NSW schools could face changes to take-home assessment as the Government reviews how artificial intelligence is affecting student learning and the integrity of the HSC.
The NSW Government has asked the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) to urgently review the impact of artificial intelligence on student learning and assessment, including whether unsupervised take-home assessment tasks should be placed under a moratorium.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning Ms Prue Car has asked NESA to examine measures to protect student learning and maintain the integrity of the Higher School Certificate as the use of AI accelerates across schools.
As an immediate step, NESA has been asked to consider a moratorium on unsupervised, take-home assessment tasks while a broader review is undertaken.
The review will examine growing evidence about the impact of AI on students’ cognitive development and consider how assessment methods can better safeguard authentic student work.
This will include consideration of major projects and creative works, with the Government indicating that some tasks, such as major art or design and technology projects, may be treated differently.
NESA has also been asked to develop a common approach for schools and teachers to help identify inappropriate use of AI in student assessments.
The move has particular implications for schools delivering the HSC, with half of a student’s HSC result based on school-based assessment. Some of these assessments are currently completed outside the classroom, increasing the challenge of ensuring submitted work remains a genuine measure of student learning.
Ms Car said the Government needed to respond to the changing assessment environment while the longer-term impact of AI continues to be examined.
“Artificial intelligence has enormous potential to support teaching and learning, but it should never replace the thinking, creativity, and hard work that education is designed to develop,” she said.
“The purpose of schooling extends beyond producing an assessment task. It is to build knowledge, judgement, resilience, and critical thinking over time. If students rely on AI to bypass that learning process, we risk undermining both their education and the integrity of the HSC.”
Changes could begin in Term 4
Subject to advice from NESA, any interim changes could be implemented from the beginning of Term 4 this year.
The timing is intended to provide the HSC Class of 2027, their schools and parents with certainty as students begin their final year of school.
The Government has indicated that the proposed changes would not necessarily apply in the same way across all subjects. More subject-specific advice is expected for students entering Year 12.
For schools, this could mean changes to assessment planning, task design and the way student work is completed and verified.
Ms Car said the Government’s priority was to ensure technology supported rather than displaced the learning process.
“We need to act now as the evidence continues to emerge. It is better to put sensible safeguards in place while we fully understand AI’s long-term impact on student learning,” she said.
Assessment and the future of learning
The Government’s review also raises broader questions about how schools assess learning in an environment where students have increasing access to generative AI tools.
Ms Car said the settings surrounding the HSC could influence learning practices throughout high school, particularly because students know they will ultimately face an offline examination environment.
“The settings for the HSC have an impact on learning throughout high school,” she said.
“Where teachers and students know they face an offline environment in final exams, that will likely impact the way they prepare for those exams.”
Ms Car compared the role of technology in learning with preparation for a marathon.
“If you want to run a marathon, you don’t practice on a computer. You don’t build grey matter by getting a computer to do the thinking for you,” she said.
The review is therefore expected to consider not only how schools can identify inappropriate AI use, but how assessment can continue to encourage students to develop knowledge, critical thinking, creativity and independent learning.
Ms Car said maintaining confidence in the HSC would remain central to the process.
“Technology should enhance education, not diminish it,” she said. “Parents deserve confidence that HSC results reflect a student’s own knowledge, effort and achievement.”