Unit 3 Australian Politics
Sample approach to developing an assessment task
Area of study 2: Comparing democracies: Australia and the United States of America
Outcome 2
Analyse the key features of the political system of the United States of America and critically compare the political systems of Australia and of the United States of America in terms of the extent to which democratic values and principles are upheld. |
Report
Based on advice below.
Time
This task should be completed in class over approximately 60 minutes under test conditions.
Requirements
Students are to prepare a written report comparing the key features of the Australian and US political systems. Authenticated research notes are allowed. |
Designing the task
Consider all key knowledge points. There is a variety of terms and concepts that students need to familiarize themselves within the Area of Study related to the USA political system. Students may be asked to identify the key features of both the Australian and US system and provide relevant examples from each system using the following headings drawn from the key knowledge points:
- the protection of democratic rights and freedoms; including the role of the constitution and judicial branch in each system
- electoral systems; including the key similarities and differences between the election of both the executive and legislative branches in each system
- legislative branch; including the similarities and differences between the operation of the legislative branch in each system
- political leadership; identify the important roles and powers of both the Prime Minister and President in each system and the constraints on both roles.
Students should be able to research the features of the US political system and in their comparison, apply their knowledge from Area of Study 1 Australian democracy.
When developing the task the teacher must consider how the report is researched and presented, include research gathering and data organisation, the report write up and presentation.
Students may be provided with a research organisation tool and/or a report template as part of the process of research.
It is a teacher based decision if students are allowed to use their research notes when writing up the report and if students respond to a seen or unseen question. However, authentication of student work must be assured.
- The key skills require that a student’s comparison discusses ‘the extent to which each reflects liberal democratic values’. Therefore, the report question must require students to reflect and evaluate. The following is a sample research report question: Evaluate the overall democratic strengths and weaknesses of the democratic systems of Australia and the USA. Does one nation seem more democratic than the other?
Marking the task
The marking scheme used to assess a student’s level of performance should reflect the relevant aspects of the performance descriptors and be explained to students before commencing the task.
Authentication
The teacher must consider the conditions in which the research report is conducted. Is research conducted inside and/or outside of class? Teachers may choose to have seen or unseen research notes as part of the task conditions. When students are conducting research, it is important that conditions are established to ensure students work can be authenticated. Authentication issues can be minimized if students complete an assessment task conducted under test conditions. Further information regarding the VCAA authentication rules can be found in the
VCE and VCAL Administration Handbook.