Overview
- Education Minister Prue Car has written to the NSW Education Standards Authority asking for a moratorium on unsupervised take-home assessment tasks for year 12 students, with the proposal now subject to NESA’s advice.
- If NESA supports the move, the ban is expected to begin as soon as next term for current year 11 students entering year 12, with limited exceptions proposed for major practical projects such as art and technology.
- The push follows NESA and sector data showing a sharp rise in AI‑linked misconduct, with more than 1,000 school‑based HSC cheating cases in 2025 and 1,270 total cases recorded last year, most involving take‑home tasks.
- Schools have already tightened rules and begun authenticity checks such as draft checkpoints, viva voce and digital‑footprint reviews to verify student work while policy details are finalised.
- The moratorium is framed as an interim safeguard to preserve the HSC as a trusted credential and will feed into a broader review of how generative AI affects long‑term learning, teaching practice and assessment design.