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Schools will use school-based assessment requirements, included in course specific assessment and reporting materials, to develop a formal assessment program for each course. Formal assessment programs must also comply with requirements outlined in Assessment Certification Examination and the schools’ assessment policies and procedures for Stage 6.
Schools are required to provide written advice to students about the schools’ requirements for assessment including:
The assessment policies must include statements of school procedures relating to:
Prior to the commencement of a course, teachers must develop an assessment schedule identifying formal assessment opportunities for students to demonstrate their achievement at certain points in the course.
The purpose of a formal assessment schedule is to provide an overview of course components and component weightings, and the number, type, timing and weighting of each task.
When developing a formal assessment schedule, teachers:
Measures of outcomes that address values and attitudes, or measures that reflect student conduct, should not be included in formal school-based assessment. Schools may choose to report on these separately.
There is no requirement for assessment schedules to include tasks with a greater weighting towards the end of the course.
Components for assessment include the course knowledge, understanding and skills. The weightings of components are consistent with their emphasis in the course.
Teachers plan each assessment task to reflect one or more related components. This ensures that assessment in relation to outcomes occurs across the course in a manageable way using a range of task types.
The components and weightings indicated in a formal assessment schedule will provide a framework for an assessment task type. The task types used must be appropriate to the components of the course being assessed.
The weighting of a component does not need to reflect the mark allocation assigned to a task. For example, an assessment task may be weighted in an assessment schedule at 20%. To provide a mark range that allows for discrimination between the performances of individual students, the maximum marks to be awarded for the task may be 30. This will be reflected in the marking guidelines. To maintain the task’s stated weighting, schools may consider using statistical methods when aggregating marks.
A range of sample formal assessment schedules are available for Stage 6 courses. Schools may choose to use a sample without amendment or make changes.
Schools are required to provide students with written advice about the formal assessment requirements for each course.
For each formal task, schools must provide
The task number, timing and outcomes must reflect the assessment schedule for a course.
The nature of the task should clearly describe for students the requirements and expectations of the task.
Marking criteria for the task should outline for students what will be assessed in relation to the outcomes.
Feedback will be provided to students relating to their performance in the task that provides meaningful and useful information relative to the achievement of outcomes. Where appropriate, marking guidelines should be provided at the time of the written notification.
Malpractice is any dishonest behaviour and/or attempt to gain an unfair advantage over other students, and/or knowingly assisting other students to engage in malpractice.
NESA considers malpractice as breach of HSC exam rules and HSC minimum standard test rules.
Candidates for the HSC, as well as their teachers and others who guide them, must comply with NESA’s requirements for upholding the integrity of HSC school-based assessment and HSC exams and tests.
Breaches of exam/test rules, and malpractice in any form including plagiarism, collusion, misrepresentation, is unacceptable. NESA treats suspected cases of a breach of exam/test rules and malpractice very seriously and detected malpractice may jeopardise a student’s award and achievement of the RoSA or the HSC. All suspected breaches of exam/test rules and/or malpractice will be investigated and may be penalised.
NESA outlines its rules and requirements concerning malpractice in HSC exams and HSC minimum standard tests in ACE.
Schools are responsible for developing and administering their malpractice policy
A school’s malpractice policy must outline the procedures for investigating suspected cases of malpractice, the range of possible penalties, the decision makers for malpractice cases, and the appeals process for students . The policy must also inform students that incidents of malpractice in HSC school-based assessment will be recorded in the Malpractice Register.
Schools must provide students with the school’s malpractice policy at the commencement of their Preliminary studies, including information of what constitutes malpractice in school-based assessment to support their understanding.
Students are responsible for familiarising themselves with their school’s malpractice policy.
As part of their malpractice policy, schools may wish to establish a panel to review malpractice cases including appeals from students. Composition of this panel could include three members of the school executive, not from the faculty in which the case has arisen. The panel should review each malpractice case on its merits, considering all the issues, in order to arrive at a fair conclusion and make recommendations to the principal.
Where student conduct constituting malpractice has been established, the school must follow their malpractice policy to impose a penalty appropriate to the seriousness of the offence. Schools must advise students of their right to appeal the penalty decision and provide information on the process to appeal the decision. Where a student is found to have engaged in malpractice in an HSC school-based assessment task, schools must record the offence in the Malpractice Register in Schools Online.
Schools may also provide advice to parents about what constitutes malpractice
It is important for schools to establish sound processes for monitoring student work, including measures to improve the deterrence and detection of malpractice in school-based assessment.
Depending on the nature of the assessment tasks, there are a number of strategies teachers can implement to deter malpractice including:
Schools are responsible for providing guidance to students about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in schools, including whether generative AI is permissible for that school-based assessment task or course.
School-based assessment tasks assess student achievement at a single point in time. However, some task types may require students to research or develop work over a longer period. For such tasks, teachers are encouraged to implement monitoring processes at key point(s) to assist in determining student authorship. This may include reviewing draft work, questioning and discussion with student(s) or opportunities for student self-reflection.
Some Stage 6 courses require students to complete a project, submitted work, or performance that is externally marked. Supervising teachers in such courses must monitor student work to be able to complete the certification process.