1. Home
2. Registered individual non-government schools
3. Accreditation requirements
4. Curriculum for Higher School Certificate

Curriculum for Higher School Certificate

The requirements for the Higher School Certificate are detailed in section 8 of the Assessment, Certification and Examination (ACE) Manual. To qualify for the Higher School Certificate students must satisfactorily complete a Preliminary pattern of study comprising at least 12 units and a HSC pattern of study comprising at least 10 units. Both patterns must include:

• at least six units from Board Developed Courses
• at least two units from a Board Developed Course in English
• at least three courses of two units value or greater (either Board Developed or Board Endorsed Courses)
• at least four subjects.

To satisfy pattern of study requirements for the Higher School Certificate a student may count a maximum of six (6) HSC units from courses in Science.

The rules and procedures for the Higher School Certificate are detailed in sections 6 to 11 of the ACE Manual. Schools must refer to these rules and procedures to ensure the eligibility of students for the Higher School Certificate credential. Schools must refer to the ACE Manual for details of their responsibilities in relation to the requirements for the award of the Higher School Certificate, including satisfactory completion of a course and appeals.

Evidence of compliance

A registered and accredited non-government school must have in place policies and procedures to monitor the compliance of each student with the requirements for eligibility for the award of the Higher School Certificate.

A registered and accredited non-government school must maintain documentation for each calendar year of the current accreditation period that provides evidence of:

• timetables showing the allocation of time and teachers for each Year/class
• the total number of hours allocated to each Preliminary and HSC course
• an overview of the educational program indicating
  • the scope and sequence of learning units/units of work mapped against the content and outcomes of the relevant Board syllabus for each course
  • resources and equipment available for each KLA
• assessment policies and procedures that comply with the requirements documented in the ACE Manual
• an overview of the process for reporting student achievement.

The assessment policies must include statements of school procedures relating to:

• organisational details of the school's assessment program for each course, giving the number and types of assessment tasks, components and weightings, and scheduling of the tasks
• marking, recording and reporting student achievement in assessment tasks
• administrative arrangements associated with absence from an assessment task, late submission of tasks due to illness or misadventure, malpractice and invalid or unreliable tasks
• student appeals against assessment rankings
• 'N' determinations
• providing students with written advice about the school's requirements for assessment in each course.

For each calendar year, the school must maintain, until the end of that calendar year, documentation that includes:

• teaching programs for each unit of work for each course for each Year/class. The units of work should correspond to those identified in the scope and sequence for that year
• samples of student work that relate to the teaching program for that year.