SACE Stage 2 Industry Connections

The published assessment weightings for Stage 2 Industry Connections are 70% school assessment and 30% external assessment. The overview page does not describe a written examination. Ask your teacher how your school structures the external component, since the shape of the external assessment is set out in the subject outline rather than the overview page.

The SACE Board states that Industry Connections does not replicate VET programs and students do not achieve VET units of competency. You are not completing nationally recognised training packages. However, the subject can be flexibly designed so you can collate a work skills portfolio that may support a job application or a future recognition of prior learning process.

Students can complete up to 60 credits of Industry Connections for SACE completion. The subject is offered as Industry Connections A, B and C, each available at 10 credits and at 20 credits, giving codes 2ICA10, 2ICB10, 2ICC10, 2ICA20, 2ICB20 and 2ICC20. Check with your school about which versions it offers.

It is for students with an interest in a particular industry area who want to develop and apply skills, knowledge and understanding about that industry through an industry-related project. The SACE Board notes it can be designed for an individual student or for cohorts, including students already significantly engaged in industry or a group with a common industry interest.

The overview describes a project-based learning model built around the individual student or group. You develop capabilities and employability skills while working on something genuinely industry-related. Beyond that, the specific requirements, evidence types and performance standards sit in the Stage 2 subject outline, so read that document and your school's learning and assessment plan carefully.

Start by securing an industry context and a realistic project scope, since everything else depends on it. Then set up your evidence collection early, because a portfolio assembled continuously is far stronger than one reconstructed at the end. Check your school's learning and assessment plan for task deadlines, and map each task against the performance standards before you submit.

The most frequent problems are a project too vague to show real industry learning, and evidence gathered only at the end. Another is treating the subject as a VET qualification and expecting units of competency, which the SACE Board explicitly says it is not. Confirm requirements with your teacher rather than relying on assumptions about how other subjects run.

The source material available does not state a retake policy or a validity period for Industry Connections. Rather than guess, ask your school's SACE coordinator, who can confirm the rules that apply to your enrolment. Contact details for the SACE Board, including askSACE, are published on its website.