By Caroline Schelle

Copyright smh

A culture of secrecy and fear has left the authority that runs Victoria’s VCE system in such a poor state that it will take years to fix.

Governance expert Yehudi Blacher said he was left with “sadness and disappointment” after he reviewed the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) following last year’s exams debacle, when questions on 65 of the test papers were accidentally made public before the exams.

But the reviewer stopped short of calling for the troubled authority – which has been reviewed several times in recent years – to be disbanded or absorbed into the Education Department, arguing that the VCAA should remain a statutory authority.

Blacher’s review, which received submissions from 180 current and former VCAA workers, was told that decision-making at the authority was driven by a fear of bad press, secrecy and unchecked authority. It also heard there was a culture of impunity for behaviour that would be unacceptable in other workplaces.