Considerable progress has been made in delivering the materials required to support the Board's changes to examinations and assessments for the 2010 HSC.

The changes for the 2010 HSC are mostly minor and relate specifically to Assessment and Examinations.

Precise changes for each course were identified in the Summary of HSC Examination Specifications and Assessment Requirements documents that were originally published on the Board's website in February 2009. These documents can now be found on the Board's website within each subject page.

Most of the documents listed below are now available on the Board's website.

• Syllabus
• Assessment and Reporting Requirements
• Sample Assessment Schedule (further details below)
• Information Regarding the 2010 HSC Examination
• Summary of HSC Examination Specifications and Assessment Requirements

Where necessary examination rubrics will be developed and available on the Board's website in January 2010.

Specimen materials that illustrate differences in the types of examination questions will be produced for a small number of courses.

Teachers are encouraged to regularly check their subject specific syllabus page(s) to obtain copies of these valuable resources as they become available.

Due to ongoing consultation or syllabus reviews, several HSC courses will not be affected by examination and/or assessment changes in 2010. Read on for details of courses not affected by examination and/or assessment changes in 2010.

Existing syllabuses republished for 2010 HSC

HSC syllabuses and course related assessment and examination advice are now being published as separate documents. As a result it has been necessary to remove assessment and examination details from existing HSC syllabuses and to republish the syllabuses.

Reference on the Board's website to syllabuses for the 2010 HSC 'coming soon' appears to have caused some confusion and lead some teachers to believe a 'new' syllabus was to be expected. To avoid any misunderstanding the Board has identified syllabuses as 'content unchanged' or as having 'amendments for the 2010 HSC'.

Sample Assessment Schedules

The addition of sample assessment schedules for each course will help teachers to better adhere to the Board's recommended number of assessment tasks. The range of schedules demonstrate how assessment programs can be constructed to meet the Board's parameters that three to five tasks are sufficient for a 2 unit course and two to three tasks are sufficient for a 1 unit course.

In most cases for 2 unit courses, the sample schedule uses five tasks, but schools may use four or three if they prefer. In some cases, more than one schedule is provided, and further assessment schedules are planned to be added in the future. Each schedule shows that a variety of tasks can be used and that, overall, the weighting requirements for each of the assessment components are met. (Note that in a small number of courses, the number of tasks varies from the general requirements.)

There are many other ways in which similar HSC assessment grids could be constructed that may involve different types of tasks, timing of tasks and weightings given to each task. Schools may use the sample assessment schedules without modification, or change them to suit their particular needs, being mindful that the weightings for each of the assessment components in HSC courses are mandatory.

The sample assessment schedules reflect any changes that have been made to course assessment components and/or weightings.

Details of courses not affected by examination and/or assessment changes in 2010 due to ongoing syllabus consultation or syllabus reviews

Agriculture

As amendments to the HSC Agriculture syllabus are currently under way and the amended syllabus is scheduled for implementation with HSC students in 2011, there will be no changes for 2010. Teachers should continue working with the current Agriculture syllabus, examination format and assessment materials for the 2010 HSC course.

English

As consultation in 2 unit HSC English courses has not been completed, there will be no examination or assessment changes to 2 unit English (Standard), English (Advanced) or English (ESL) for 2010. Please note: changes will apply to the HSC English Extension 1 and English Extension 2 courses in 2010.

Legal Studies

As the new Legal Studies syllabus is scheduled for implementation with HSC students in 2011, there will be no changes for 2010. Teachers should continue working with the current Legal Studies syllabus, examination format and assessment materials throughout 2010.

Mathematics

As advised in February, teachers should continue working with the current Mathematics syllabuses, examination specifications and assessment materials throughout 2010.

Inquiries: Chris Thompson, Head, Assessment Unit, chris.thompson@bos.nsw.edu.au, (02) 9367 8069.

BOS 25/08 (Vol 17 No 2)

The Board wishes to advise teachers about amendments to the Industrial Technology Stage 6 Syllabus and Support Document. The amended documents will be available during Semester 2 2008 on the Board of Studies website.

Implementation of the amended syllabus will commence with the Preliminary course in 2009.

Because of the number of amendments to the Industrial Technology Stage 6 Syllabus a summary of changes will be available on the website.

The website will contain:

• the original syllabus approved in 1999 (which remains current for the HSC course and examination in 2009)
• the final amended syllabus (for the Preliminary course in 2009 and the HSC course in 2010)
• the amended syllabus with annotations showing where changes have been made.

A Support Document containing programmed units of work for the Industrial Technology Preliminary course in 2009 will also be available on the Board of Studies website during Semester 2 2008.

Effective: Commencement of 2009 Preliminary course

Contact