Why teachers need to be better informed: (1 Viewer)

[theycallmebob]

I go to a yr11-12 school, and they say that their strength is that they specialise in the HSC and therefore "know the HSC".

Here are some examples of the profound knowledge that has been imparted to me in regards to the technical details of the HSC and ATAR:


"Only the HSC exams count towards your ATAR."

"Even if you get 100% in low-scaling subjects, the best ATAR you can achieve is a 70."


These are word for word, at least to the effect. There has been more but I can't be bothered remembering.

 

[Leffife]

They are definitely misinformed or don't know what they are talking about.

Here are some examples of the profound knowledge that has been imparted to me regards to the technical details of the HSC and ATAR:


"Only the HSC exams count towards your ATAR." : False. If they are referring to HSC exams as the external exams then they are completely wrong.

"Even if you get 100% in low-scaling subjects, the best ATAR you can achieve is a 70.": Were they born yesterday? Plain stupid.

 

[powlmao]

First one is sorta true. But really is compeletely wrong- Your external exams really dictates top marks etc, however all exams affect your individual mark. Hence it is false


You can get a Band 6 in any subject

 

[theycallmebob]

First one is sorta true. But really is compeletely wrong- Your external exams really dictates top marks etc, however all exams affect your individual mark. Hence it is false


You can get a Band 6 in any subject

I know. I was illustrating their stupidity

 

[powlmao]

I know. I was illustrating their stupidity

Yeah I know that.

They are pretty fucking stupid.

My school really doesn't tell us how the ATAR is calculated.

They just say its 50% internal and 50% external, and that your marks are moderated internally. That really should be what every school says

 

[enoilgam]

To be honest I have been wanting to start a dossier-like thread on "Stupid things teachers tell students about the HSC" for a while - so thumbs up to theycallmebob for making this thread. I have only been active on the site for a year and a bit, but I have already heard so many ridiculous and completely untrue "facts" about the HSC which teachers have imparted onto students. Here are two from yesterday alone: http://community.boredofstudies.org/showthread.php?t=285369, http://community.boredofstudies.org/showthread.php?t=285347

I posted this in a thread yesterday and I think it accounts for this problem "Most teachers are ill-informed because it isnt really in their interest to know how the process works - a maths teacher needs to be familiar with the maths syllabus, not how aligning/scaling/moderation works. Also, the process of calculating HSC marks/ATAR's is complex, which leads many teachers to draw the wrong conclusions from the process based on their limited knowledge."

I think teachers need to be better informed about the HSC, because so much of the rumours, myths and innuendo about scaling/aligning/moderating is spread by them. Just to clarify I am not saying all teachers know nothing about the HSC, but it seems that knowledgable teachers are in the minority.

 

[powlmao]

My teachers were only informed on how important ranks were this year. That is so bad.


Teachers need to be better informed, at least they need to know a basic understanding of how it works.

My IPT teachers view on 'low scalling subjects' is that the better you do, the closer you will be to that mark

 

[Myans]

If I can add my Teacher Stupid Comment of the Week:

General Mathematics Teacher told my friend the other day "General Maths is the only subject that doesn't get aligned. The raw mark you get in the exam is the exact same as your HSC mark"

I refused the temptation to mail him table A3

 

[Aerath]

Meh, I don't really see a need for teachers to understand the intricacies of the ATAR, aligning and scaling system. In saying that, I don't think it's appropriate for them to make wildly misleading statements like that either.

If a teacher knows their subject area well, can teach it well, and can give students some indication of what would do well in an exam, then that does it for me. HSC/Career mentoring is a bonus, but not necessary.

 

[Shadowdude]

Meh, I don't really see a need for teachers to understand the intricacies of the ATAR, aligning and scaling system. In saying that, I don't think it's appropriate for them to make wildly misleading statements like that either.

If a teacher knows their subject area well, can teach it well, and can give students some indication of what would do well in an exam, then that does it for me. HSC/Career mentoring is a bonus, but not necessary.

I know at my school - we have the 'HSC specialist' (although that's not... the name). Basically our Head of Secondary is the person who knows all about the system so, if there's a query - it'll go to her. Like I went to the HSC Subject Selection night and she was the one who basically... organised the whole thing.

However, that doesn't stop other teachers making comments which could perhaps be wrong. It just means that if you take the trouble to see the Head of Secondary, she'll set the record straight.


Perhaps it'd be good to have at least one person in every school who actually knows about the system - and publicise that to the students so that if something seems odd, or if they have a question, they can go to that designated person and they'll get the right answers.

 

[mirakon]

I know at my school - we have the 'HSC specialist' (although that's not... the name). Basically our Head of Secondary is the person who knows all about the system so, if there's a query - it'll go to her. Like I went to the HSC Subject Selection night and she was the one who basically... organised the whole thing.

However, that doesn't stop other teachers making comments which could perhaps be wrong. It just means that if you take the trouble to see the Head of Secondary, she'll set the record straight.


Perhaps it'd be good to have at least one person in every school who actually knows about the system - and publicise that to the students so that if something seems odd, or if they have a question, they can go to that designated person and they'll get the right answers.

Yep, our school had virtually the same system

 

[Aerath]

I know at my school - we have the 'HSC specialist' (although that's not... the name). Basically our Head of Secondary is the person who knows all about the system so, if there's a query - it'll go to her. Like I went to the HSC Subject Selection night and she was the one who basically... organised the whole thing.

However, that doesn't stop other teachers making comments which could perhaps be wrong. It just means that if you take the trouble to see the Head of Secondary, she'll set the record straight.


Perhaps it'd be good to have at least one person in every school who actually knows about the system - and publicise that to the students so that if something seems odd, or if they have a question, they can go to that designated person and they'll get the right answers.

No no, you're absolutely right, it may be helpful to have an understanding of the HSC system; but it isn't by any means necessary. And yeah, I think a few schools have the system you have - where one person is particularly knowledgeable. I don't think it was the case at my school though, because quite a few teachers in various subjects had a knowledge of the HSC system, and where that failed, our Deputy Principal knew all about it.

 

[someth1ng]

A lot of the teachers at my school know the system to a certain extent.

I remember my physics teacher (amazingly) say "a band 6 in physics is about 75% raw" which is pretty much correct. My maths teacher said something like "the bands are made by a panel and set each question in level bands from 1-6 or 1-4 then use those standards to make the benchmarks for band 6, e4 etc".

Not bad, to be honest.

 

[4025808]

My maths teachers didn't know what raw marks you needed to get band 6 in a particular subject, so I had to tell them, so I said you needed around 75-80% for 2U and around 65% for 3U and 4U.

On the other hand, my legal studies teacher said that you needed more than 90 to get a band 6 in legal studies. But I do know that he doesn't exactly know the system well.

 

[Nooblet94]

If I can add my Teacher Stupid Comment of the Week:

General Mathematics Teacher told my friend the other day "General Maths is the only subject that doesn't get aligned. The raw mark you get in the exam is the exact same as your HSC mark"

I refused the temptation to mail him table A3

Table A3 is to do with ATAR scaling. Just sayin'.

I agree with the people saying they don't need to understand the system in detail, BUT they need to know enough so that they're not spreading misinformation. IMO, not being told anything at all is better than being told something that's entirely wrong.

 

[albeitunique]

I know at my school - we have the 'HSC specialist' (although that's not... the name). Basically our Head of Secondary is the person who knows all about the system so, if there's a query - it'll go to her. Like I went to the HSC Subject Selection night and she was the one who basically... organised the whole thing.

However, that doesn't stop other teachers making comments which could perhaps be wrong. It just means that if you take the trouble to see the Head of Secondary, she'll set the record straight.


Perhaps it'd be good to have at least one person in every school who actually knows about the system - and publicise that to the students so that if something seems odd, or if they have a question, they can go to that designated person and they'll get the right answers.

Our school careers adviser has actually run a seminar a number of times this year explaining how the ATAR works, so if students turn up they can expect to be receive relevant information that is broken down and easy to understand. It helped me out.