Health and Physical Education Assessment Tasks Fact Sheet
About the assessment tool
Brief description
The Health and Physical Education Assessment Tasks are validated assessment tasks developed to
cover Health and Physical Education in three stages of schooling: Years 3‐4 (AusVELS level 4), Years
7‐8 (AusVELS level 8) and Years 9‐10 (AusVELS level 10).
The Health Education Assessment Tasks are designed to assess the Health Knowledge and
Promotion dimension of AusVELS, which examines physical, social, emotional and mental health, as
well as personal development across various stages of the life span.
The Physical Education assessment tasks cover the Movement and Physical Activity dimension of
AusVELS which focuses on the important role that physical activity, sport and recreation play in the
lives of all Australians. The tasks assess both theory (knowledge, application, understanding) and
performance (skills).
These assessment tasks are on‐demand assessments which means they can be used with the
students at any time during the year to suit the teaching program.
Each assessment task has been designed to be administered to a whole class of students, although
they could be used with an individual student to determine their progress.
What does the
assessment tell you
about the child?
What are the
components of the
tool?
These assessments provide diagnostic information about the student’s strengths and weaknesses in
Health and Physical Education.
There are nine assessment modules for Health Education – three modules for each stage of
schooling specified above. Each module is designed to take 40‐50 minutes to complete. The
number of questions varies due to the complexity or ease of the questions. The questions styles
vary between multiple choice, short answer, mix and match, and data analysis.
There are six assessment modules for Physical Education – two modules for each stage of schooling
specified above. Each module tasks 2 hours to complete as they require involvement in a physical
activity and completion of written work. The number of questions varies due to the complexity or
ease of the questions. The questions include short answer, data analysis, and multiple choice.
What is the style of
assessment?
This Health Education assessment is completed independently by the student. The Physical
Education assessments require all students to be involved in the physical activity and then
complete the written component on their own.
Health Education ‐ Each module is designed to take 40‐50 minutes to complete.
Physical Education ‐ Each module tasks 2 hours to complete as they require involvement in a
physical activity and completion of written work.
What are the
limitations of the
tool?
This tool does not provide detailed guidance about alignment with an AusVELS level. There is also a
limitation about comparing student results with the state‐wide performance data.
Assessment tasks do not address all elements of the AusVELS standards.
Background to the assessment tool
How was the
assessment tool
developed?
How long has the
tool been used?
Relevant research
underpinning tool
Validation process
and data for the tool
Tool was developed over a 2 year period through a research and development project lead by the
Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). Involved expert practitioners and materials
were piloted and then involved a random statewide trail to validate the assessment tasks and
develop statewide performance data.
The tool was used in the random statewide sample in November 2010 and has been released to
schools in March 2012. No significant changes were made to the tasks following the random
sample.
The tool arose from a literature review completed by ACER in 2009 to establish the learning areas
where there was little or no validated assessment tasks available.
Two Domain Reference Groups (DRGs) were formed to provide academic and professional
expertise and to review the assessment tasks:
 in the early design phase
 during development
 prior to finalisation for the random sample administration.
There were two DRGs, one for Health and one for Physical Education. Each DRG comprised of 5
external consultants, including curriculum experts and tertiary lecturers. Additional specialist
DEECD advisors also provided input on particular assessments and attended some of the DRG
meetings.
A group of pilot teachers reviewed the draft assessments, administered revised versions and
provided feedback for the final revision of the assessments. Twenty‐five teachers from 19 schools
participated in the pilot.
There were four phases of pilot teacher involvement:
1. Introductory pilot workshop – the project was explained and draft ideas for assessments
were canvassed.
2. Pre pilot workshop – teachers were shown the revised tasks and scoring guides and the
requirements for the pilot were explained.
3. Piloting of the assessment tasks in their school – teachers administered the tasks,
monitored any issues and collected written responses to return to ACER.
4. 4. Post pilot workshop – teachers provided feedback on the tasks and scoring guides, and
made recommendations for refinement.
Pilot teachers were a key quality control component of the project, providing advice about the
practicality of the tasks when taking into account the range of student abilities and dealing with
time constraints. A random sample involving Victorian government schools was conducted in
October/November 2010 to validate the Health and Physical Education assessment tasks and gain
state‐wide sample achievement data.
The sample size for this study was large enough to ensure accurate generalisation to the population
of Victorian Government students and allow comparison of key subgroups within the population.
The sample size was also designed to minimise the imposition on schools and teachers and
maximise the potential for professional learning for teachers.
ACER drew a random sample of DEECD schools. All non‐mainstream schools, such as special schools
and hospital schools, were removed from the pool of schools, as well as the 18 schools that
participated in the pilot study. Different schools were sampled for Years 8 and 10 to avoid
overburdening the Health and Physical Education teacher with too many assessments in one
school.
The final sample consisted of:
 100 schools administering Year 4 tasks
 30 schools administering Year 6 tasks for equating
 117 schools administering Year 8 tasks
 117 schools administering Year 10 tasks.
Each school was required to randomly select 10 students from the nominated year level to be
administered the Health assessments or the Physical Education assessments. Schools could select
the same group of students for Health and for Physical Education or a different group and were
provided with instructions about how to select the students from their class.
More details about student and school participation rates can be found at
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/support/Pages/random.aspx
Further support
Link to the
assessment tool
Training support
materials
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/support/Pages/hpassessmenttask.aspx
The zip file that contains all the assessment tasks needs to be downloaded.
There are no specific training support materials apart from the User’s Guide.
Negotiations are underway with two teacher professional associations to support teachers to
become familiar with and use the tasks.
Help desk
Difficulties accessing the tasks and support materials, email studentlearning@edumail.vic.gov.au
porting Information for the assessment tool