On Tuesday 15 October, students in NSW began sitting their written exams for the HSC, kicking of a 19-day period where 76,221 students will sit at least one of the 124 total exams. By Friday, 8 November, nearly 400,000 unique exam sessions will have taken place.
This period, which carries significant weight for students’ university admissions and future career opportunities, can be a time of great stress for many students, especially those who struggle with anxiety and other mental health issues.
However, while the end-of-year exams are often viewed as a decisive factor in determining a student’s post-secondary path, early offer schemes have changed the nature of admissions and opened alternative pathways for students.
These schemes often use Year 11 marks and year-11 trial test results, as well as other portfolio evidence to make decisions for admissions – well before the formal examination date occurs.
‘Early entry schemes make the testing system obsolete’
John Fischetti is a Professor of Leadership and School Transformation at the University of Newcastle, has more than 40 years’ experience in transforming classroom learning, teaching and assessment. He says confidence in the new pathways “has not caught up with the reality that we are running an assembly-line system in a GenAI world.”
“Early entry schemes make the testing system obsolete since our top students are already awarded placements into their degrees of choice before they sit the exams,” Professor Fischetti told The Educator. “This allows us to change the senior years of high school to be much more learning- based than testing-based.”
Professor Fischetti pointed out that despite being in its early versions, Generative AI currently has the ability to generate text, video, audio, art, music, and data analysis that could earn almost anyone a “passing” mark on any assessment task given in any country that uses traditional examinations.
“Preparing students for ‘average’ is already replaceable by smart machines,” he said. “The challenge of the current system is that it is based on formulaic knowledge rather than creative, inquiry-based deep knowledge that comes from human experience applying what we’re taught in real-life situations.”
Times are changing
Professor Fischetti pointed out that most year 12 students do not use an ‘ATAR’ based on their examination scores now to gain admission to university.
“Most are admitted through early offers, go through a TAFE or enabling pathway, or come back to university as mature-age adults. As many as 25% leave school and do not ‘finish’. So, the examination process is no longer the preferred pathway,” he said.
“We have entire brands of schools whose intellectual property is providing high test scores, and they will push back to the Ministers until the next generation of stressed-out young people say, ‘no more,’ and more and more families leave the system that is wearing their children out.”
Professor Fischetti said this reliance on high-stakes testing does not align with the skills needed for success in a rapidly evolving world, where adaptability, creativity, and critical thinking take precedence.
“Anyone working for Apple, Google or who has begun a startup knows the capacities we need for the future, and they are not manifested in the current system.”
‘It’s about doing school differently in the senior years’
When asked how early entry schemes might impact students’ motivation and approach to Year 12 if the final exams lose their significance, Professor Fischetti said Australian researchers have shown that student motivation is increased if they are able to go deeper into the content.
“Programs such as the International Baccalaureate and Big Picture Learning Australia demonstrate that new designs of school are possible that promote in-depth learning and higher-order thinking,” he said. “These designs also alleviate teacher burnout and support students with individual learning needs.”
Professor Fischetti said this opportunity can be used reshape the senior years to build-in language learning, study on country and abroad, provide internships in students’ passion areas, and employ portfolio approaches to provide evidence linked to credentials verifying learning rather than old-school tests that approximate learning.
“It’s about ‘doing’ school differently in the senior years. Students show up for that.”