ATTENDANCE MONITORING POLICY AND PROCEDURE

ATTENDANCE MONITORING POLICY AND PROCEDURE
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is for AICL to establish the expectation of satisfactory attendance for AICL
students; the requirements, definitions and procedures for systematically monitoring compliance with
student visa conditions for international students, and the roles and responsibilities of AICL staff with
regards to attendance
This policy aims to assist and identify students who are at risk of breaching the attendance requirements as
stipulated by the National Code. It also aims to ensure that AICL notifies and counsels students who fail to
meet the AICL attendance requirements in a timely manner and that the policy is implemented before
student attendance drops below 85%.
Policy
As per National Code – Standard 11, overseas students must achieve a satisfactory attendance of at least
80 percent of the scheduled course contact hours.
AICL monitors students’ compliance of their visa conditions relating to attendance. AICL requires students to
attend at least 80% of the course contact and online hours where applicable in each compulsory study
period (Term).
Note: Some AICL courses have mandatory attendance. For courses with work experience component,
students are required to attend online learning during the weeks that they have not been placed.
In the event that the student fails to maintain the attendance requirement, AICL will proactively commence
notification and if necessary counseling of students who are at risk of failing to the meet the attendance
requirements of at least 80% of scheduled course contact hours.
Student Notification Process
In general AICL student notification is done via the following modes of communication:
Website; Student Handbook; Orientation
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Telephone / Text message
Email
AICL Moodle
Notice Board
By Post
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AICL will ensure that information regarding the attendance requirements set by the regulatory body has
been disseminated to students effective immediately during their enrolment enquiry, during the enrolment
process and during the student orientation day.
The following are involved in the dissemination of information are the following;
1. Marketing Department / Student Advisor
2. Student Admissions/Student Services Department
3. Academic Department
Definitions
Word/Term
At risk
Compassionate and
compelling
circumstances
Approved leave
Monitoring period
Definition
Any student identified as having an attendance calculation between 85%- 80% but
still able to achieve satisfactory attendance for the monitoring period
As defined in National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to
Overseas Students 2007 and the accompanying Explanatory Guide, Standard 11,
compassionate and compelling circumstances generally are circumstances beyond
the control of the student and have had an impact upon the student’s attendance or
wellbeing. These may include, but are not limited to:
Serious illness or injury, where a medical certificate states that the student
was unable to attend classes;
Bereavement of close family members such as parents or grandparents
(death certificate must be provided);
Major political upheaval or natural disaster in the home country requiring
emergency travel that has impacted on the student’s studies;
A traumatic experience, such as involvement in or witnessing of a serious
accident or witnessing or being the victim of a serious crime, which has
impacted on the student (these cases should be supported by policy or
psychologists’ reports where possible);
Where the registered provider was unable to offer a pre-requisite unit
As defined in National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to
Overseas Students 2007 and the accompanying Explanatory Guide, Standard 13,
the registered provider can only defer or temporarily suspend the enrolment of the
student on the grounds of:
a. Compassionate or compelling circumstances; or
b. Mis-behaviour by the student.
Approved Leave is a period of approved absence from the college based on the
above.
A period of time within a course during which attendance will be monitored and
calculated
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Procedure for Recording and Monitoring Attendance
1. The Academic Support Officer will provide the attendance sheet to the trainer.
2. For public holidays during the term, the Academic Support Officer will block/shade the
corresponding column.
3. Trainers will mark the attendance roll with ‘X’ for full attendance, ‘A’ for absent and ‘\’ for half
attendance. Shaded columns are not to be marked.
4. Trainers must sign the class attendance roll to be submitted each week to the Academic Support
Officer for data entry into the student management system.
Additional intervention may include the student:
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Attending academic skills programs;
Attending additional classes if appropriate
attending and observing (if the student is injured and cannot participate)
Watching videos of practical demonstrations to study technique
Attending tutorial or study groups;
Receiving individual case management;
Attending counselling;
Receiving assistance with personal issues which are influencing progress;
Receiving mentoring;
If the issues is repeated or continued the student may be placed in a suitable
alternative subject within a course or a suitable alternative course.
Extension of Confirmation of Enrolment(COE)
Student’s COE maybe extended due to medical reasons or unforeseen circumstances
AICL’s intervention strategy includes relevant additional support that will be provided to students at risk
of not meeting satisfactory attendance requirements. It commences INITIALLY when a student
achieves less than 85% overall attendance in a given study period.
Cancellation of Visa
The Director of Studies will remind the student of AICL’s attendance policies and will inform the
student that maintaining satisfactory attendance is a student visa requirement and if his or her
attendance falls below the required level, the student will be reported to DIBP, and the student’s visa
may be cancelled.
5. Temporary Suspension of Enrolment
If the student has questions about the student visa condition and the possible outcome of breaching
the condition, AICL will refer the student to DIBP
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AICL may temporarily suspend the enrolment of the student on the grounds of compassionate or
compelling circumstances
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Student Intervention
AICL has introduced the use of the student intervention request form.
The intent of raising the intervention request for these students is to find out why the students have been
absent and to see what support AICL may be able to offer. For example, the student’s absence may not be
due to medical reasons, but rather to homesickness, learning difficulties or social issues – matters which
may be addressed through AICL’s student support services e.g. counseling.
It is mandatory that any student who has been absent without approval for five (5) consecutive days
or more, or is at risk of not attending for at least 80% of the scheduled course contact hours, is
contacted immediately by the Student Support Officer and the Student Intervention Strategy is
instituted immediately (Appendix 1).
Procedure
1. The trainer will raise the intervention request form in week 4 of each term against students who are at
risk of not meeting at least 80% of the scheduled course contact hours by not logging into Moodle or
missing a class. :
2. If the student has been absent for more than five consecutive days without approval; the Trainer must
raise the intervention request form and send immediately to the SSO to be processed for intervention even
before week 4 or for any week of each term.
3. SSO will review each of the intervention requests by verifying or checking if the student’s attendance was
recorded properly including Moodle attendance, or if student had an approved leave recorded.
4. After verification the SSO will prepare the corresponding reminder/warning letter (Appendix 2)
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First Reminder Letter will be sent in week 3 if the student’s attendance is at or below 85%.
The student will be interviewed to discuss how he or she may be assisted in meeting the
attendance requirement.
Second Warning Letter will be sent in week 6 if the student’s attendance has not improved and
has no compelling reasons to support the absence.
Final Warning/Intention to Report will be sent on week one of the following term if the student
has failed to make a concerted effort to either improve attendance or present a compelling
reason for the absences. AICL allows 20 working days for the student to respond or appeal the
final warning/intention to Report
5. The student may lodge a complaint or appeal within 20 working days of the date of the final
warning letter.
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Reporting Procedure
1. Once the decision has been made to report the student, the Student Support Officer fills in the PRISMS
Work Form and forwards it the Student Services Manager.
2. Student Services Manager will review the PRISMS form and obtain approval from the Department
Head.
3. The Student Service Manager will complete the reporting process via PRISMS (Appendix 3).
4. The student will be notified that they were reported and their enrolment has been cancelled.
Student Notification Process
In general AICL students are notified via one of the following:
1. Telephone / Text message
2. Email
3. AICL Moodle
4. Notice Board
5. By Post
Right of appeal
Internal Appeal
The student may appeal AICL’s decision to report to Department of Immigration and Border Protection
(DIBP). The appeal will be considered only if it is made under some or all of the following grounds and made
within 20 working days from the date of reporting.
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AICL recorded the student’s attendance incorrectly
AICL has not implemented its intervention strategy in accordance with its documented policies and
procedures
AICL has not made the attendance policy available to the student.
The student can lodge a complaint or appeal by following the steps below
1. Fill in the Appeal, Complaint and Grievance Resolution form and provide supporting
documentation in order for AICL to assess the situation.
2. Make an appointment to attend an interview with the Director of Studies
3. AICL will provide a written outcome of their appeal in the form of a signed interview
form or a formal letter outlining the details and reasons for the outcome.
Right to withdraw or not to access the appeal process
Where a student has chosen not to access the AICL Appeal, Complaint and Grievance process (internal
appeal) within the 20 working days, or withdraws from the appeal process or the process is completed then
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AICL will notify DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION AND BORDER PROTECTION (DIBP) through PRISMS
as soon as practicable.
External Appeal
If a student is dissatisfied with the outcome of AICL’s Appeal , Complaint and Grievance resolution
procedure (internal appeal), the student can access external appeal through the Overseas Student
Ombudsman. http://www.oso.gov.au/making-a-complaint/
To apply for External Review a student must complete an application form (available on
http://www.oso.gov.au/making-a-complaint/).
Note: If the student decides to proceed with the external appeal, they should notify AICL by
providing evidence within 5 working days.
Student Status during Appeal Process
AICL maintains the student’s enrolment (i.e. not to report the student for unsatisfactory attendance ) until the
internal and/or external appeal process is complete.
Reporting student to Department of Education via PRISMS
After the Director of Studies, Student Support Officer and Student Service Manager reviewed rigorously the
student circumstances and satisfied that the student has completely breached/failed to maintain the required
attendance percentage without a compelling reason, the student will be reported.
AICL will only report student when
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Student failed to respond to any of the communication in relation to his/her attendance within
specified timeframe of 20 days.
Student withdraws the appeal process, or chose not to appeal
Student internal appeal was rejected
Special consideration for not reporting a student
AICL may decide not to report a student for breaching a minimum of 80 per cent attendance requirement
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When the student has attended 70 per cent of the scheduled contact hours in a term and has
satisfactory course progress. Satisfactory course progress at AICL is defined as student that has
completed 50% of the total subject studied in a semester.
2. There is documentary evidence that support the student’s absence e.g. a serious illness or injury,
Compassionate or compelling circumstances may apply. These could include;
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Where a medical certificate states that the student was unable to attend classes;
Bereavement of close family members such as parents or grandparents;
Major political upheaval or natural disaster in the home country requiring emergency travel and
this has impacted on the student’s studies;
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Or A traumatic experience which could include:
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Involvement in, or witnessing of a serious accident; and
Witnessing or being the victim of a serious crime.
How AICL monitors student’s attendance using Moodle
Trainers Use Reports to Track Student Activity in Moodle and the trainers are monitored by the Head Trainer
1. Logs
2. Activity Report
3. Course Participation
4. Activity completion
Moodle allows trainers to request reports detailing which activities in a course have been accessed, when
and by whom. Moodle produces four types of reports:
Logs show a filtered report showing information about a particular activity or student.
Activity report generates a simple unfiltered report showing all activity in the course that you
can sort by column header.
Course participation provides a sortable list showing all class members, with details about a
particular resource or activity. You can see who has viewed a resource or submitted an
activity. From this screen, instructors can also send a message to all students, or only to those
students who have not completed an activity.
Activity completion generates a list of all participants and displays whether they have
completed activities.
Logs
Course logs allow trainers to see which resources or activities have been accessed and when. You can
check to see if an individual student has viewed a specific resource or participated on a particular activity.
You can limit your search to a specific day, or get results for a specified period of time.
Logs are particularly helpful to view an individual student's activity as detailed below:
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ACTIVITY REPORT
An Activity report is a simple report with no filters. It will show all activity in the course.
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Items are listed in order of appearance in the course sections.
The Activity section shows the icon for the activity type and the name of the activity.
The Views column tells how many times each item has been viewed.
The Last Access column tells the date the item was last viewed, and elapsed time since it was last
viewed.
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COURSE PARTICIPATION
A Course Participation report provides an easy way to monitor general participation in the course and is
particularly useful for monitoring activity in the courses. You can see if the students have viewed resources
or activities and if (and how many times) they have accessed a resource or activity.
A special feature of Participation reports is the ability to send a message to those students who are missing
an activity.
ACTIVITY COMPLETION
The Activity Completion report can be useful to check at a glance how students are progressing through the
activities in a particular Unit.
The report is displayed in table format and can be downloaded as a CSV File.
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Appendix 1 : Student Intervention Strategy
Appendix 2 : Reminder/Warning Letter
Appendix 3 : ‘PRISMS Non-Compliance Reporting Procedure (Unsatisfactory Attendance)
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