UPDATE: Since this story was originally published, the NSW Education Standards Authority has decided the HSC will go ahead with school principals given discretion on weighting for formal assessments.
Major changes to schooling in Australia since the COVID-19 outbreak have left teenage students in their final year feeling confused and anxious about what form this year's HSC will now take.
In New South Wales, schools remained open on Tuesday although parents are being encouraged to keep their children at home amid a move to online learning.
Year 12 student Sarah Guirguis who studies at Aquinas Catholic College in Sydney says the HSC exams are a "defining moment" for many students and hopes they will get some clarity soon.
"What's most difficult is just the uncertainty around things. I am anxious about what is happening with the coronavirus and there is the added anxiety of not knowing what is going to happen in terms of the HSC exams," she told SBS News.
Sarah hopes sit-down exams will continue but says what is most important is knowing what the plan is.
Year 12 student Bianca Dreis said there are a lot of rumours circulating online about what might happen with the final exams.
"It's the most important exam of our lives - we have spent 12 years working up to it - I hope we can have some clarity soon," she said.
No decision or announcement has been made in relation to the HSC. On the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) website, the authority says "it recognises the significant community concerns with regard to the conduct and processes of the 2020 HSC" and it is "committed to the fairness and equity of the HSC credential".
Year 12 student Bianca Dreis began attending school online on Tuesday. Source: SBS News
The board is meeting today but it is unlikely any immediate decisions will be made.
Acting president of the NSW Secondary Principals Council, Craig Petersen, who represents headteachers in the state, said the pandemic has major implications on the exams.
"There are things beyond anyone's control and it really is unprecedented so we don't have previous models to fall back on where we can say, 'well, on this occasion we need to do this, that, or the other'," he said.
"It is really about developing a new set of protocols, a new set of procedures as we go through this crisis.
"It will certainly disrupt student learning and that disruption won't be equal across the state or even within some schools, depending on facilities available and depending on family circumstances."
Mr Petersen is urging students and teachers to continue planning for the HSC exams while schools await advice from NESA but acknowledges other ways of determining final marks are on the table.
"A lot of universities already use different methods of that entry - it could be a portfolio assessments, it can be interviews, it could be based on teacher estimates of our student performance," he said.
"But there are many variables with the current situation and we need to be patient and see how things will pan out."
Tom Alegounarias, the former chair of NESA, says assessment marks are a "very reliable indicator" for exam marks.
"Teachers make reliable judgements about their students. It is important that students do the whole year if possible, but even if schools were stopped now, we would have a more sophisticated, more reliable and fair assessment than in most countries in the world if they did the whole year," he said.
Mr Alegounarias says education boards across the country would be reviewing the data they have on students to determine whether it would fairly represent the achievements of students.
The United Kingdom closed all schools on Friday and cancelled its high school GCSE exams and pre-university A-level exams for this year. Students' results will instead by graded based on prior assessment marks.
Federal, state and territory ministers decided last week to cancel NAPLAN tests this year.
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