25 Jul 2016
Earlier this week the NSW Minister for Education announced changes to the HSC. These changes will come into effect over the next four years. They include:
· Students being required to demonstrate a minimum literacy and numeracy standard to be eligible for the HSC (the standard being Band 8 in each of reading, writing and numeracy at the Year 9 NAPLAN test). This is effective for the Year 9 group of 2017. From 2018, students will be able to complete this test on-line – I assume this will be under the supervision of school staff.
· New courses – initially Science Extension being available to senior students in 2019
· The introduction of a common scale for Mathematics which is intended to guide students to choose courses suited to their ability level
· Guidelines for schools to ensure assessments focus on the application of skills and knowledge. There will also be a cap on the number of tasks.
· Re-design of HSC exam questions to assess depth of knowledge and application of skills
· Available on-line will be a review cycle of syllabuses (the documents which specify what a school teaches)
There are also new syllabuses on the horizon for English, Maths, Science and History.