Assessment criteria 

Each arts objective corresponds to one of four equally weighted assessment criteria. Each criterion has eight possible achievement levels (1–8), divided into four bands with unique descriptors that teachers use to make judgments about students’ work.

Criterion A: Knowing and understanding 

Students discover the aesthetics of art forms and are able to analyse and communicate using specialised language. Students inform their work and artistic perspective using explicit and tacit knowledge alongside an understanding of the role of the arts in a global context.

Criterion B: Developing skills 

Students develop their artistic ideas to a point of realisation by applying their skills. Students make final commitments to their artwork by presenting it to audiences.

Criterion C: Thinking creatively 

Students develop curiosity, and purposefully explore and challenge boundaries. Students explore the unfamiliar and experiment in innovative ways to develop their artistic intentions, their processes and their work. They discover their personal signature and realise their artistic identity.

Criterion D: Responding 

Students respond to their world, to their own art and to the art of others. Students must make connections and transfer learning to new settings. Through reflecting on their artistic intention and the impact of their work on an audience and on themselves, students become more aware of their own artistic development and the role that arts play in their lives and in the world. Students learn that the arts may initiate as well as respond to change.