Welcome

Welcome to the NSW Department of Education Assessment in the HSC resource for dance, drama, and music. This resource is designed to provide Stage 6 teachers with opportunities to develop their understanding of the assessment requirements for the practical, submitted works and performance works in the HSC dance, drama and music courses. It has been written to support and complement the NESA Creative Arts Assessment and Reporting in Stage 6 dance, drama, music 1, music 2 and music extension advice and requirements. All Year 12 teachers and students should access the current NESA requirements and advice before referring to materials on this site.

HSC dance, drama and music teachers may:

  • familiarise themselves with the requirements of each practical and performance component
  • develop their understanding of the language of the NESA assessment criteria for each of the practical and performance works
  • develop confidence in applying assessment criteria through identification and analysis of work sample characteristics
  • use the resource to assist Year 12 students in making informed choices when selecting course options
  • use the resource to build student confidence and knowledge of success in each practical and performance work.

For HSC visual arts teachers, the Assessing Visual Arts Bodies of Work site, is designed to assist Stage 6 visual arts teachers to make informed and valid judgements when marking HSC bodies of work.  

Teachers can use the resource to: 

  • familiarise themselves with the language of the marking guidelines 
  • understand the importance of undertaking critical dialogue with a colleague in the lead up to independently marking bodies of work 
  • develop confidence when making judgements through practice using the work samples.  

Using this resource

For each subject, the resource is organised into 3 sequential parts.

  • Understanding the project requirements.
  • Understanding the assessment criteria.
  • Applying the assessment criteria to work samples.

When using this resource, first select the relevant course component and familiarise yourself with the NESA requirements and assessment criteria. For each option, select one or more work samples and navigate through the content to explore the application of the assessment criteria at various levels of achievement.