Introduction
It is a great honour to receive this award and I thank the College for recognising me in this way. I would like to acknowledge at the outset that I am indebted to so many of the people in this room for their leadership, guidance and support. I would also like to acknowledge that some of the people here tonight played key roles in the development of the HSC in earlier years. I am fortunate that I have had the opportunity to learn from and build on the work of those people. I am particularly pleased to see members of my senior staff present. It is they who have helped me in recent times in further shaping the HSC and it will be they who will protect and develop it in the future.

The HSC – What next?

My address tonight has two related messages. The first is that over the past four decades the HSC has undergone many changes. These changes have not only brought improvements, but have also configured the HSC in a way that will enable it to meet the challenges ahead. The second message is that there are indeed some key challenges facing the HSC and I will spend some time discussing how we might deal with them.

The first HSC was awarded in 1967, so in 2009 the HSC is in its 43rd year. Indeed the grandchildren of some of the students from the first HSC cohort have already sat for their own HSC. There isn’t time this evening to mention all the changes to the HSC over that time or to go into very much detail about any of them. I will simply concentrate on four that I think were pivotal in making the HSC what it is today. You might agree with my list of four or you might think other changes were more significant. Importantly, however, whatever list of key changes we might come up with I have the sense that the HSC has evolved to what it is today to address changing circumstances and requirements. And furthermore, it is that evolutionary process that has helped the HSC to retain its integrity and high public standing.

Pre – HSC
It is worth looking briefly at the period before the introduction of the HSC. Just in case anyone thinks that this is akin to the dark ages of education in NSW, I will just hasten to add that I sat for the final Leaving Certificate in 1965! I know that many of you in the room will also look back on that period with some fondness.

The HSC resulted from the report of the committee led by Sir Harold Wyndham, titled Report of the Committee appointed to Survey Secondary Education in New South Wales. This report was released in 1956. It provides a wonderful snapshot of the state of the education of adolescents fifty years ago. It is worth noting some key statistics from that period with a view to making some comparisons a little later.

Of the 50,575 students who started secondary school in 1952 only 16% made it to 5th Year, the final year of school. Indeed, only 56% (just over half) of the 1952 cohort completed 3rd Year, the equivalent of Year 9 today. (Wyndham, 1956 p. 44)

Even more startling is that of that cohort only 13% gained the Leaving Certificate, only 7.5% matriculated, and only 4.4% (or 2225 students) started university. (McGaw, 1996 p. 118)

The Early HSC – 1967 to the Early 1990s
From its introduction in 1967 until the early part of the 1990s the HSC underwent a number of major changes to curriculum, assessment and credentialing. While not always without controversy, most of these changes were successful in improving the HSC.

For example, in 1967 there were 69 courses in 28 subjects organised by levels. By 1975 the organisation of curriculum by levels was replaced by the notion of units of study. In 1976, courses known as ‘Other Approved Studies’ were introduced. In 1984 we saw the introduction of Vocational Education and Training courses through the JSSTAFE program.

Many of these changes were introduced to accommodate a changing HSC population. In 1967 only 20% of the students who commenced Year 7 went on to the HSC. By 1978 the retention rate had risen to 36%, and by 1993 the retention rate was 71%.

The first of what I consider to be the four key changes to the HSC occurred in 1986. This was the introduction of the school assessment component that counted for 50% of a student’s result in a course. At the same time the reporting of student achievement moved from using the ‘scaled’ course marks, that is the marks still used today in the calculation of the ATAR, to a simple system where the average mark for the 2 unit students in a course was set to 60%, 1 – 2% of students received a mark greater than 90%, and so on.

The Period from 1994 to 2000
The introduction of the ‘Pathways’ policy is my second key change. This was a major structural change that took place in 1994, brought about because the increase in the retention rate put pressure on the HSC to meet a wider range of student needs.

Before the introduction of Pathways students were expected to complete the whole of the Year 11 or Year 12 program in a single year. They could repeat their studies, of course, but if they did they had to repeat the whole program for that year. Under Pathways students could accumulate the requirements for the HSC over a period of up to five years. That also meant that they could elect to repeat single courses if they wished to improve their HSC results. Gifted students were also able to accelerate in one or more courses ahead of the rest of their program.

During this period the Government recognised the need for further changes to the HSC and so commissioned Barry McGaw to undertake an extensive review of the whole program. McGaw’s final report, Shaping Their Future was released in March 1997. The Government White Paper, Securing Their Future followed later that year. The White Paper adopted most of McGaw’s recommendations.

The Period from 2001 to 2008
The Securing Their Future changes were introduced for the 2001 HSC. They resulted in major changes to the curriculum structures. Many of the lower level courses were deleted, as were the additional 3-unit courses. In some subject areas the 3-unit additional courses were replaced by Extension courses. The provision for Vocational Education and Training courses was strengthened, with students able to receive credit as part of the HSC and also receive a nationally recognised VET qualification.

One of the most significant changes to the HSC that resulted from these reforms was the reporting of students’ achievement in relation to standards. These standards, and the procedures that enabled student achievement to be related to the same achievement standards year after year, represented a major step forward. It was an enormous change in approach and is the third of the key changes in my list. The introduction of the standards-based system of reporting student achievement meant that it was now possible to compare students’ achievements in a course from one year to the next by the use of publicly available standards. The standards for a course are encapsulated in three elements: summary descriptions of the types of things students who achieved each standard know and can do; student tasks in the form of examination questions; and samples of student responses typical of those produced by students whose achievements put them at the borderline between different standards.

The Growth in the Use of Technology in Supporting the HSC
The fourth of the key changes in my list is the integration of technology into the HSC program.

In the past 15 years technology has had a significant and positive effect on the administration of the HSC. Many of the traditional paper-based processes, including student entries and the release of results have been replaced with internet-based processes that not only save time, but also deliver superior services to students and schools.

For example, student entry procedures that once took three months to complete have now been replaced by online data entry processes that can take as little as a matter of minutes. The issuing of HSC results to students and schools, which until 1997 was all done through a paper-based approach, has been replaced with electronic delivery processes. By 1999, the internet-based results delivery service was sufficiently robust and reliable to enable the results to be delivered to students and schools before the beginning of the Christmas school holidays. This was three weeks earlier than previously. Today, students are even able to check their own records and use a number of other services to support their study and examination preparation.

Furthermore, the use of scanning technologies has meant that certain student examination response data can be captured and scored much faster and more reliably. In addition, the scanning technologies enable hand-written student responses to be marked onscreen using software that brings a variety of benefits. In 2009, 10% of HSC written responses and 16% of School Certificate written responses will be marked onscreen. So the integration of technology is the fourth of my list of key changes.

A Snapshot of the HSC today
Let’s now look at a brief snapshot of the HSC today.

In 1967 students could select from 69 courses in 28 subjects; in 2008, students were offered 112 different Board developed courses from 71 subject areas. In addition to this there were a range of courses from nine Industry Curriculum Frameworks. And, on top of this, students chose from around 150 Board endorsed courses that do not have an external examination, including VET courses delivered through TAFE.

In 1967 18,336 students studied for the HSC. In 2008 a total of 67,326 students, more than three and a half times the 1967 figure received a result in at least one course. Of these, 63,119 received an HSC. Nearly 52,000 students were eligible to receive a UAI. What I think is interesting about this is that around 18% of students chose to study an HSC program that meant they were not eligible for a UAI. Whereas in 1967 only 20% of the students who commenced Year 7 went on to the HSC, in 2008 the retention rate was over 70%.

Of the students who were eligible for an HSC nearly 23,000 (or 36%) completed a VET course, and half of these were at Certificate II or above. Furthermore, 11% of 2008 HSC students received a VET Certificate II or above and a UAI.

So – What Next?
There are a number of factors that will impact on the HSC in the near future. These can be expected to bring about further change, but I believe they can be worked through and managed.

The implementation of the national curriculum will have a major effect. With careful planning, however, the courses that are developed as part of the national curriculum should be able to be accommodated within the HSC program in a way that maintains their integrity and that of the HSC. There is no reason why these courses cannot be organised, delivered, assessed and reported in a way that is consistent with those NSW courses that are not part of the national curriculum. We are moving into an era where it can be expected that an expanding number of national curriculum courses will be developed and will need to be integrated into the HSC program over a number of years. These courses not only need to fit seamlessly into the total HSC curriculum, they will need to have associated materials developed and professional support provided to teachers to enable their successful implementation.

Any potential impact of the national curriculum on credentialing student achievement in the HSC must be carefully managed. Achievement standards will be needed for the courses that are part of the national curriculum. These achievement standards must enable student achievement to be assessed and credentialed in a manner that is consistent with and supports the essential aspects of the approaches used in the HSC.

While at this point some details of the national proposals are still being finalised, I believe there are ways that this can be done but it will need careful thought, planning and implementation. The extent of any refinements the NSW Government and the Board of Studies may consider making to further enhance the HSC can be considered in the future when more information becomes available.

A second factor that will have an impact on the HSC is the increase in the school leaving age and the resulting increase in the retention rate. Recent Government Legislation has increased the school leaving age from 15 to 17. Students must complete Year 10 and remain at school until they turn 17 unless they are in recognised training or full-time employment. The HSC curriculum, and the way it is delivered, will need to take into account the more diverse range of needs of this student population. Pathways from school into further training and employment will need to be strengthened and expanded to ensure that the needs of all young people can be met.

A third factor will be the ever increasing role that technology will play in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.

The implementation of programs that will provide every secondary student with their own computer will have a major impact on the curriculum, its delivery and how it is assessed. Careful thought must be given to how technology can be used to improve student learning. In this regard, the introduction of hand calculators into the secondary Mathematics and Science curriculum 30 – odd years ago comes to mind. While this change enhanced the teaching and assessment of Mathematics and Science, it did not remove the need for students to understand, and be able to apply, the concepts and processes of those subjects.

The Board of Studies already has the technology and processes to create and administer the types of assessments and examinations that are used for the HSC. As I said before, we also have the systems and capabilities to distribute student responses to markers to be marked onscreen, and we can collect, process and check those marks extremely efficiently. The day is not far off when the issues of equity, security, reliability and sound administrative practice associated with students completing examinations by computer will be solved. We are already putting in place a timetable for the Board of Studies that will see students completing some parts of some HSC examinations by computer within the next five years. Many practical issues still need to be resolved but that is only a matter of time and careful thought. In moving in this direction, however, we need to ensure that we do not lose sight of the fact that the HSC is a program of learning and the assessment of that learning. Technology has an important role to play in this, but it is not the end in itself. It can bring many improvements and enhance learning and assessment, but it needs to be the servant and not the master.

Looking further into the future it is worth noting the exciting work being done in the use of computer simulations to assess such things as problem-solving skills and teamwork. For example, the project being led by Barry McGaw involving Cisco, Intel and Microsoft is a major undertaking, but is just one of a number of similar projects. Such developments clearly have a place in education and have tremendous potential to enhance student learning. Will they be able to be a part of the HSC in the future? Yes, of course, but they need to be carefully blended into the HSC curriculum and assessment programs and not be seen as the HSC itself.

Recently the chief executive of Cambridge Assessment was reported as saying that within 10 to 15 years traditional examinations are likely to disappear and be replaced by computerised testing; and furthermore, that within 15 years examinations will be able to be done onscreen and on demand. As a first reaction we might ask, ‘Is that like the claims about the paperless office’? If we think a little more carefully, however, we might remember that 15 years ago the internet was in its infancy. Websites were rare and electronic publishing was only used in addition to hard copy. In September 1995 when we released the Board of Studies’ website it was one of the first state government websites. In fact, there were only 20,000 websites in the world. In that first year it held around 250 documents and received about 7,000 visits. Today, the Board’s site contains more than 22,000 web pages as well as over 6,000 pdf documents. In 2008, the Board’s main websites, including the K-6 website and the Assessment Resource Centre website had more than 6 million visits.

In addition, mobile and fully wireless computing is changing the way people use computers. For example, when we deliver the HSC results, students get them not only on their computers, but also on their PlayStations, iPhones and Blackberries. Our monitoring of the usage of the Board’s online services leads us to conclude that students use the HSC and SC Test Yourself service to do practice multiple-choice tests at all times of the day and night, including while they wait for their train home in the afternoon.

So already, much of the technology necessary to support the administration of online examinations is available. One thing we need to watch, as we move further in this direction, is that such approaches remain focused on delivering quality educational outcomes.

Conclusion
On a concluding note, I would make the point that we need to continue to fine-tune and refine the HSC curriculum, assessment and examination programs when necessary. Quality programs like the HSC only retain their quality if they are well maintained and supported. Over the past 43 years we have seen many improvements and enhancements that have added to the standing and integrity of the HSC. Opportunities should continue to be explored so that students can be taught from quality curriculum documents and so that student achievement can be measured and reported in an optimal and meaningful manner.

There is no doubt in my mind that the HSC is a program which is well placed to face the challenges ahead. NSW is fortunate that over the years so many committed educators have been involved in establishing the HSC and in keeping it effective and relevant. I am sure that with careful thought and planning it has the features, the flexibility and the fortitude to serve the students of NSW well for generations to come.