Education minister Sarah Mitchell signals major change for HSC exams

NSW students have sat HSC exams in the same way for 55 years - but there is about to be a major change.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell wants HSC students to sit their exams on computers rather than using pen and paper in one of the biggest shake-ups in the exams’ 50-year history.

The move has the support of English teachers and parents who say it will make matriculation less of a physical test of producing legible handwriting for hours on end and more about thinking critically and applying knowledge to the questions being asked.

“Modernising the HSC is essential if it is to remain a world-class qualification. Currently only one subject has exams conducted on a computer,” Ms Mitchell told The Daily Telegraph.

“I want to see this expand to reflect the increasingly digital world we are living in.

“Students also need to be able to write effectively with legible handwriting, however, I think we can get the balance right,” she said.

A spokeswoman for the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) said the ­English exams, which were sat by about 76,000 students every year, were among the subjects currently being explored for reform.

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell. Picture Gaye Gerard / NCA Newswire.

The spokeswoman said the science extension exam, which was sat by 747 HSC students last year, had been successfully conducted online since 2019.

“NESA is considering opportunities for additional online HSC exams, including English, as part of the curriculum reform program,” she said.

“Handwriting will continue to be an essential skill that students develop from kindergarten, but it is also crucial that students develop typing skills.”

Experts say the HSC exams should not be a test of endurance but rather achievement in their subject.

President of the English Teachers Association of NSW, Eva Cox, said giving students the option of typing their English essays could promote quality over length.

“I don’t know how much thinking kids do in exams – some do, and some simply reproduce,” she said.

“The exam (should be) a test of knowledge, understanding and achievement.”

Last year’s feedback from markers urged students to avoid reproducing memorised essays, which ignored the question and urged students to use “clear, legible handwriting”.

Ms Cox said handwriting was still a very important skill and her preference was to give students a choice of doing it on paper or on a computer.

“I am sure a lot of markers would enjoy typed scripts rather than handwritten scripts, particularly as so much marking happens on screen anyway,” she said.

Central Coast P & C Federation president Sharryn Brownlee said that it was time to bring the HSC into the 21st century.

“NSW is falling behind the rest of the world because we have been so slow to change the HSC, we haven’t listened to the university sector in how to change how we measure student attainment,” she said.

“There is a whole lot of boredom in school, from doing busy work which includes having to handwrite out real documents.

“A measure of attainment and intelligence is not about nice handwriting.”