that “Students are feeling extremely stressed, particularly if they’re at home and are watching their friends working on [their major work] in other schools, How they can account for those inconsistencies across the board [when marking the HSC] is our big concern.”
While some art students have been able to collect their works, some — such as those working with ceramics, whose works are fragile until they have been fired in a kiln, or those working on large sculptures — have not because it’s too impractical to transport them. Some need expensive, large equipment such as 3D printers or laser-cutter machines. Industrial technology students might be working on billiard tables or cabinets, which need specialized equipment. Some students live in apartments, which don’t have enough room.
Earlier in the week the art students were given a two-week extension on their major projects, and industrial technology students were given four. NESA has also announced HSC written exams would be moved back a week. But there has been no word on music performance exams, said Deb Batley, the chair of the Australian Society for Music Education. Singers and wind players cannot rehearse in Sydney due to their higher COVID-19 risk, but the exams are still due on the original timetable.
