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Daily Telegraph
February 07, 2005

THE Federal Government is exploring a national exam for Year 12 students that would rival New South Wales' "world class" Higher School Certificate. Education Minister Brendan Nelson told The Daily Telegraph the Federal Government would press ahead with the alternative credential to be called the Australian Certificate of Education.

It follows criticism that the revamped HSC has become an exam in which there are virtually no losers. Board of Studies data shows 99 per cent of all candidates passed the 2004 English standard course with 50 marks or better. More than 95 per cent of students achieved the minimum standard across all courses.

More students than ever placed in the highest performance bands while fewer performed below minimum standards despite Government claims the HSC was more "rigorous" than ever.

But University of Technology Sydney Dean of Education Andrew Gonczi said a general improvement in HSC standards had not been demonstrated.

"It does make it impossible to actually fail anyone unless they're so illiterate that it's terribly obvious," he said. "This stuff really isn't transparent and certainly it hasn't been explained to the community with sufficient clarity."

The Board of Studies says the class of 2004 posted the strongest overall performance since the HSC was changed in 2001. But while the state's brightest students are doing better, concerns have emerged that lesser performers have received inflated marks.

More than 1600 students classed as having a "learning difficulty" were granted extra time in the 2004 HSC exams, compared with 575 in 1999. The board no longer talks about pass or fail - students now are measured against achievement standards and placed in a range of performance bands from one to six.

Candidates get a true idea of their position in the state only when they are ranked for university entrance. HSC results no longer are scaled but some parents are sceptical about their children's marks.

"They're squeezing up the marks so the kids at the bottom don't look so bad," said one educator, who refused to be named. "Employers often comment how incompetent in the basics these kids are even when their marks are high."

Dr Nelson said that with the "well motivated but misguided determination not to hurt students' feelings" NSW was getting a standard that was becoming close to meaningless.

Board of Studies president Professor Gordon Stanley denied the changes were to "make kids feel good about themselves". But he admitted the new system had not been communicated well to the public.

Prof Stanley said the new HSC was about meeting standards and providing evidence of achievement.Students were raising their own bar and choosing to do more difficult subjects and levels.

"We don't want people to look at the mark so much," he said. "We don't like to talk pass or fail ... it's about showing what you have mastered, focusing on skills. The emphasis has shifted away from a score ..."

But it is possible for students to be awarded their HSC even if they perform poorly in every subject. Dr Nelson said people were looking for leadership from the Federal Government in driving a common Australian certificate of education.

"In principal we've decided it's something we want to explore," Dr Nelson said. "... I cannot tell you that a young person sitting an English exam in Sydney is sitting the same standard as in Brisbane or Hobart - that's the problem.

"I'd like to believe that 99.2 per cent of the students who sat the HSC did pass English but I stopped believing the tooth fairy when I was about eight.

"If the Year 12 exams are not based unashamedly on merit and excellence then we will see a further trend to students sitting the international baccalaureate.

"And universities will feel pressure to design and have students sit their own exams. It fuels the argument that increasingly we need to have a common assessment exercise across the country."

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