The 'New' New HSC - Everything you need to know

Past developments

At the turn of the century the "New" HSC was launched with some modifications and some subjects not changing very much (eg

Mathematics, my own subject area). Some subjects saw considerable change, such as the reduction of '3 Unit' options in many subjects and a shift away from the mathematical basis in some sciences to a more philosophical approach, which the aim of increasing the participation of girls in the sciences. Students were given the freedom to select from the broad range of subjects, with English being the only compulsory subject and not the humanities / sciences split that there was previously.

Adrian Piccoli, NSW Education Minister, notes that this last review was before smartphones, google and social media. A lot has changed in the landscape!

Current Changes

BOSTES has consulted with many educational organisations regarding current pressures in the HSC to try and improve what is already regarded as a strong, positive credential - the HSC. Below is a snapshot of the key changes:

Impacts Year 9 2017

1. Minimum Standard

There will be a minimum standard in Literacy and Numeracy, which can be gained as a Band 8 at Year 9 in NAPLAN or by completing an online test after Year 9. (This may include a unit of literacy or numeracy in Stage 6 if not proficient). 

Impacts Year 10 2017 (Year 9 2016)

2. Syllabus Review (Curriculum)

New syllabus (incorporating Australian Curriculum) for English, Mathematics, Science and History (to be taught in Y11 2018)

Regularly review syllabus documents for Stage 6 courses on at least a 5-yearly basis. Publish the syllabus documents as online documents within the framework of syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au.

Potential new subjects of Philosophy and Psychology.

Introduction of a Science Extension course (HSC from 2019)

Review of Extension courses to focus on complex thinking (particularly English, I suggest)

3. Assessment

New guidelines and rules around type, length style and number of tasks for internal assessments. 3 max in Y11 and 4 max in Y12 (possibility of completing one HSC task in Y11). The aim of this is to reduce stress and anxiety amongst students. It will of course increase the weighting of each task (e.g. Y11 could have 1x40%, 2x30% tasks). Time will tell if this aim is achieved.

Internal assessment tasks will have to be in varied form (eg speeches, presentations, projects, in-class problem solving, etc) which has been encouraged in the past, but may be more prescriptive in nature. This is trying to change the practice common in schools of using internal assessment tasks to practice for 'the real thing' of the HSC Examination in Term 4. Given that scaling of internal marks will (as far as I can see) still be linked to HSC Examinations, this will not remove the incentive for schools to try and continue this practice.

Redesign of HSC examination questions to focus on depth and reduce the opportunity for pre-prepared or plagiarised answers (not sure how they hope to achieve this)

Research ongoing about the incorporation of online assessment.

Apply a common scale for comparing the Mathematics courses, to reduce the incentive for students to maximise their ATAR by selecting General Mathematics 2, when they would be better suited to a calculus-based course.