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How do we protect the integrity of assessment while ensuring that assessment continues to support learning?<\/p>\nHow do we protect the integrity of assessment while ensuring that assessment continues to support learning?<\/p>\n
NESA has recently announced new requirements for take-home Preliminary and HSC assessments. From Term 4 2026 for HSC courses and Term 1 2027 for Preliminary courses, schools will be limited to one take-home assessment task, worth no more than 15% of the school-based assessment component. Some courses with substantial practical components are exempt.<\/p>\n
The rationale is clear. Assessment needs to provide credible evidence of what a student knows, understands and can do. With generative AI increasingly capable of producing sophisticated written responses and solving complex problems, there is a genuine risk that students can outsource some of the thinking that assessment is intended to measure.<\/p>\n
NESA has also made clear that schools cannot simply rely on AI detection tools to determine whether work is a student’s own.<\/p>\n
What does this mean for learning?<\/strong><\/p>\n While examinations and supervised assessment have an important role in establishing what students can independently do, we also know that learning is a process. Students need opportunities to think, draft, receive feedback, revise, make mistakes and try again.<\/p>\n There is a danger that, in responding to AI, education simply becomes more focused on examinations. We do not believe that more testing automatically produces better learning.<\/p>\n At the same time, students need to develop the capacity to work independently, retrieve knowledge and demonstrate their thinking without external assistance. This is one reason we are already developing exam readiness progressively, with examinations in Year 10 and the introduction of some examinations in Year 9 from 2027. The aim is not to create a culture of constant testing, but to ensure that students develop these capabilities over time.<\/p>\n We are also mindful that a one-size-fits-all approach to assessment does not necessarily serve all learners well. Supporting students with diverse learning needs while maintaining the authenticity and integrity of their work will be an important part of our thinking.<\/p>\n Our work ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n At MLC School, we will implement the new NESA requirements. More importantly, we will use them as an opportunity to examine our broader approach to assessment.<\/p>\n We will be asking:<\/p>\n There are no simple answers to these questions. We will be working through them with our teachers and considering carefully what this means for our students, our assessment practices and, ultimately, the kind of learners we want our students to become.<\/p>\n\n