Planning Ahead with Elective Lines

Planning Ahead With Elective Lines

This article is the third part in a series on elective lines. The first article investigated the various methods of capturing students’ subject selections; the second one explored many options for deciding which subjects to run. This article looks ahead to the timetabling of the elective lines, and more.

Anticipating Elective Line Problems

Satisfying student choice and staffing needs alone does not necessarily make good lines for all students, or for timetabling. Some other considerations include:

Extension Electives

In NSW, it is common to run extension classes offline, meaning out of regular school hours. This timetable structure may influence student choice who may not request them because they have other outside school activities. By placing extension courses online, and ensuring students have adequate additional one unit options to give them enough units, you can change the culture over time, drive student interest in these courses, and better cater to the workload and educational experience of students who do take these courses.

But if these are run online, providing better learning timeslots, and a small number of students appear to miss out, they still have a choice. Schools in other states like Victoria very rarely ever run classes ‘outside of school hours’. Be aware you have the power to change legacy practices by trialling this practice.