Policy | Preamble

Policy

Curriculum Council

Policy on Calculator Use in Year 11 and Year 12
(February 1997)

Preamble

Since scientific calculators were first permitted in upper secondary school subjects in the late 1970s, hand-held technologies potentially available to students have increased markedly in sophistication, and yet their price has remained fairly stable in real terms. It seems inappropriate to discourage student access to such technologies, especially if they facilitate learning important aspects of mathematics or provide students with powerful tools to help apply mathematics to practical situations. Coherence between the conditions of learning and those of assessment suggests that students be permitted to use the same calculators in examinations they normally use in classrooms. It is appropriate to expect that an outcome of education at this level be that students will identify which situations are appropriate for calculator use and which are not, and be able to make efficient use of a calculator in relevant situations.

Calculators are available with a large array of capabilities subject to frequent revision by manufacturers, and it is not practical to describe all of these in detail. However, two issues need to be addressed:

• Without appropriate advice, students may acquire calculators that are inadequate for a subject or sequence of subjects they intend to study.

• Students may acquire calculators with capabilities which would confer undue advantage to them in examinations over students with less sophisticated calculators, or which would be a significant distraction to others.

The following information is given to clarify these issues:

• Minimum calculator capabilities required for Curriculum Council subjects. Examiners will assume that these capabilities are available to candidates during the associated Tertiary Entrance Examination.

• Calculator and computer capabilities and accessories that are unacceptable and which will not be permitted in any Tertiary Entrance Examinations.