1 Description of Sample and Respondents
As part of the Review of the HSC Assessment program, a survey was distributed to a random sample of 1,000 HSC students. The sample was stratified on two. variables: school type and student gender. A total of 420 survey forms'were returned, giving an overall response rate, of 42%. Table 1 summarises survey responses according to school type and student gender.
Table 1: Survey Response by School Type and Student Gender
Surveys Distributed Surveys Returned Response Rate .
No No % %
School Type
Government School 609 61 266 64 44
Catholic School 215 . 22 93 22 43 -
Other Non-Government School
122 12 43 10 35
Other (eg TAFE) 54 5 15 4 28
Student Gender
Female 514 . 51 259 62 50
Male 486 49 160 38 33
It can be seen from Table 1 that:
• The response rate was generally similar for students from different types of schools and.
thus the profile for respondents' school types was similar to that for the HSC candidature as a whole (about 60% government, 20% Catholic, 10% other non-government, 5% other).
• The response rate for female students (50%) was substantially higher than for male students (33%), resulting in more than 60% of responses being from female students, whereas the number of male and female candidates for the HSC is roughly equal.
Table 2 (overleaf) summarises other information about the type and location of. school attended by respondents.
It can be seen from Table 2 that:
• . About 60% of respondents' schools were in the metropolitan area, with the remainder fairly evenly split between non-metropolitan towns/cities and rural areas.
• About 75% of respondents attended co-educational schools, 10% boys' schools and 15%
girls' schools.
• About 20% of "respondents attended senior high schools, about 15% selective high
schools and about 20% other specialist schools.
Table 2: Location and Features of Respondents' Schools
Responses
No %
School Location
Metropolitan area 232 58
Non-metropolitan town-city 92 23
Rural area 68 17
Other 8 2
School Gender Composition
Co-educational 320 77
Boys only 36 9
Girls only 61 15
Other School Features
Senior High School 78 19
Selective High School 70 17
Other Specialist School 79 19 2 Purposes of HSC Assessment
Respondents were presented with a list of possible purposes for the HSC Assessment program - and asked to rate how well they felt each purpose was currently being met by the HSC
assessment tasks in their courses. The results are shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Achievement of Purposes of HSC Assessment program
How well purpose is currently being met in respondents'
courses
Very Quite Not Don't Well Well Well Know
The HSC assessment tasks... % % % %
Give students an idea of their relative position in the
43 45 11 o
course in the school. 43 45 11
Give students feedback on their current progress in
27 57 15 1
the course. 27 57 15 1
Give students the chance to show achievement in
28 49 20 4
non-exam tasks. 28 49 20
Measure skills that can't be assessed in the HSC 17 51 14 17
external exam. 17 51 14
Help students to do better in the course. 21 54 19 7 Give students practice for the HSC exam. 16 64 18 2 Give students the time and opportunity to undertake
11 47 32 10
substantial projects. 11 47 32 10
It can be seen from Table 3 that:
• About 85% - 90%) of respondents felt that the HSC assessments in their courses gave students feedback, on their current progress in the course and on their relative position in the course in the school, with about 45% (for relative position) and 25% (for current progress) feeling that it met these purposes very well.
• About 70% - 7 5 % felt that the HSC assessments gave students the chance to show achievement in non-exam tasks and measured skills that cannot be assessed in the HSC external examination, with about 20% - 30% feeling that they met these purposes very well and about 15% - 20% that they were not met well.
• About 75% of students felt that the HSC assessments helped students to do better in the course and about 70% that they gave students practice for the HSC exams, with about 20% feeling that these purposes were very well met and 20% that they were not well met.
• The final two purposes received the least favourable responses from students. While a majority of respondents (about 60%) felt that their HSC assessments gave students the time and opportunity to undertake substantial projects and provided students with confidence and motivation, only 10% felt that these purposes were very well met and about 35% felt that they were not well-met.
3 School HSC Assessment Program 3.1 Number of Tasks
Students were asked to indicate the average number of HSC assessment tasks that they are required to do in each of their courses. This item was interpreted in two ways by respondents - about half indicated the average number of tasks per course (which was the intention of the question) and the remainder indicated the total number of tasks over all of their courses. These latter figures were divided by six (the most common number of courses taken by HSC students) to give an approximate per-course average. Table 4 shows the distribution of the average
number of assessment tasks per course for respondents.
Table 4: Average number of Assessment Tasks per Course
Number of
tasks Respondents %
Less than 4 49 15
4 75 22
5 101 30
6 74 22
7 18 5
8 14 4
More than 8 4 1
Average 5.18
It can be seen from Table 4 that there was an average of about 5 assessment tasks per course and that about 75% of respondents indicated that the average number of tasks for their courses was between 4 and 6, with 15% having fewer than 4 and 10% having more than 6.
4
Respondents were also asked to indicate which of their courses had the most and fewes assessment tasks, and how many tasks were involved in each case. Table 5 shows the patten of maximum and minimum number of tasks indicated by respondents and the subject areas ii which they fell.
Table 5: Courses with Most and Least Assessment Tasks
Course with Most Assessment Tasks
Course with Least Assessment Tasks
Number of
tasks Respondents % Respondents %
Less than 4 13 4 180 52
4 30 8 109 32
5 A O
- t o 12 42 72
6 71 20 7 2
7 71 20 3 1
8 58 16 2 1
More than 8 69 19 0 0
Average 6.99 3.25
Subject Area Respondents % Respondents %
English 167 46 25 8
Maths 35 10 90 27
Science 30 8 25 8
HSIE 61 17 121 37
Creative Arts 29 8 23 7
Technology 23 6 29 9
LOTE 15 4 6 2
PDHPE 6 2 12 4
It can be seen from Table 5 that:
• On average, the course with the most assessment tasks for respondents had 7 tasks, with about 35% of respondents having courses with more than 7 tasks.
• For nearly half of the respondents, the course with the most assessment tasks was English, with HSIE courses (17% of respondents) also being relatively common.
• On average, the course with the least number of assessment tasks for respondents had about 3 tasks, with over 50% of respondents having courses with fewer than 4 tasks (generally 2 or 3 tasks).
• The two subject areas in which the courses with the least number of assessment tasks most commonly fell were HSIE (37% of respondents) and Maths (27%). It should be noted, however, that about 40% of these cases in HSIE related to two 1 Unit courses:
General Studies and Studies of Religion.
3.2 Type of Tasks
Respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which different types of tasks formed part of the HSC assessment tasks in their courses. The results are shown in Table 6.
Table 6: Extent to which Different Types of Task form part of HSC Assessment
In general, in the HSC assessments for students' courses, these types of task
form a ...
Type of Task
Major Part
%
Minor Part
%
Not a Part
%
Trial HSC Exam 92 8 0
Yearly/Half-Yearly Exams 64 28 8
Class Tests 15 64 21
Oral Tasks 11 77 12
Listening Tasks 8 41 51
Class Essays 36 50 14
Practical Work 31 52 16
Research projects largely
undertaken outside class-time 43 44 13
Research projects mainly
completed within class-time 12 54 34
Fieldwork 7 39 54
Workbook / Process Diary 16 34 50
Presentations / performances 21 48 30
It can be seen from Table 6 that:
• Trial HSC exams formed a major part of the assessment tasks for over 90% of respondents and a minor part for the remainder.
• Yearly/half-yearly exams formed a major part of the assessment tasks of about 65% of respondents and a minor part for most of the remainder.
• Class tests formed part of the assessments for about 80% of respondents, but generally only a minor part.
• While oral tasks formed part of the assessments for about 90% of respondents, listening tasks were part of the assessments for only 50%. In both cases, these tasks were generally a minor rather than major part of the assessments for these respondents.
• Class essays and practical work formed a major part of the assessments for about 30% -
35% of respondents and a minor part for a further 50%.
• Research projects largely undertaken outside class-time formed part of the assessments of about 85% of respondents, with about half of these respondents indicating that they were a major part of their assessment tasks. Research projects which were mainly completed within class-time were less frequent, although still undertaken by about 65%> of students and forming a major part of the assessments for 10%.
• Fieldwork and workbooks/process diaries formed part of the assessment tasks for about 50%> of respondents, forming a major part for about 10% - 15%.
• Presentations and performances formed a major part of the assessment tasks of about 20%) of respondents and a minor part for about 50%.
3.3 Student Views on Number and Timing of Tasks
Students were asked to indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with a number of statements regarding the number and the timing ot HSU assessment tasks thai they were required to undertake. The results are shown in Table 7.
Table 7: Student Views on Number and Timing of Assessment Tasks
Strongly Agree
%
Agree
%
Neutral Disagree
% % Strongly Disagree
% I am required to do too many HSC assessment
tasks. 14 30 36 18 3
There are not enough HSC assessment tasks in
my 1 Unit and/or 3 Unit courses. 4 10 37 39 9
I have had problems completing HSC
assessment tasks due to tasks for more than one of my courses occurring at the same time.
40 37 11 10 2
The school tries to co-ordinate HSC assessmen tasks to minimise cases of multiple tasks
occurring together.
10 40 20 20 10
In Term 3 some of my HSC assessment tasks will clash with dates for HSC performances, major works, etc in my courses.
16 21 35 20 9
It can be seen from Table 7 that while students faced problems in both the number and the timing of their assessment tasks, it was the latter issue that caused more widespread problems.
Thus about 45% of respondents agreed (15% strongly) that they were required to do too many
HSC assessment tasks, with about 20% disagreeing, with a similar pattern in relation to the
specific issue of 1 Unit and 3 Unit courses (15% agreeing that there were not enough tasks and
nearly 50% disagreeing). However, over 75% of respondents agreed (40% strongly) that they
have had problems completing HSC assessment tasks due to tasks for more than one of their
courses occurring at the same time. While about 50% agreed that their school tried to co-
ordinate assessment tasks to minimise clashes, a substantial minority (30%) disagreed. In the
final item, about 35% of respondents reported clashes in Term 3 between HSC assessment
tasks and dates for other HSC components (performances, major works etc).
4 Completion of Tasks by Students
Respondents were presented with a list of issues relating to the completion of assessment tasks by students and asked to rate the extent to which they presented problems in their school. The results are shown in Table 8 (overleaf).
Table 8: Extent of Problems in Completion of Assessment Tasks by Students
Major Problem
%
Minor Problem
%
Not a Problem
%
Don't Know
% Student absenteeism prior to HSC assessment
tasks 29 47 17 7
Students using Doctor's Certificates to account for their absences from, or prior to, assessment tasks when they weren't really sick
28 28 30 15
Students giving insufficient attention to school work
which is not part of the HSC Assessment Program 18 45 28 10 Unequal student access to resources (eg
computers, books) to complete HSC assessment tasks
18 41 38 3
Students submitting HSC assessment tasks which
are not their own work 10 33 45 12
It can be seen from Table 7 that:
• Student absenteeism prior to assessment tasks was seen as a major problem by about 30% of respondents and a minor problem by a further 50%.
• Students using Doctor's Certificates to account for absences from, or prior to, assessment tasks when they were not really sick was seen as a problem by about 55% of respondents, who were evenly split between those who saw it as a major problem and those who saw it as minor.
• Students giving insufficient attention to school work which is not part of the HSC Assessment program and unequal student access to resources to complete assessment tasks were each seen as a major problem by about 20% of respondents and a minor problem by a further 40% - 45%.
• Students submitting HSC assessment tasks which are not their own work was seen as a
^problem by about half of the respondents, although most saw it as minor.
5 Effects of HSC Assessment on Students
Respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which they agreed with several statements regarding the effect of the HSC Assessment program on students. The results are shown in Table 9 (overleaf).
Table 9: Effects of HSC Assessment on Students Strongly
Agree
%
Agree
%
Neutral
%
Disagree
%
Strongly Disagree
% 1 would find it less stressful if there were no
HSC assessments, just the final HSC exam. 15 11 13 26 35 Teachers make particular efforts to reduce the
level of pressure placed on students from HSC assessment tasks.
8 30 30 24 9
Hou assessments have an unheaithy effect on relations between students due to
competitiveness and unwillingness to assist one another.
9 21 27 32 12
It can be seen from Table 9 that while about 25% of respondents agreed (15% strongly) that they would find it less stressful if there were no HSC assessments, just the final exam, they were outweighed by the 60% who disagreed (35% strongly). Respondents were divided as to whether teachers made particular efforts to reduce the pressure on students from assessment tasks, with about 40% agreeing, 35% disagreeing and 30% neutral. Respondents were also divided as to whether HSC assessments have an unhealthy effect on relations between students, although substantially more disagreed (45%) than agreed (30%>), with 25% neutral.
6 Assessment Policies and Guidelines
The final two survey items dealt with school assessment policies and respondents' overall views on HSC assessment. The results were:
• About 70% of respondents agreed (30% strongly) that their school's HSC assessment policies and guidelines had been clearly communicated to students, with about 10%
disagreeing.
• About 70% of respondents agreed (35% strongly) that the assessment component of the HSC should be continued, with about 10% disagreeing.