Higher School Certificate

More Amazing Secrets of Band Six (part two ongoing until they fix the wretched thing)

By Simon Crook

EDITOR’S NOTE:  When Simon Crook wrote The Amazing Secrets of band six last year for AARE, I had

Why we must abandon the 2021 HSC now

By Carol Reid

A  stop-start directive to return to schools has been going on for over a month and produced anxieties for teachers, students and their families.  How can we respond to the confusion this has produced, particularly regarding Year 12 students? The argument mounted here is that there really is only one way to respond and that

The amazing secrets of band six (and what you should know)

By Simon Crook

Part two of this story was published in March 2022. New South Wales, Day 1, Term 1. A whole staff meeting to begin the school year. At some point after the Principal’s address, the Leader of Learning (or similar) starts their Powerpoint to go through the previous year’s HSC results subject by subject, particularly the

Preparing children for work. Is this the best we can do for our students?

By Don Carter

I am concerned that recent reforms to the NSW Higher School Certificate are based on a narrowly conceived

The study of novels and poetry is essential for senior secondary students

By Rosemary Ross Johnston

The serious dumbing down of the senior English syllabus in NSW will have significant repercussions for students, employers,

Direct link between teaching and learning with laptops and better HSC results in biology, chemistry and physics

By Simon Crook

Most Australian students in years 9 to 12 were provided with a laptop courtesy of The Digital Education