The interviews at the schools in 2003 indicated that each of the four adult re-entry schools intended to offer the PAL course again in 2004, and a new 2004 cohort of 94 students have in fact enrolled.111 In addition, in December 2003 agreement was reached for the UniSA-PAL course to be offered by a high school in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, Freemont-Elizabeth. This is an entirely new departure since the students at this school reflect the more usual age grouping of the secondary education sector. Further the 2004 students undertaking UniSA-PAL at this school are a year 13 class of 14 students who have failed to complete their SACE but are not prepared to try to do so by attempting a third year of more traditional secondary studies. These students have been described by the University’s UniSA-PAL Coordinator112 as having outgrown their school’s programs and at risk of never completing secondary education. This new development and the retention, success and progression rates achieved by these students will have significant implications for further developments beyond 2005.113
Within the University itself, the relatively new University Northern Area Partnership (UNAP) initiative is relevant to the future of UniSA-PAL. Since UNAP arose as a response to the dramatically low tertiary participation rates for people in the communities in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, amongst a range of indicators of their disadvantage, the potential of the PAL program in terms of effective pathways into higher education for disadvantaged adults is of great interest. The Director114 of this initiative is exploring ways to make it available at a range of sites in the northern area, including through TAFE facilities and community sites. In particular discussions are occurring with members of relevant Indigenous communities about the most appropriate site for a planned 2005 Indigenous UniSA-PAL cohort, an initiative supported by the prize money received with the 2004 Chancellor’s Award for Community Service. In 2005 the nature and size of the student cohorts whom it is expected will undertake the course in these new contexts, as well as their retention, progression and success rates in comparison with other 2005 PAL students, will be of significant interest to policy analysts, institutions, and practitioners with an interest in achieving greater equality in terms of access to the benefits of higher education for communities educationally disadvantaged by their poverty.115
From the earliest consideration of the original pilot, there has been discussion about whether it might provide a more appropriate and effective senior secondary completion qualification for adults whose secondary education is incomplete for a range of reasons. As discussed above in section 3.1, there is a well-established trend for a significant number of adults with incomplete schooling to seek pathways into tertiary education and training by means of a return to senior secondary education. While this is for most a means to an end in terms of post-secondary qualifications and better employment opportunities, for many if not most the completion of their secondary education has a meaning in its own right. In this context discussions commenced with the Senior Secondary Assessment Board of South Australia (SSABSA) with a view to the PAL course being formally accredited as an adult equivalent of the senior secondary education requirements, the South Australian Certificate of Education, or SACE. As a result it has been decided by the relevant authority116 that successful completion of UniSA-PAL is deemed comparable to satisfying the requirements of the SACE in South Australia, and that students who wish to will be issued with a formal certificate of comparability equivalent to those issued to students who complete recognised secondary education programs elsewhere in the world. This raises interesting questions about which sector of education should be responsible for courses such as UniSA-PAL given the overlapping sectoral territory within which it currently resides. More significantly it suggests that the national relevance and replication of these arrangements deserve wider policy and program attention.