Graduate Studies, the following criteria are used for all coursework-based programs except the Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary):
* failure in half or more than half of the year's work;
* failure to attend classes regularly;
* failure to submit assignments of adequate standard on time;
* failure in a subject after two attempts;
* failure to comply with relevant regulations (for instance, on time limits of the period of candidature).
The criterion for unsatisfactory progress in the Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary) is failure in two out of the three subjects in a normal full-time load.
School of Education, Gippsland
In the School of Education, Gippsland, the following criteria apply:
* the student fails the same subject twice;
* the student fails more than half the subjects attempted in his or her last two years of study;
* the student fails all subjects attempted in one semester of study.
At the end of each semester the faculty's boards of examiners will consider the results of all students enrolled in courses of the faculty and may require students whose progress is deemed to be unsatisfactory to provide information as to why they should be allowed to continue in their program of study. Students are referred to the university Statute 6.2 (Exclusion for Unsatisfactory Progress) for further information.