Calls for ‘outdated’ exams to be replaced with project-based tasks, long-term assessment

Victoria’s “outdated” 1980s-era approach to final high school exams should be replaced with a system that includes project-based tasks, with students leading the calls for change.

Students and education experts are calling for fundamental reform of the Victorian Education Certificate (VCE), arguing it’s no longer fit for purpose, after last week’s scathing report into the body that administers the exams.

Independent reviewer Yehudi Blacher – called in by the state government after real VCE questions were accidentally published online before last year’s exams – concluded in his report that it would take years to get the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) back on track and restore trust in the annual exam process.

But there are calls to completely re-think the entire concept, with student representatives calling for fundamental reforms.

Year 11 student Tilly, a member of the executive committee of the Victorian Student Representative Council, believes the exam authority reforms look good on paper but fail to address the needs of pupils.

“For many students, the issue runs deeper than the exam leak; it’s about VCAA’s overall approach to assessing their education,” she told The Age.

The teen acknowledged the Blacher review offered more than just “Band-Aid” solutions for the authority, but she called for changes to the exam system itself, which was first introduced in 1987.

“Time and time again, students have expressed that the current VCE exam system is outdated and in need of an overhaul,” she said.

“The recommendations focus on improving internal processes, but don’t even question whether the exams themselves are the best method of assessment.”

Tilly believes the current model does not properly acknowledge the diverse strengths and skills of students.

“There has been growing recognition of alternative pathways, yet our assessment system has not kept pace with this shift and is now out of date,” she said. “It continues to prioritise certain students simply because they fit the existing model. What we should be doing instead is developing a system that … recognises and measures each student’s unique success and strengths.

“We need to level the playing field so that academically focused students are not automatically favoured over others.”

In an open letter to Blacher, Tilly and more than 120 other high school students called for more diverse and meaningful assessments, including project-based tasks, formative feedback and opportunities to demonstrate progress over time.

“We need a system that measures more than memorisation and stress tolerance,” the letter says.

Prominent maths teacher John Kermond believes the study design for mathematics in particular needs to be completely rewritten.

“The mathematics study design is not fit for purpose. It needs to go back to the drawing board, and must be broken down,” he said.

Kermond said the curriculum itself was “stuffed” and it caused problems for students and teachers.

He said actual mathematicians should be involved in updating and checking curriculum and study designs.

Among the 11 recommendations to overhaul the exam authority, Blacher called for a “single point of accountability for each examination”. Instead, there were still significant numbers of staff without subject expertise who signed off on exams.

Kermond said he was unsurprised by that and hoped it would change soon.

“It’s astonishing that you just don’t have that one single person for each exam and the buck stops with them,” he said.

But identifying those who could fulfil the two roles of single exam-owner may take several years, Blacher said. Until that time, the VCAA should draw on expertise of existing staff, the reviewer said.

Kermond said: “Drawing on the current expertise of staff – such as the exam panels and chairs – is what caused all this mess in the first place.”

Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals president Colin Axup questioned whether the issues with previous exams were about a lack of subject experts or if they were just not proofread properly.

He labelled the findings into the culture of the exam authority “incredibly damning”.

Blacher’s 65-page report also noted serious concerns around the delivery times for key components of exams.

One educator told the review about the late release of a data booklet and sample exam for chemistry, with delays putting teachers in an “exceedingly difficult” position.

“We spent the better part of a year (plus the whole of 2024) saying to our students, ‘Oh well, we’ll see, we’ll have a better answer for you when VCAA releases the data booklet, or when the sample exam comes out’,” they wrote.

“It was the blind leading the blind, and our trust in VCAA was totally eroded.”

Kermond said these delays ultimately impacted students, and then teachers were forced to revisit topics to ensure they were covering key information that were likely to be in exams.

Axup said the “rigorous project management” approach to producing exams was already having an impact.

He said newly appointed VCAA chief executive Andrew Smith already had an open dialogue with school leaders.

“Everything will be delivered on time and there won’t be the mistakes of the past,” Axup said.

But he said the increase in students seeking special provisions for their exams was a huge concern.

According to the report, requests for special provisions, which can include breaks, extra time or exam papers in large print, exceeded 11,000 applications, with approval rates above 95 per cent.

More than 10,000 special examination arrangements were granted across Victoria in 2023, a 23 per cent increase on 2022 and a 182 per cent increase on 2014.

“It means extra supervisors and schools are already having trouble getting [them],” Axup said.

But while these were all concerning issues for VCAA and the VCE, Axup was feeling positive about the future, and more importantly this year’s exams.

For Year 12 students who were sitting the exams, he urged them to concentrate on what they had control over.

“What they have control over is their study habits and doing their work, don’t worry about VCAA over which they have no control,” he said.