It is concerning that to me that QSA seem to be trying to introduce this nonsense into the assessment criteria for Year 10 under the Australian Curriculum.  We certainly don’t need this level of workload in Year 10, as well as 11 and 12.

It is also interesting to note that part of the agenda for the upcoming Panel training sessions in Mathematics includes a section entitled “Roles and Responsibilities”, where the topic for discussion is “Supporting and Advocating for externally moderated school based assessment”. Although, I guess that doesn’t necessarily suggest the nature of that school based assessment.

Two big concerns in all of this are the stress that this form of assessment puts on students, and equally important, the considerably increased work-load that was brought in under the radar for teachers, without consultation, and ultimately without any financial compensation either.

The ultimate concern however is that the immediacy of feedback from assessment, probably the main purpose of assessment, has been lost in a maze of criteria sheets that at the end of the day mean little to the students. As a typical example, if I have 25 students in a 12 Maths B class, and a typical exam takes about 45-60 minutes to mark thoroughly and determine an outcome, I am faced with up to 25 hours of marking before students get any feedback at all. Assignments are even worse, and the task means little to students by the time they get a task returned.

As a teacher who teaches by necessity 11 Maths B, 12 Maths B and 12 Maths C, along with a year 10 class, the assessment workload is becoming horrendous. For students doing a subject combination like Maths B, Maths C, Physics and Chemistry, I can only imagine the stress this system places upon them.