Revolutionizing Education in Sri Lanka: The SACE Programme Offers a Bright Future Beyond Exams
Options for Advanced Level Education in Sri Lanka have often been limited to the State exams and the Cambridge/Edexcel British exams. Both awarding bodies have for the most part run examination centric qualifications in Sri Lanka for a long time – until SACE came along. The South Australian Certificate of Education is overseen by the SACE Board, a statutory authority of the South Australian Government. The two stage internationally recognised secondary school qualification made its way to Sri Lanka in 2022 through discussions between the SACE Board and Gateway Group. Speaking to the Sunday Times Gateway Group Chairman Dr. Harsha Alles noted that the curriculum was introduced to students at Gateway College last June and that discussions between the entities had actually begun during the pandemic.
Detailing how the programme works, Dr. Alles noted that the curriculum follows a research and assignment based study approach as opposed to a conventional examination based one. “Students are encouraged to do activities and research apart from the general subjects being taught and the regular assignments they do are what is used to assess the final grades of students,” he said. Apart from the theory of the subject, students are encouraged to engage in activities and assignments which is what is essentially counted for the final grade.
Students are allowed to submit multiple drafts and edits to the work they submit under constant guidance from teachers which means that the final result is something students are allowed to correct and grasp. “This encouraged them to better or improve their work since it wasn’t a matter of a simple pass or fail as it is with exams, and maintains robust standards.” By the time an examination comes along this ensures that 70% of the work is completed and students have a deep understanding of the subject. This kind of setup helps students that are very creative but not the best at exams and facilitates those that wish to do continuous work and dive a little deeper into certain areas. The cohorts of students engaged in SACE currently, according to Dr. Alles, displayed a better quality of life in terms of being more stress free, better communicators, and collaborative as opposed to competitive due to the engagement style of the curriculum. “Our teachers tell us that some students are so passionate about their work that they conduct university level research right now.”
In terms of global recognition, SACE students qualify with what is known as the Australian Tertiary
Admissions Rank score (ATAR Score) the common scoring system in Australia and also one that is accepted internationally – especially in countries Sri Lankan students usually target for their higher education. “A large number of Lankan undergrads target Australia for university so SACE made a lot of sense because of it – but SACE has global recognition which means students are not limited in terms of destinations for their degree.”
Dr. Alles also noted that many students are opting out of A levels and ending their school careers early to pursue foundation programmes. “As an educator, I believe that every child needs the full and complete school experience because it isn’t just about academics – school life provides them with extra-curriculars and socio-emotional learning that is necessary for student life.” He also noted that foundation courses are geared for particular streams in specific universities which limits options too early in a child’s academic career. He added that a lot of students opt for foundation courses nonetheless because it is faster and noted that this was also a benefit offered by SACE. “It’s a great compromise for those who want to get into university early because SACE ends in December which means students can opt in for spring intakes in February-March.”
SACE is also extremely accessible in terms of its adaptability to hybrid and online classrooms which as Dr. Alles noted was something all schools had to jump on during the pandemic. SACE’s flexible curriculum and assessment pattern is able to facilitate all of these learning modes.
Since the learning style was relatively novel to the Sri Lankan education system, training educational professionals to cater to the requirement was a challenge. “Since the assignment style assessment is a completely different set up, we had to teach our teachers to design and mark them – SACE gave us the guidance and gives continuous training support in that regard.”
SACE provides teachers with training at the inception in onboarding sessions where the curriculum is introduced along with mentoring programmes for Lankan teachers with their counterparts in South Australia. Regional workshops are conducted as are online training programmes which have now formed a network of teachers that are connected for support globally. SACE also provides immediate responses to questions that teachers might have through their education specialists and operations team and regular sessions and feedback is exchanged to discuss trends when student results are released.
“There are 3 features at the core of this qualification,” noted Michaela Bensley , Chief Executive of the SACE Board of South Australia. Firstly, 70% of the module is assessment based resulting in what happens in class and the support a student can get from the teachers being of paramount importance. The weight given to exams is 30% of the module. “Exams are a very narrow way of assessing what students can do.” Apart from this the second core feature that the CEO recognised was the flexibility the programme offered to teachers in terms of creativity in the classroom. “Whether a teacher wants to design an assessment that is a group task or multimodal, it is up to them – and practical elements of what students are learning are immersed into the mix. “The assessment can then have real life experience that sets them up for their future not just in university but also in terms of what employers look for.”
Finally, SACE also focuses on the cultivation of capabilities as opposed to just knowledge of subject areas which Bensley referred to as “critical, but not enough.” Communication skills, collaborative skills and the ability to process information in order to form opinions were priority soft skills that the program attempts to inculcate in students.
“SACE is currently offered in 26 schools in 7 countries across the world but our partnership with Gateway marks the inception of the program in South Asia,” noted Matthew Taverner, Director of SACE International. SACE International, according to Taverner, worked with Gateway College to offer it to students but is recognised by the Department of Examinations through Sri Lanka’s Education Ministry as equivalent to the local A levels. “It is also approved with the Sri Lanka Medical Council which means any SACE student that wants to do medicine can do so because the program is appropriately recognised,” he noted.
When applying to universities in countries other than Australia, the acceptance of the ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) often depends on the specific university’s policy. Typically, these universities will calculate a GPA based on the student’s results and recognise the ATAR as a qualification obtained through an accredited state government agency for entry purposes.
SACE graduates also gain access to scholarship opportunities especially in Australia where SACE students that score an ATAR OF over 80 are eligible to a 25 to 30% waiver on fees at the University of Adelaide and Flinders University.