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Home Page > News and Events > HSC external Exams: Necessary or Needless?
7 December 2004
Daily Telegraph
The sixth Education Forum, held jointly by The Daily Telegraph and UTS discussed the pros and cons of holding high-stakes external exams in Year 12. The topic "HSC external Exams:Necessary or Needless?" was tackled by UTS Dean of Education Professor Andrew Gonczi and NSW Premier Bob Carr.
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1st Speaker - PROFESSOR ANDREW GONCZI
Exams widen great divide
Is the HSC external examination necessary or needless? It has an enormous impact on the 60,000 students who sit for it each year, and their families.
They endure a year of continuous stress peppered with elation at a good performance in a school task and deep disappointment and even despair when performance is worse than hoped for or expected.
But the impact on those who don't even get to the HSC is far more profound. About 40per cent of students leave school before the HSC and while a proportion of these go on to other study, for most this failure to complete school means their life chances are diminished forever.
First, they have no way of showing employers what they have achieved. Second, the kinds of competencies needed for a successful life in the 21st century are more complex than ever and require more extensive schooling than in the past.
So there is no question there is a need for some exit qualification at the end of six years of high school. Rather, the question is how this is structured and assessed, both to encourage more students to stay on the path and to ensure that the kind of learning that occurs will be of value for an individual's further development.
Views both for and against the HSC emerged from the forum. Bob Carr acknowledged that the HSC is very stressful. He nevertheless argued that it is essential to have an external examination, rather than one based entirely on school assessment, both to protect students from biased and unsympathetic teachers and to overcome possible employer prejudice against schools in areas of low socio-economic status (SES).
He cited his own experience of having gained an A in English in the HSC from his state high school in Matraville, which was as good as an A gained by a student from Sydney Grammar and which got him his first job at a Sydney newspaper.
Abbotsleigh principal Judith Wheeldon put the additional point that students like to be challenged and given the opportunity to show how they are performing. Clearly an external examination enables students to know objectively how well they perform relative to the whole cohort of students, as well as against a set of standards.
There were a number of arguments against the HSC external examination. One was that the stress it places on students is unfair. Some students do not perform up to their potential when under stress; some find it so difficult to cope that they drop out; some even become seriously ill.
Another argument was that the need to learn huge amounts of material by rote for an external examination was hardly a good preparation for life after school, where creativity and teamwork are increasingly valued above doing things in isolation, according to the book.
There is a bigger issue, however. The fact is that the students who perform well in the HSC are overwhelmingly those from the higher-SES groups. There are too few Bob Carrs in NSW (and Australia generally) who come from low-SES families and perform well. Unless one argues that lower-SES students are simply less capable (which is not true in other countries), the only explanation is that lower-SES students are somehow adversely affected by the nature of schooling in NSW and that the HSC is at least part of the problem.
Despite the merit in the arguments for an external examination, I believe we need to reform the HSC, as part of the rethinking of how we enable students from low-SES areas to perform to their potential.
One possible reform would be to separate the HSC from university entrance. (The universities would object, since this would add to their costs.) The advantages are that it would allow a greater curriculum flexibility and a wider variety of pathways to school completion, as is being contemplated in Queensland and Victoria.
Any reform would have its costs, but there has never been a greater need to focus on the needs of those who are not succeeding in our schooling system.
We need more students from low-SES families to succeed as Bob Carr did. Our society is increasingly one in which the income disparity between people at the top and bottom is becoming larger. We need to ensure this does not become entrenched and produce a society where there is a permanent underclass.
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2nd Speaker - BOB CARR, NSW Premier
World-class certificate deserves higher status
It's good to be having this debate again because it gives me another chance to reinforce the HSC's standing as a world-class credential. And I mean world-class.
The HSC is recognised internationally for its quality and rigour. It's been adopted by schools in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
Since 1967 the HSC has been supported by both sides of politics. Labor supported [the then NSW Liberal Premier] Nick Greiner's reforms in 1990. The Coalition supported, with the odd reservation, our tough changes in 1998.
I'm proud NSW never succumbed to the temptation to soften the HSC or make it school-based. I'm proud we've retained a tough, objective, credible end-of-school certificate.
In fact, we've strengthened it by abolishing weaker subjects, increasing rigour, abolishing scaling and replacing it with clear measures of ability, reintroducing 50per cent as the minimum standard and introducing practical job-related courses.
All this means when a student completes the NSW HSC, they've done something significant. Sure, the HSC is tough and demanding, like any major challenge in life. But it brings enormous satisfaction.
In any case, Year 12 would be stressful no matter what form of credentialling is used.
So why not make sure the certification students get is the most rigorous and credible possible? That way all the hard work is really worth something in the end.
I visit schools probably more than any previous premier, and when I do, there's never any suggestion of abolishing the HSC. I've spoken to thousands of parents, teachers and students and can't remember the proposition ever being put.
In fact, I've had principals tell me recently how much they appreciate the rigour of the HSC and the way it reinforces teachers' professionalism.
Students appreciate the HSC too, especially the more demanding courses we introduced. For example, enrolments in the toughest English, maths and history courses are up on 2001 levels by 69, 37 and 56per cent respectively. Students are voting with their feet by embracing the challenge and the rewards of higher level study.
It's also important to bear in mind the other "users" of the HSC; employers and universities. They trust the HSC and know that it guarantees rigour, merit and objectivity.
And the HSC's employment credibility has been strengthened by our addition of job-related courses which give nationally recognised industry qualifications in nine subjects such as IT and hospitality.
This takes the HSC beyond an exclusively academic focus, making it not only stronger but more useful.
As the HSC approaches its 40th birthday, we should celebrate a credential that allows a Premier to look working-class kids in the eye and say: "We're not going to patronise you with a wishy-washy certificate that will only be rejected by employers, universities and TAFEs."
No, we offer you a tough credential that's a useful, fair and respected preparation for work and higher study. And we do it because we respect your abilities and we take your future seriously.
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The debate continues next week.
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