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Revelations that students at a top Queensland high school had been learning the wrong topic for their year 12 ancient history exams came after the same issue emerged at another Brisbane school.
This masthead was first to report on Tuesday that Brisbane State High had been incorrectly teaching two classes of ancient history students a unit on the emperor Augustus instead of Julius Caesar.
It can now be revealed that the same mistake occurred at Rochedale State High School, with the incorrect content being taught for a few weeks before the issue was discovered, and a parent flagging the issue with the education department in August.
Students at Rochedale, like at State High, were told the exam would be on Augustus instead of Julius Caesar.Credit: Aresna Villanueva
Despite the earlier warning to the department, students at Brisbane State High School did not realise they were also learning the wrong content until just two days before they were due to sit their external exam on Wednesday.
The State High students have been offered a resource on Julius Caesar and access to teachers and a classroom to cram for two days.
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The school will make an “access arrangements and reasonable adjustments” submission to the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority for the cohort, so it can be considered when marking students’ work.
Augustus was picked by the QCAA as the topic for its ancient history syllabus external assessment in 2024, but this changed to Julius Caesar in 2025.
A parent told this masthead that the same mistake was made at Rochedale, with students learning about Augustus for several weeks before switching to Julius Caesar.
“The students felt like they wasted several weeks learning the wrong material,” he said.
Unhappy with the school’s response to the error, and complaining about a lack of transparency, communication and efforts to catch-up students, the parent emailed the Metropolitan South region’s director in August.
The department’s Metropolitan South region education services acting director replied in mid-October, encouraging the parent to discuss the concerns further with the school principal.
The parent said he was shocked to find out this week the mistake had happened a second time.
“It is concerning that after this error at Rochedale was reported that there was no attempt to ensure that all other schools were teaching the correct subject,” he said.
“That’s a failure at some level within Education Queensland, surely.”
Brisbane State High and Rochedale State High are both part of the Metropolitan South region.
QCAA acting chief executive officer Claude Jones said schools were notified of the topic for the ancient history external exam more than 12 months in advance.
The education department was contacted for comment.
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