It’s Time to Move Beyond Exams. Here’s How We Do It Every Day

The recent calls to overhaul Victoria’s VCE assessment system are more than just timely – they’re essential. Beyond any questions of governance or trust, as The Age highlighted, students themselves are leading the charge, demanding a system that values more than memorisation and a tolerance for stress. 

Our kids are asking for assessments that reflect the holy grail of teaching – real understanding. Project-based tasks, formative feedback and opportunities to demonstrate growth over time enable students to deepen their understanding of concepts, not just recall content. 

At Woodleigh School, this is not a theoretical debate. We’ve long embraced project-based learning, inquiry-driven teaching and long-term assessments as the foundation of our educational approach. Why? Because education should prepare young people for life, not just for an exam room. 

The high-stakes exams the VCE has featured since its introduction in the 1980s were designed for a different era – one that prized standardisation over individuality. Today’s world demands something else: creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and adaptability. These are not skills you can measure in a three-hour test. 

Our students engage in authentic projects that tackle real-world problems, often in partnership with community organisations and industry experts. They learn to research deeply, think critically and present their findings with confidence. Long-term assessments allow us to capture the full arc of their growth – not just a snapshot on a single day. 

The Blacher Review rightly identifies systemic issues within the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA), but the conversation must go further. We need to ask: What is the purpose of assessment? If it’s to measure learning in a way that is fair, meaningful and future-focused, then the current model falls short. 

Efforts such as the New Metrics Program, led by the University of Melbourne, are already showing what’s possible. By working with forward-thinking schools to develop learner profiles and assess complex competencies like ethical reasoning, collaboration, and agency, the program is helping to redefine what success looks like in modern education. 

Victoria has an opportunity to lead the nation in reimagining senior secondary assessment. Let’s build a system that recognises diverse strengths, values progress over performance, and prepares students for the complexity of life beyond school. 

At Woodleigh, we know it works – because we see it every day.