Curriculum Trends across Australia in 2000

Curriculum Trends across Australia in 2000 - State by State

ACACA Compulsory Years of Schooling Group

Published by the Board of Studies NSW for the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Certification Authorities (ACACA)

Tasmania

1. Standards and Benchmarking

1.2 How are standards and benchmarks currently applied in your state/territory? (current practice)

In Year 10 TASSAB uses standards described in terms of 8 criteria, multiple descriptors and sources of evidence. The criteria are the general statement of achievement such as:

"Demonstrate an awareness of social and ethical issues of computer use".

The descriptors describe the levels of performance of the achievement such as:

A Can understand, explain and evaluate differing points of view;
B Can justify opinions formed; and
C Can discuss and form opinions.

The sources of evidence describe the behavior that must be exhibited for the particular performance level, e.g. for the A descriptor above, the sources of evidence are:

independently research a topical information technology issus related to units studied and provide balanced argument for and against the issue;
understand the wide spread use of personal data and issues of personal privacy;
understand the issues of intellectual ownership and copyright;
understand image enhancement and the integrity of the information the image conveys.