tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/atar-4602/articlesATAR – The Conversation2023-12-13T19:03:30Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2197112023-12-13T19:03:30Z2023-12-13T19:03:30ZAn educational psychologist explains how to think about your ATAR and set post-school goals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565382/original/file-20231213-29-bwryne.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C48%2C5448%2C3572&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-brown-turtleneck-sweater-leaning-on-a-wall-6209363/">Cottonbro Studio/Pexels </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>All this week and into next, Australian Year 12 students <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-11/victoria-year-12-atar-results-students/103212324">are receiving</a> their final results. </p>
<p>As an educational psychologist, I know this is a momentous time for many students, as their schooling and future prospects seem to come down to “one number”. But it is also vital students and their families have perspective on the <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/future-applicants/atar">Australian Tertiary Admission Rank</a> (or ATAR) and their goals going forward in their post-school lives. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/disappointed-by-your-year-12-result-a-university-expert-and-a-clinical-psychologist-share-advice-on-what-to-do-next-196289">Disappointed by your year 12 result? A university expert and a clinical psychologist share advice on what to do next</a>
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<h2>What’s really important about the ATAR?</h2>
<p>Let’s talk about the ATAR first. Yes, the ATAR matters. But not necessarily in the way students think it does. </p>
<p>Most of the focus and stress about ATARs revolve around what university course it can get students into. (Though some students have unconditional offers, that do not depend on their ATAR). </p>
<p>So, stepping back, the reason the ATAR matters is because it shapes the starting point of the post-school journey. It determines whether students get in the front door of what they want to study now. Or if they need to take a side route or two before they get into what they really want to study. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-actually-is-an-atar-first-of-all-its-a-rank-not-a-score-126594">What actually is an ATAR? First of all it's a rank, not a score</a>
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<h2>A detour can be a positive thing</h2>
<p>We tend to focus on the “ATAR and then straight to uni” option, but there are many positive post-school educational and vocational pathways available to students.</p>
<p>A 2020 study <a href="https://www.lsay.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0039/9659811/25_Years_of_LSAY_edited_book_F.pdf">reviewed</a> 25 years of research using the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth data. </p>
<p>This research has mapped students’ movements post-school. Including to and through further study and training, to work and also taking a gap year. Across the various studies it reviewed, it was clear students pursue diverse pathways after school, including pathways into university, following time in the vocational education and training sector.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232572643_Should_Students_Have_a_Gap_Year_Motivation_and_Performance_Factors_Relevant_to_Time_Out_After_Completing_School">research has also found</a> university students who have had a gap year are more motivated and engaged than students who did not. This is perhaps because students appreciate the value of education, develop self-regulation and self-direction while on their gap year, and gain further clarity about what they want to do with their lives. </p>
<p>So the ATAR does not determine where students end up as much as it shapes where they start and the way they get there. It is more journey-defining than destination-defining.</p>
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<img alt="A young woman walks along a path in a park." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565392/original/file-20231213-17-u77cmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565392/original/file-20231213-17-u77cmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565392/original/file-20231213-17-u77cmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565392/original/file-20231213-17-u77cmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565392/original/file-20231213-17-u77cmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565392/original/file-20231213-17-u77cmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565392/original/file-20231213-17-u77cmg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">You don’t just have to go straight from school to more study. Gap years can have big benefits for future learning and motivation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-woman-walking-on-a-path-XpKN3rOEyBs">Janesca/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/thinking-about-a-gap-year-here-are-some-questions-to-ask-yourself-and-a-note-for-anxious-parents-196283">Thinking about a gap year? Here are some questions to ask yourself (and a note for anxious parents)</a>
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<h2>Now, think about your goals</h2>
<p>As students look ahead to post-school life, they have a terrific opportunity to think about their goals and what is really important for them.</p>
<p>I say this because the emphasis on ATARs can lead students to set and strive for goals that are not always best for them. </p>
<p>In a few ways, the toughest part of the ATAR for Year 12 students is the R or rank. It is this R that makes Year 12 something of a zero-sum game: for one student to rank higher, another student must rank lower. </p>
<p>Assessments that rank students can fuel comparisons with others and competitive goals. Research shows competitive goals are okay while students are “winning” but they <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15326985ep4003_3">can be de-motivating</a> if students don’t win. </p>
<p>With the ATAR done and dusted (especially the R part!), students might find it helpful to shift their goals a bit. </p>
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<img alt="Cropped picture of someone writing at a desk, with a mug and a notebook." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565387/original/file-20231213-23-xwaxke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565387/original/file-20231213-23-xwaxke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565387/original/file-20231213-23-xwaxke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565387/original/file-20231213-23-xwaxke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565387/original/file-20231213-23-xwaxke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565387/original/file-20231213-23-xwaxke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565387/original/file-20231213-23-xwaxke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">For school leavers, its time to think deeply about their goals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/person-writing-on-brown-wooden-table-near-white-ceramic-mug-s9CC2SKySJM">Unseen Studio/ Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/so-many-things-to-consider-how-to-help-school-leavers-decide-what-to-do-next-211189">'So many things to consider': how to help school leavers decide what to do next</a>
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<h2>The importance of PB goals</h2>
<p>Personal best or PB goals are about competing with ourselves, rather than competing with others. </p>
<p>PB goals are linked to positive <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352804393_Growth_Goal_Setting_in_High_School_A_Large-Scale_Study_of_Perceived_Instructional_Support_Personal_Background_Attributes_and_Engagement_Outcomes">academic</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257408492_Personal_best_goals_and_academic_and_social_functioning_A_longitudinal_perspective">social-emotional outcomes</a>. </p>
<p>This is because the focus on self-competition and self-improvement is energising, even when we don’t succeed at first. </p>
<h2>Try learning a new ‘alphabet’</h2>
<p>As students set and strive for PB goals now and in the years ahead, the “ABCD” of goal-setting can also be helpful to remember. This means they: </p>
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<li><p><strong>(A)</strong> set goals that are <strong>achievable</strong>. Long-term goals are great, but setting a short-term goal that is achievable in the next week or so is the best way to get to these longer-term goals. It also gives you a feeling of accomplishing something along the way</p></li>
<li><p><strong>(B)</strong> set goes that are <strong>believable</strong>. Sometimes students set unrealistic goals they don’t really believe they can reach (for example, “I’m going to study for three hours every day and get perfect scores”). When students set realistic goals, they are more likely to believe they can reach them, and are more motivated to work towards them </p></li>
<li><p><strong>(C)</strong> set goals that are <strong>clear</strong>. Being as specific as possible with post-school goals means the action taken to reach the goal is more focused and on-target</p></li>
<li><p><strong>(D)</strong> set goals that are <strong>desirable</strong>. Striving for goals that students set and want for themselves is motivating.</p></li>
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<p>Whether students are about to take a gap year, reassess their plans or head straight to university, vocational training or work, this is an important time. And there is lots of scope for young people to think positively about their futures without being defined by the R of that ATAR.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew J Martin has received funding from the Australian Research Council and state departments of education. He is a registered psychologist with the Psychology Board of Australia.</span></em></p>The ATAR does not determine where students end up as much as it shapes where they start and the way they get there.Andrew J. Martin, Scientia Professor and Professor of Educational Psychology, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2074152023-06-18T20:07:30Z2023-06-18T20:07:30ZOur research shows how students can miss out on their preferred uni degree – but there’s a simple fix<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531563/original/file-20230613-25-hym2a2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C6240%2C4119&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ivan Samkov/Pexels</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of our series on <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/universities-accord-big-ideas-137143">big ideas for the Universities Accord</a>. The federal government is calling for ideas to “reshape and reimagine higher education, and set it up for the next decade and beyond”. A review team is due to finish a draft report later this month, with a final report in December 2023.</em></p>
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<p>Every year thousands of students around Australia sit their final high school exams. The performance in these exams will help determine their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR). For many, it will also determine whether they can attend university, which university, and which undergraduate degree they can enrol in.
The Universities Accord review team <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord/resources/australian-universities-accord-panel-discussion-paper">has called for advice</a> on the role admissions systems play in “matching learners to pathways” and supporting an increase in participation and success at university. The accord also has a <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord/resources/terms-reference">broader focus</a> on improving access to a quality higher education. </p>
<p>When discussing <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/a-third-of-public-school-students-drop-out-before-finishing-year-12-20230602-p5ddgb.html">equity issues</a> around university entry, most attention is usually paid to perceived school quality, exam preparation and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/why-students-atars-are-becoming-more-important-20230226-p5cnnd.html">assessment design</a>.</p>
<p>Less attention is paid to the crucial process by which each student is allocated a place in a particular degree at a particular university. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/1/1/pgac010/6545769_">research shows</a> design flaws in this process can see school leavers miss out on studying their most preferred degree, even if they are eligible to enrol in it based on their academic performance. </p>
<p>This can have significant ramifications for a students’ lifetime earnings, career progression and professional satisfaction.</p>
<h2>The NSW admissions system</h2>
<p>We studied the New South Wales admissions system, which is managed by the Universities Admissions Centre. Although there is some variation, other Australian states and territories have similar systems. </p>
<p>Undergraduate applicants are asked to submit an ordered list of five degrees for which they would like to be considered. </p>
<p>The Universities Admissions Centre then puts each student’s preference information into an algorithm that accounts for their individual score and the entry cut-off scores determined by each university for each of their degrees. </p>
<p>Obviously, an applicant’s choice of which five degrees to list is of critical importance to them.</p>
<p>The centre provides students with advice to help them optimise their preferences. At the time of our study it was: </p>
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<p>List your ‘dream preference’ at number one but follow that with realistic preferences. At the bottom of the preference list you should include one or two ‘safe’ options to ensure that you get an offer.</p>
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<p>(The Universities Admissions Centres website <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/future-applicants/how-to-apply-for-uni/selecting-your-course-preferences">now says</a>: “First on your list should be the course you’d most like to do, followed by your second, third and fourth preferences and so on.”)</p>
<p>So students need to make a sophisticated gamble to determine their future careers. They need to “dream” but also be realistic. It may not be in their best interests to list the five degrees in the order in which they truly prefer them. </p>
<p>If they only include dream degrees, with high cut-off marks, they may miss out on a university offer. But if they only include safe options, with low cut-off marks, they may miss out on doing what they truly want to study.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/students-think-the-atar-is-unfair-but-we-need-to-be-careful-about-replacing-it-200173">Students think the ATAR is 'unfair' but we need to be careful about replacing it</a>
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<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>To assess these theoretical concerns, in 2019, we ran an experiment with students experienced in applying through the actual NSW admissions system. </p>
<p>More than 800 participants were provided with the advice they would have typically received from the Universities Admissions Centre (that is, list a “dream” preference first, then include more realistic options). </p>
<p>All participants were given a fictitious ATAR and a set of six degrees. They then had to make a preference list of five degrees. </p>
<p>Participants were rewarded with money depending on the outcome of the experiment. They received more money when offered a place in a degree they preferred more highly. </p>
<h2>Our findings</h2>
<p>Our process was designed to mimic – but be more simple than – the University Admission Centre. Despite this, 75.5% of participants failed to report their preferences in order of their best interests. That is, list what they really wanted to do. </p>
<p>We also found students from comprehensive public high schools were at least 6.9% more likely to make a “mistake” (by not telling the truth about their preferences) than peers from public selective high schools and private schools. </p>
<p>Our research shows the system is not only inefficient but confusing to applicants. </p>
<p>Students can also be exposed to conflicting advice when applying to university. Some universities have been known to advise students to list their “safe” choice first to make sure they get in. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/they-dont-expect-a-lot-of-me-they-just-want-me-to-go-to-uni-first-in-family-students-show-how-we-need-a-broader-definition-of-success-in-year-12-196284">'They don’t expect a lot of me, they just want me to go to uni': first-in-family students show how we need a broader definition of 'success' in year 12</a>
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<h2>A redesign is needed</h2>
<p>We believe the current process needs a thorough redesign. </p>
<p>Limiting the number of applicants’ preferences to five degrees is a problem. A very risk-averse applicant would include too many safe options and likely miss out on better ones for which they would have a chance to get in. Meanwhile, a risk-loving applicant might list only hard-to-get-in degrees and completely miss out. </p>
<p>A better solution would be to allow applicants to list as many degrees as they want, up until they are indifferent between their least preferred degree and not going to university at all. </p>
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<img alt="Students sit and talk in a library." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531564/original/file-20230613-23-1lk376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531564/original/file-20230613-23-1lk376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531564/original/file-20230613-23-1lk376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531564/original/file-20230613-23-1lk376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531564/original/file-20230613-23-1lk376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531564/original/file-20230613-23-1lk376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531564/original/file-20230613-23-1lk376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Students should be able to submit more than one batch of preferences.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Given there are hundreds of degrees to choose from, it would be very difficult to come up with a complete and exhaustive list. However, a practical solution is readily available: applicants first submit their five most favoured degrees. If they don’t get an offer – and only if they don’t get an offer – they submit a second batch of five degrees.</p>
<p>Most will be matched in their first or second batch. Applicants who are not matched can keep submitting further batches. As is the case now, they only need to think in “fives”, but once they have an offer, they are removed from the applicant pool.</p>
<p>We believe it is possible for Universities Admissions Centre’s current process to be changed so it is easier to understand.</p>
<p>This would eliminate the need for strategising by applicants and advice on how to strategise. If you understand how our method works, we believe high school leavers will too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207415/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pablo Guillen receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Melatos receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He is a member of the NSW HSC Standards Committee.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Onur Kesten does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Design flaws in the application process can see school leavers miss out on studying their most preferred degree, even if they are eligible to do it.Pablo Guillen, Associate Professor, School of Economics, University of SydneyMark Melatos, Associate Professor of Economics, University of SydneyOnur Kesten, Professor, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2001732023-03-16T19:11:47Z2023-03-16T19:11:47ZStudents think the ATAR is ‘unfair’ but we need to be careful about replacing it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513906/original/file-20230307-22-9l13yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C7%2C4817%2C3219&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ben Den Engelsen/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many students spend their final years of school working toward the highest Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) they can get. But after many <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-scrap-the-atar-what-are-the-alternative-options-experts-comment-55501">years of concerns</a>, there is a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/17/should-the-atar-be-scrapped-seven-experts-on-the-student-ranking-system">renewed debate</a> about whether we should scrap this university entrance ranking altogether.</p>
<p>Last month, a high-profile group of Victorian educational leaders <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/principals-urge-education-authorities-to-scrap-atar-20230208-p5cirv.html">called</a> for education authorities to replace the ATAR with a “learner profile”. Such an approach – also called “narrative evaluation” by researchers – provides information about a student’s interests, values and skills not necessarily captured in the ATAR. This might include things such as communication, caring and creativity. </p>
<p>Indeed, a <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/principals-urge-education-authorities-to-scrap-atar-20230208-p5cirv.html">common criticism</a> of the ATAR is that it does not tell universities enough about potential students and does not do enough to ensure diversity. Our research suggests students also see it as unfair. </p>
<p>But despite these concerns, we need to be careful about what we replace the ATAR with, or whether we should replace it at all.</p>
<h2>What is the ATAR?</h2>
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<img alt="Young person holding a pile of books over their face." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513907/original/file-20230307-18-8yp5d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513907/original/file-20230307-18-8yp5d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513907/original/file-20230307-18-8yp5d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513907/original/file-20230307-18-8yp5d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513907/original/file-20230307-18-8yp5d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513907/original/file-20230307-18-8yp5d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513907/original/file-20230307-18-8yp5d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ATAR is used by all states and territories in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Siora Photography/Unsplash</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.vtac.edu.au/atar.html">ATAR</a> gives students a rank between zero and 99.95. It is a “percentile rank” – an estimate of the percentage of the population a student outperformed. </p>
<p>The method of calculating the ATAR varies across states and territories. Generally speaking, it involves complex <a href="https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/vce-assessment/how-vce-assess/how-pages/Pages/StatisticalModeration.aspx">scaling and moderation</a> processes that consider how competitive a subject is, with each student being academically compared to the other students in the same year level doing the same subject. </p>
<p>Both school evaluation marks and final external exam marks are considered in the calculation process. The higher your school’s average, the more favourable the process will be to your school. </p>
<p>This is why students are “dragged up” by high achievers in their school – they are pushing up the mean, thereby pushing up everyone’s marks in that school. In other words, your school peers’ achievement can greatly affect your school evaluation mark, which will be considered in your ATAR. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-actually-is-an-atar-first-of-all-its-a-rank-not-a-score-126594">What actually is an ATAR? First of all it's a rank, not a score</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>ATAR is still the most common way to go to uni</h2>
<p>Introduced in 2009, the ATAR was designed to unify the university entrance system in Australia. Before this, each state and territory had its own system. </p>
<p>One criticism of the ATAR is that it is too “blunt” and too stressful for students, with all their school efforts hanging on a number. Critics have also called for “<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-education-system-is-one-of-the-most-unequal-in-the-oecd-but-we-know-how-to-help-fix-it-177059">non-ATAR-based pathways</a>” to make access to university more equitable. </p>
<p>Some universities and degree programs don’t just rely on ATARs. They also <a href="https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2018-03/apo-nid137156.pdf">use</a> entry tests, interviews, or other requirements such as portfolios. Figures also suggest more students are <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/contagion-effect-students-choose-unscored-vce-in-record-numbers-20220713-p5b1ca.html">rejecting</a> the ATAR. For example, in 2021, about 10% of Victorian students completed the Victorian Certificate of Education without getting an ATAR.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the ATAR remains the <a href="https://www.cis.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/AP44_-ATARs-rising-relevance-1.pdf">dominant form</a> of Australian university admissions. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-can-predict-final-school-marks-in-year-11-its-time-to-replace-stressful-exams-with-more-meaningful-education-190071">We can predict final school marks in year 11 – it's time to replace stressful exams with more meaningful education</a>
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<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>As part of a wider 2021 study into how Australian private schools provide fair and inclusive education, we conducted focus groups with 24 students from both private and government schools. </p>
<p>One issue we identified was students believe the ATAR is “unfair”. This is not necessarily because they think the evaluation process must be more holistic in nature, but because they believe private schools have an advantage. They note how these schools tend to do better in state league tables, naturally pulling up the marks of students who attend them. </p>
<p>As one government school student observed: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>One of the biggest influences on your ATAR is your school average […] and private schools have higher grades because they’re more selective, so we need to really upbeat our game because they have a huge advantage on us.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Similarly, a private school student explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Paying so much money to attend such a good school, it’s kind of a waste of money and resources if you’re not utilising that, like, if you’re not taking advantage of your advantage and do the best you can to succeed. It’s reassuring that your peers are strong students.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Certainly, research <a href="https://theconversation.com/going-to-private-school-wont-make-a-difference-to-your-kids-academic-scores-175638">shows</a> socioeconomic background has a big impact on students’ academic performance. A <a href="https://theconversation.com/private-catholic-schools-do-add-value-to-students-results-42543">2015 Australian study</a> also suggests private schooling can add up to eight points to a student’s ATAR. </p>
<h2>What about narrative evaluation?</h2>
<p>So-called “<a href="https://www.k12academics.com/education-assessment-evaluation/narrative-evaluation">narrative evaluation</a>” approaches seek to move the focus from a score to what a student has learned and engaged with. </p>
<p>It may come in the form of written text (or “mini essay”) about completed coursework and a student’s performance, supplementing or replacing other measures such as grades or pass/fail designations. </p>
<p>Internationally, different forms of narrative evaluation are used by some <a href="https://www.k12academics.com/education-assessment-evaluation/narrative-evaluation/colleges-universities-use-narrative-evaluations">universities</a> and <a href="https://www.k12academics.com/education-assessment-evaluation/narrative-evaluation/high-schools-use-narrative-evaluations">schools</a>. For example, Hampshire College in Massachusetts uses <a href="https://www.hampshire.edu/hampshire-experience-notable-alumni/our-academic-philosophy">narrative evaluations instead of grades</a>, to eliminate competition and enhance a “collaborative learning community”. </p>
<p>Other US universities such as MIT, Johns Hopkins and Brown University have been considering <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/01/27/colleges-consider-overhauling-grading-system-for-freshmen-to-ease-transition-to-higher-learning/">overhauling traditional grading</a> to reduce stress in the first year of college and make evaluation fairer for students who didn’t come from prestigious high schools.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="View of a book being held open." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513908/original/file-20230307-14-bnodea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513908/original/file-20230307-14-bnodea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513908/original/file-20230307-14-bnodea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513908/original/file-20230307-14-bnodea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513908/original/file-20230307-14-bnodea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513908/original/file-20230307-14-bnodea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513908/original/file-20230307-14-bnodea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Narrative evaluations emphasise information about the individual student over a grade or mark.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Valentin Salja/Unsplash</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Narrative evaluations can be a problem, too</h2>
<p>But narrative evaluation has also been criticised for making it difficult for students to get into graduate schools or secure scholarships. This is because grades are the “common currency” in most universities, and not having them could project an image of low standards to other institutions. </p>
<p>The University of California Santa Cruz, for example, <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/education/article/UC-Santa-Cruz-To-Start-Using-Letter-Grades-2773570.php">abandoned</a> the narrative evaluation system in 2001 because it “created a bad image”, among other reasons. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/41406119.pdf">Research</a> also shows US secondary students find narrative evaluations more stressful than letter grades. This is due to the intensity of the provided feedback (which could be seen as nitpicky), teacher subjectivity and need for revisions. Teachers also report this type of evaluation takes up a lot of resources and time. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/students-are-more-than-a-number-why-a-learner-profile-makes-more-sense-than-the-atar-143539">Students are more than a number: why a learner profile makes more sense than the ATAR</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>What happens next?</h2>
<p>Like any other <a href="https://www.oecd.org/dac/evaluation/reviewofevaluationsystems.htm">evaluation system</a> the ATAR has its flaws, which should be acknowledged and discussed. The fact that some students do not see it as fair is a significant issue, but a straight narrative evaluation system in its place may not be the answer. </p>
<p>This is not to say more personal evaluation components can’t be added. Medical schools, for example, have found <a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/medical-students/preparing-medical-school/3-medical-school-interview-insights-m4-who-s-seen-both">interviews</a> an effective and important way to evaluate students’ personal and social capacities for the profession. </p>
<p>As the ATAR debate no doubt continues, we might be critical of this “blunt” number, but need to be careful any changes are genuine improvements – for students, schools, universities and employers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200173/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ilana Finefter-Rosenbluh receives funding, including from the Social Education Victoria, the Trawalla Foundation, the Besen Family Foundation, the Loti and Victor Smorgon Family Foundation, and Victorian government and independent schools. </span></em></p>A common criticism of the ATAR is it does not tell universities enough about potential students. But so-called ‘narrative evaluation’ models of assessment have their issues, too.Ilana Finefter-Rosenbluh, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1962842022-12-15T19:07:09Z2022-12-15T19:07:09Z‘They don’t expect a lot of me, they just want me to go to uni’: first-in-family students show how we need a broader definition of ‘success’ in year 12<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500582/original/file-20221213-3574-576dx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C45%2C6016%2C3962&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marina Stoichkova/Pexels</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week, year 12 results <a href="https://theconversation.com/disappointed-by-your-year-12-result-a-university-expert-and-a-clinical-psychologist-share-advice-on-what-to-do-next-196289">have been released</a> in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania. Other states will follow next week. </p>
<p>The Higher School Certificate and its equivalents are seen as the pinnacle of schooling in Australia – the culmination of years of hard work and anticipation. Yet each year, the same <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/vce-2022-student-honour-roll-20221212-p5c5pr.html">narrow narrative</a> about “success” appears in the media. </p>
<p>We hear about the “top-performing” high schools, which are disproportionately <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/see-where-your-school-ranked-in-the-2021-hsc-20220117-p59oto.html">private and government selective schools</a>. And we hear about the individual “high achievers” who top a subject or achieve a high university entrance rank. These results are of course impressive, but <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/education-gap-widens-as-hsc-high-achievers-disappear-from-low-socio-economic-schools-20221004-p5bn0v.html">recent analysis</a> of NSW data showed the proportion of high achievers from disadvantaged schools is shrinking. </p>
<p>There are other ways of thinking about success in year 12. Federal Education Minister Jason Clare <a href="https://www.jasonclare.com.au/media/speeches/5137-universities-australia-2022-gala-dinner">often</a> notes he was the first in his family to finish high school and go to university (he pointed this out <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/clare/official-opening-western-sydney-university-bankstown-cbd-campus">as recently as Monday</a> in a speech at Western Sydney University). </p>
<p><a href="https://www.aspirations.edu.au/the-research">Our research</a> shows how significant this achievement is for many young Australians and their families, and how we need to broaden our ideas about what success means for year 12 students. </p>
<h2>Being first-in-family</h2>
<p>In 2022 <a href="https://www.gooduniversitiesguide.com.au/university-ratings-rankings/2023/undergraduate/first-generation">between 13% and 55%</a> of all new undergraduates in Australia were the first in their families to go to university, depending on where they enrolled. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The shadows of two students against sandstone buildings at Sydney University." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500584/original/file-20221213-25-xot190.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500584/original/file-20221213-25-xot190.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500584/original/file-20221213-25-xot190.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500584/original/file-20221213-25-xot190.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500584/original/file-20221213-25-xot190.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500584/original/file-20221213-25-xot190.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500584/original/file-20221213-25-xot190.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Topping a subject is not the only way to measure success in year 12 exams.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Miller/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the name suggests, “first-in-family” students are those whose parents do not already hold a university-level qualification themselves. Frequently, they also don’t have any <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131911.2020.1740172?journalCode=cedr20">siblings or relatives</a> who have gone to university. </p>
<p>Research has <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-020-00428-2">also shown</a> first-in-family students are more likely to be Indigenous, and more likely to live in socio-economically disadvantaged communities and/or rural and remote areas. This means their journey through formal schooling and into tertiary education is likely to have been much more complex than for their more advantaged peers. </p>
<p>So, at university, they must navigate a new and unfamiliar pathway. They also enter a system where entry is still very much tied to family background. According to 2012 data (the most recent available), a young person with a university-educated parent is <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/education-at-a-glance-2012_eag-2012-en">twice as likley</a> to enrol in university than someone who does not. </p>
<h2>Our research</h2>
<p>Since 2010, my colleagues and I have been conducting one of the <a href="https://www.aspirations.edu.au/the-research">largest studies to date</a> on the aspirations of Australian school students. </p>
<p>In 2021, we did a <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Jaremus_UON_Final.pdf">follow-up study</a> with more than 50 NSW students we had previously interviewed. About 80% were first-in-family students. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-would-like-to-go-to-university-flexi-school-students-share-their-goals-in-australia-first-survey-193396">'I would like to go to university': flexi school students share their goals in Australia-first survey</a>
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<h2>What first-in-family students told us</h2>
<p>For the first-in-family students in our study, four things stood out. </p>
<p>First, students and their families placed immense value on schooling to foster greater opportunities and get to university. There was a hope they could change their life trajectory through education. As Bella*, a year 9 student, told us about her parents:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Because they didn’t go to university, they want me to go […] They don’t expect a lot of me, but they just want me to go so I can get a better job than what they have.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The second thing we noticed was first-in-family students saw themselves as breaking down barriers. This is not just in terms of getting to university, but giving voice to others in their situation. Frank is currently studying politics and international relations at university. He told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>My family have always been the workers. They have always been those who have been impacted by government policy […] I think it’s about time that someone from my family was in a position to be able to be on the other side of that and help in a positive way rather than just being impacted by it. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Third, teachers were described as a big influence. As year 12 student Brice told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our careers adviser, Ms Bradshaw […] I don’t know what we’d do without her, really. She’s the biggest help that we have […] she knows what all of us want to be individually so if there’s one thing she goes, ‘Oh, I know that Lachlan really wants to do that’, she goes and talks to him about it. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>And finally, students didn’t refer to the HSC or a high tertiary admissions rank (ATAR) as a form of “success”. Instead, they often focused on realising their passions and aspirations. When we spoke to Martha last year, she had just graduated from university and is working as a speech pathologist:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I knew this was the job I wanted straight out of school. I was like, get it done, four years and then no schooling. I feel like so many things have led me to where I am now that I’m happy. I’m really enjoying life […] I said in my original interview many years ago that I’m going to be a speechie. And now, in this interview, I am a speechie!!</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A different version of success</h2>
<p>So, when you read typical portrayals of year 12 “success”, consider the first-in-family students who have the odds of getting to university stacked against them. </p>
<p>For some of these students, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131911.2020.1740172">getting to the end of high school</a> is an important “first” in itself that must be recognised. This is encapsulated by year 11 student Ayla, as she reflects on her family’s past and her own future:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My mum dropped out of school when she was in year 8 and my dad went through to year 11 and my sister dropped out in year 11 […] So I don’t really have a lot of experience, a lot of people telling me stories about it [university], and I haven’t gone to any campuses and stuff so I don’t really know a lot about it, but I’ve heard that it’s good. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>While first-in-family students are a diverse cohort, what they often share is a belief in the role of education to change the future – for themselves, their families, communities, and society-at-large. There is still much more to do to ensure the education system rises to this challenge.</p>
<p><em>*student and teacher names have been changed</em></p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/disappointed-by-your-year-12-result-a-university-expert-and-a-clinical-psychologist-share-advice-on-what-to-do-next-196289">Disappointed by your year 12 result? A university expert and a clinical psychologist share advice on what to do next</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196284/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Aspirations Longitudinal Study and related studies (2010-2021) were funded by the Australian Research Council, the NSW Department of Education, and the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education. Sally Patfield received funding via an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship to support her research.</span></em></p>Each year, the same narrow narrative about ‘top students’ appears in the media after year 12 results. New research talks to students who are the first in their families to go to universitySally Patfield, Senior Research Fellow, Teachers and Teaching Research Centre, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1962892022-12-12T19:03:24Z2022-12-12T19:03:24ZDisappointed by your year 12 result? A university expert and a clinical psychologist share advice on what to do next<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500268/original/file-20221212-96906-p3m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C6%2C4337%2C2856&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cottonbro Studio/Pexels</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Over this week and next, year 12 students around Australia will receive their exam results. This is a time of great expectations and intense pressure for many young people.</em></p>
<p><em>For some, their individual subject marks and university admission rank (ATAR) will be a cause for celebration. But others will be dealing with disappointment and perhaps concern, if they didn’t receive what they were hoping for.</em></p>
<p><em>Here, a higher education expert and a clinical psychologist share their advice on how to handle your results.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>‘Don’t lose sight of what you want to do’</h2>
<p><strong>Associate Professor Tim Pitman, higher education policy expert and senior research fellow, Curtin University</strong></p>
<p>First, take a breath. It’s not the end of the world and you’re definitely not the first student to have received a grade that was less than they were hoping for. Countless students have been in this position before you and have gone on to study, and succeed, in higher education.</p>
<p>The second thing to remember is, don’t lose sight of what you want to do. If you’re passionate about a certain degree or profession, it’s better to take some extra time and effort to get there, than do something else that your heart might not really be in. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-stress-your-atar-isnt-the-final-call-there-are-many-ways-to-get-into-university-125429">Don't stress, your ATAR isn't the final call. There are many ways to get into university</a>
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<p>If they haven’t told you already, ask your university what options are available to having your offer reconsidered. These might include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>applying for some form of special consideration. Most universities have processes to take into account significant factors that affected your academic performance, for example illness, study load and work commitments</p></li>
<li><p>sitting some form of alternative admissions test, such as the <a href="https://stat.acer.org/au">Special Tertiary Admissions Test</a></p></li>
<li><p>submitting a portfolio of academic achievements and qualifications, other than your ATAR, to demonstrate your readiness for university. Some universities also consider informal and non-formal learning (such as work-based experience)</p></li>
<li><p>enrolling in a summer program run by the university before the start of semester. There may even be a longer bridging program, preparing you to start in second semester or the following year.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young man on the phone with a notepad." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500259/original/file-20221212-94261-ffnxf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500259/original/file-20221212-94261-ffnxf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500259/original/file-20221212-94261-ffnxf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500259/original/file-20221212-94261-ffnxf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500259/original/file-20221212-94261-ffnxf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500259/original/file-20221212-94261-ffnxf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500259/original/file-20221212-94261-ffnxf6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Talk to your preferred university about what your options are.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If none of these options are available to you, they might be available at another university, which offers the same course. You might be able to start at that university then switch to your preferred university after passing a certain number of subjects – and get credit for those subjects. And who knows, you might end up preferring your new university!</p>
<p>You could also consider enrolling in a vocational educational course, such as TAFE, that could count towards your preferred course. Again, check with your university what courses are eligible, and if you will receive any credit for your studies.</p>
<p>And again, remember you are not the first person in this position and there are still plenty of options available to you. </p>
<hr>
<h2>‘A single number does not and will not define who you are’</h2>
<p><strong>Dr Madeleine Ferrari, clinical psychologist and lecturer, Australian Catholic University</strong></p>
<p>After the build-up and expectations from family, friends, school, and especially ourselves, receiving a grade you don’t want is tough. There’s no downplaying this, it is hard. This situation is likely to trigger a range of self-critical thoughts, uncomfortable feelings and avoidant behaviours. An avoidant behaviour, which is triggered by shame or embarrassment, may include wanting to withdraw and not see or speak to others. </p>
<p>This is completely normal and to be expected. It is helpful to normalise and validate these reactions. Make <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32571438/">space for them</a> and experiment with healthy ways to express them.</p>
<p>It might be watching a sad movie and letting yourself have a good cry, or putting pen to paper and writing anything that comes to mind. You could call a friend you trust, go for a run, or use art, music or boxing to move these feelings from inside our bodies to the external world. The more we express them, the less we carry them and the less they control us.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young woman lying on the floor, with headphones on." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500251/original/file-20221212-94130-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500251/original/file-20221212-94130-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500251/original/file-20221212-94130-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500251/original/file-20221212-94130-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500251/original/file-20221212-94130-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500251/original/file-20221212-94130-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500251/original/file-20221212-94130-k8glwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Listening to or playing music can help you express your feelings in healthy ways.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, there is one reaction to keep an eye out for – self-criticism. If left unchecked, it can <a href="https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/jscp.2019.38.1.70">make you susceptible</a> to mental ill-health and psychological distress. Psychologists view self-criticism as toxic. There’s a difference between thinking, “I’m disappointed with this grade, next time I’d approach study differently” compared to, “I’m disappointed with this grade, it’s all my fault, I’m useless, I’ll never amount to anything”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/self-compassion-is-the-superpower-year-12-students-need-for-exams-and-life-beyond-school-192086">Self-compassion is the superpower year 12 students need for exams ... and life beyond school</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Give your self-critical voice a name (mine’s called Voldemort), and label it when it pops up. This will help you notice and get some space from it. When you do catch Voldermort flaring up, rather than believing them, gently ask yourself, would you say these things to a good friend who you cared about? What would you say instead? You deserve the same kindness and support. </p>
<p>This is called self-compassion. And when times are tough – such as receiving a disappointing grade – self-compassion can help keep things in perspective. </p>
<p>Self-compassion is treating ourselves with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1192/apt.bp.107.005264">non-judgemental understanding</a>, acceptance, encouragement, warmth, and wanting the best for ourselves. It <a href="https://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Lander2019.pdf">creates a protective buffer</a> in times of stress, and becoming more self-compassionate is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-019-01134-6">linked</a> with fewer anxiety, stress and depression symptoms.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/youve-got-a-friend-young-people-help-each-other-with-their-mental-health-for-3-5-hours-every-week-194530">You've got a friend: young people help each other with their mental health for 3.5 hours every week</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A single number does not and will not define who you are. It may not feel like it right now, but you will survive this, and as time passes, the sting of the number will fade. It will simply be another experience in the library of memories about yourself and you will start to have more confidence you can survive tough situations. </p>
<p>Difficult moments can be a powerful opportunity from a clinical psychologist’s perspective. Surviving such moments forms the building blocks for resilience you will carry across your life. </p>
<p><em>If this article has raised issues for you or someone you know, you can call <a href="https://www.lifeline.org.au">Lifeline</a> on 13 11 14 or <a href="https://kidshelpline.com.au">Kids Helpline</a> on 1800 55 1800.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Pitman receives funding from the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madeleine Fraser does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Year 12 students around Australia are beginning to receive their exam results. It’s a time of intense pressure for many young people.Tim Pitman, Senior Research Fellow, Curtin UniversityMadeleine Fraser, Senior Lecturer, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1900712022-09-18T20:14:45Z2022-09-18T20:14:45ZWe can predict final school marks in year 11 – it’s time to replace stressful exams with more meaningful education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484564/original/file-20220914-15-40gf9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C2407%2C1934&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yustinus Tjiuwanda/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Year 12 students around Australia are preparing to sit their final exams.
For many young people this is one of the most stressful parts of school, with their future <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-11/year-12-exams-are-they-worth-the-stress/9029260">supposedly coming down to one number</a>.</p>
<p>This is an outdated way of finishing school and working out what students do in the next phase of their lives. </p>
<p>Universities and TAFEs are increasingly using other methods – such as interviews or portfolios – to offer places to school leavers. In 2021, more than 25,000 NSW students applied for an <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/universities-bypass-atars-as-record-number-of-students-receive-early-offers-20220906-p5bfvf.html">early offer</a> through the “schools recommendation scheme”, to lock in a university place before they sit their exams. This is up from 5,447 in 2014, suggesting year 12 exams may not be as necessary as we once thought.</p>
<p>Our research shows you can reliably predict a student’s year 12 results by year 11. This also suggests we don’t need a battery of stressful exams to work out if a student is suited for tertiary education. </p>
<p>This gives us the opportunity to radically rethink how the final years of school are structured. </p>
<h2>Our research</h2>
<p>Two years ago, we <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-know-by-year-11-what-mark-students-will-get-in-year-12-do-we-still-need-a-stressful-exam-140746">studied</a> more than 10,000 students in the Catholic Education Diocese of Paramatta, NSW. We have repeated the study and our work now includes 20,000 students across 21 exam areas.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students doing year 12 exams in 2021." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484774/original/file-20220915-9420-ahb3e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484774/original/file-20220915-9420-ahb3e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484774/original/file-20220915-9420-ahb3e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484774/original/file-20220915-9420-ahb3e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484774/original/file-20220915-9420-ahb3e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484774/original/file-20220915-9420-ahb3e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484774/original/file-20220915-9420-ahb3e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students sitting their year 12 English exams in NSW in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We used <a href="https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/analytics-framework-for-k-12-school-systems/193558">predictive analytics</a> which links multiple pieces of information about student progression through school. </p>
<p>We used 17 variables including year 9 NAPLAN scores, Higher School Certificate subject choices and year 11 attendance. We also use demographic information, such as how long a student has lived in Australia and a school’s socioeconomic rating. </p>
<p>Across both our studies, we found we could predict year 12 results in year 11, with a 93% accuracy rate.</p>
<p>Our purpose here is not to label students, but to change the focus of school and the efforts of students and teachers. </p>
<h2>What can we do differently in schools?</h2>
<p>We are already seeing the beginnings of <a href="https://www.bigpicture.org.au/">new ways</a> of “doing school” in Australia. Some schools are changing their focus from year 12 exams to students doing internships, creating portfolios of work, doing TAFE or university certificates, or doing an overseas exchange. </p>
<p>In British Columbia, Canada, final school assessments include a project that connects “real-world” applications of the curriculum for each student.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/3-things-to-help-improve-your-exam-results-besides-studying-124178">3 things to help improve your exam results (besides studying)</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In Estonia, now among the world leaders in education, traditional “knowledge and understanding” approaches have been replaced with a strong emphasis on critical thinking, problem-solving, entrepreneurship, digital skills and citizenship. These are all qualities that fit with both employers’ needs and measures of success in the adult world. </p>
<p>Students undertake a cross-disciplinary <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/times-education-commission-how-estonia-does-it-lessons-from-europe-s-best-school-system-qm7xt7n9s">creative project</a> to graduate from the equivalent of year 10 – an example might be studying the impact of music on managing the onset of dementia in older people. They then do a research project before finishing high school. </p>
<h2>Year 12 exams are outdated</h2>
<p>High school as we’ve known it has been dominated by high stakes, high-pressure exams that have outlived their usefulness. If we can reliably predict the results, we don’t need the tests. </p>
<p>We know young people’s mental health is already poor, and has <a href="https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=14257#respond">suffered further</a> during COVID.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/40-of-year-12s-suffer-high-anxiety-at-exam-time-heres-what-parents-can-do-to-help-170211">40% of year 12s suffer high anxiety. At exam time, here's what parents can do to help</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We should be looking for ways to improve, rather than exacerbate this. We also know universities are increasingly open to other ways of admitting students. </p>
<p>There is an enormous opportunity here to reallocate resources and create a modern, meaningful school experience that excites young people. It can encourage them to seek career-building activities, study overseas, learn languages or follow passion projects – not just study for stressful exams that tell us what we already know. </p>
<p><em>The research for this piece is a continuation of the work initiated by Dr Raju Veranasi for his 2021 Phd at the University of Newcastle.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190071/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Fischetti is an unpaid, volunteer member of the Board of Directors of Big Picture Australia.</span></em></p>Research which shows you can reliably predict a student’s year 12 results by year 11. This suggests we don’t need a battery of stressful exams to work out what they do next.John Fischetti, Professor, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the College of Human and Social Futures, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1639782021-07-28T02:31:20Z2021-07-28T02:31:20ZConfused about which English subject to choose in year 11 and 12? Here’s what you need to know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413239/original/file-20210727-25-13knyni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/girl-reading-book-beside-window-1894004068">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/senior-subjects-series-107516">series</a> providing school students with evidence-based advice for choosing subjects in their senior years.</em></p>
<p>English (or an equivalent <a href="https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/senior/certificates-and-qualifications/qce/eligibility-requirements/literacy-and-numeracy-requirements">literacy requirement</a>) is a compulsory subject for all secondary students in Australia. In years 11 and 12 there are several types of English subjects to choose from. </p>
<p>There are different versions of “English” in different states, with various titles and levels of difficulty. </p>
<p>There’s <a href="https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/syllabus-and-support-materials/english">English</a>, <a href="https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/about-HSC/hsc-courses">English studies</a>, <a href="https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/syllabus-and-support-materials/english/english2">general English</a>, <a href="https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/syllabus-and-support-materials/english/english2">foundation English</a>, <a href="https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/about-HSC/hsc-courses">English standard</a>, <a href="https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/about-HSC/hsc-courses">English advanced</a>, <a href="https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/englishlanguage/Pages/Index.aspx">English language</a>, <a href="https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/senior/senior-subjects/english/english-literature-extension/syllabus">English and literature extension</a> and <a href="https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/syllabus-and-support-materials/english/literature;%20%5Blink%20text%5D(https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/literature/Pages/Index.aspx)">literature</a>. It is important to choose the right version of English to reach your desired destination. </p>
<h2>Different types of English</h2>
<p>The Australian Curriculum is the base for the development of state and territory senior secondary courses. It breaks English down into <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/senior-secondary-curriculum/english/">four broad categories</a>: English, literature, EALD (English as an Additional Language or Dialect) and essential English. </p>
<p><strong>Literature</strong> is known as the most challenging of the four and focuses on literary texts such as poetry, prose and drama. Literature explores the creative use of language through in-depth study of culturally important literary works.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413234/original/file-20210727-19-xqbre4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Book cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413234/original/file-20210727-19-xqbre4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413234/original/file-20210727-19-xqbre4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413234/original/file-20210727-19-xqbre4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413234/original/file-20210727-19-xqbre4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413234/original/file-20210727-19-xqbre4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1199&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413234/original/file-20210727-19-xqbre4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413234/original/file-20210727-19-xqbre4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1199&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In a literature course, you could be asked to explore representations of race in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cdrummbks/5968515949">Drümmkopf/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, students may explore colonial representations of race in Joseph Conrad’s novella <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-conrads-imperial-horror-story-heart-of-darkness-resonates-with-our-globalised-times-94723">Heart of Darkness</a>, the beauty and unsettling nature of Shakespeare’s sonnets, or Australian cultural identity in Jack Davis’ play <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Sugar">No Sugar</a>.</p>
<p>Literature is more like philosophy or history than what we think of as English from NAPLAN (grammar and comprehension). </p>
<p>Literature used to be a popular subject in some states, but its popularity has been falling. Recent <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/year-12-students-leave-literature-on-the-shelf-20201104-p56bhi.html">figures from Victoria</a> show while literature was the 15th most commonly studied subject in 2015 in the senior years, it tumbled to 19th in 2019. In 2020, it fell off the top 20 list entirely. </p>
<p>In Western Australia, some schools have <a href="https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/education/students-miss-out-as-some-wa-high-schools-drop-literature-as-a-subject-ng-b88844222z">dropped literature</a> because of low enrolments. A report in 2018 noted the percentage of year 12s studying literature fell from 26% in 1998 to 11% in 2017.</p>
<p>Theories about this fall include the fact literature is seen as an elitist subject, that you have to be someone who reads all the time to take it, and you have to love great 19th and 20th century literature.</p>
<p>These things aren’t true. Anyone interested but willing to challenge themselves should and can take literature. And some examples of recent texts include Breath (Tim Winton), The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) and The Book Thief (Marcus Zusak). There are many “fun” texts students can study and while literature is challenging it can also be enriching, and can cultivate a love of reading.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-australian-books-that-can-help-young-people-understand-their-place-in-the-world-127712">5 Australian books that can help young people understand their place in the world</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Also, my <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308792340_Embodiment_and_Becoming_in_Secondary_Drama_Classrooms_The_Effects_of_Neoliberal_Education_Cultures_on_Performances_of_Text_and_Self">research</a> showed some students found studying literary texts to be an empowering experience. One year 12 student said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m the black sheep in my household. I identified with Rose (a character from Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet) quite a bit as the strong girl who was being resilient and was trying to break out of where she was. I do performing and everyone else does engineering or chemistry.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>English</strong> develops analytical and creative skills through studying a range of literary and non-literary texts (including oral, multimedia and digital “texts” such as documentaries, graphic novels and feature articles).</p>
<p>If you’re not in love with reading or writing but want to study subjects such as commerce or engineering at university, this may be the course for you. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413260/original/file-20210727-19-1xyxfys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Girl lying on the couch reading magazine" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413260/original/file-20210727-19-1xyxfys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413260/original/file-20210727-19-1xyxfys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413260/original/file-20210727-19-1xyxfys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413260/original/file-20210727-19-1xyxfys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413260/original/file-20210727-19-1xyxfys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413260/original/file-20210727-19-1xyxfys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413260/original/file-20210727-19-1xyxfys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In English, you can study a range of texts, such as magazine feature articles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-lying-on-couch-reading-fashion-1362782126">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although it’s seen as easier than literature, not everyone finds it that way. One Victorian student who had <a href="https://www.vcestudyguides.com/blog/vce-english-vs-vce-literature-which-one-is-right-for-you">taken both literature and English wrote</a> actually found the latter harder. This is because she felt she had more freedom in literature while English “wasn’t really compatible with tangents”. She found it harder to be more concise in her expression.</p>
<p><strong>English as an additional language</strong> is designed for students with English is their second language. This is an ATAR subject in some states such as <a href="https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/syllabus-and-support-materials/english/english-as-an-additional-language-or-dialect#:%7E:text=The%20EAL%2FD%20ATAR%20course,prepare%20students%20for%20tertiary%20study.&text=The%20Authority%20is%20reviewing%20the,first%20or%20'home'%20language.">Western Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/english-and-eal/Pages/index.aspx">Victoria</a>. </p>
<p><strong>Essential English</strong> develops students’ use of language, but it is not an ATAR subject (except <a href="https://www.satac.edu.au/satac-publications">in South Australia</a>). Essential English and <a href="https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/syllabus-and-support-materials/english/english2">general English</a> (also an ATAR subject <a href="https://www.satac.edu.au/satac-publications">in South Australia</a>) are generally tailored to students who would like to graduate from high school but don’t want to go to university.</p>
<h2>How do I decide which to take?</h2>
<p>The first question you can ask is: “Do I want to go to university?”. If the answer is “yes”, you are likely to choose an English subject that will go towards your ATAR.</p>
<p>It’s worth noting you can still get into university without an <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-stress-your-atar-isnt-the-final-call-there-are-many-ways-to-get-into-university-125429">ATAR, or without a very high one</a>, but it does give your more options.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-stress-your-atar-isnt-the-final-call-there-are-many-ways-to-get-into-university-125429">Don't stress, your ATAR isn't the final call. There are many ways to get into university</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>ATAR subjects are traditionally seen as more difficult than non-ATAR ones, although for anyone who has ever studied non-ATAR subjects, this is debatable.</p>
<p>So, let’s take an example student, Mia. She is tossing up between medicine, mechanics or music teaching. </p>
<p>If Mia wants to become a mechanic, she does not need an ATAR to get a school-based apprenticeship. She may be better off studying <a href="https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/syllabus-and-support-materials/english/english2">general English</a>, which focuses on the skills students need to become competent communicators in everyday life, or at work. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413262/original/file-20210727-20-5f34cq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman mechanic." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413262/original/file-20210727-20-5f34cq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413262/original/file-20210727-20-5f34cq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413262/original/file-20210727-20-5f34cq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413262/original/file-20210727-20-5f34cq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413262/original/file-20210727-20-5f34cq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413262/original/file-20210727-20-5f34cq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413262/original/file-20210727-20-5f34cq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If Mia wants to become a mechanic, she doesn’t need to do an English subject that contributes to an ATAR.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-shot-female-mechanic-working-under-1711144597">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But if Mia wants to be a music teacher or doctor, she is better off choosing an English subject that contributes to an ATAR. If she would like to be a teacher, she could choose something like <a href="https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/stage-6-learning-areas/stage-6-english">English standard or English advanced</a> and will need an ATAR score over 70 (but more than likely <a href="https://www.ecu.edu.au/future-students/course-entry/atar-requirements">around 85</a>).
If she would like to study medicine, she will need an <a href="https://www.monash.edu/study/courses/admissions-transparency/atar-offer-profile-report">ATAR closer to 99</a>. </p>
<h2>What about scaling?</h2>
<p>Some English subjects are scaled higher, while others lower.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tisc.edu.au/static/statistics/scaling/scaling-index.tisc">Scaling</a> uses an algorithm to make subject scores more or less comparable to each other. This also makes sure if a student takes a difficult subject, they aren’t disadvantaged. It’s easier to get an A in an easier subject than a harder subject, so scaling generally adds more points to students doing harder subjects.</p>
<p>ATAR literature, a traditionally more difficult course, is usually scaled up. In Western Australia in 2020, for instance, English was <a href="https://www.tisc.edu.au/static/statistics/scaling/scaling-index.tisc">scaled down</a> about two points and literature was scaled up by nearly seven.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/choosing-your-senior-school-subjects-doesnt-have-to-be-scary-here-are-6-things-to-keep-in-mind-160257">Choosing your senior school subjects doesn't have to be scary. Here are 6 things to keep in mind</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But students shouldn’t just take a subject like literature because it’s scaled up. Because it’s harder, they may get a lower mark and the scaling won’t make much difference. You should do what interests you, and what you think will contribute best to your future while ensuring a good senior school experience.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1417399025930698752"}"></div></p>
<h2>What could I do with English?</h2>
<p>English is compulsory because you need it for everything in life, from social communication to employment. </p>
<p>Studying literature, which isn’t compulsory, can be useful for occupations that require an advanced command of language such as journalism, research, law, public relations, philosophy and politics. </p>
<p><em>Read the other articles in our series on choosing senior subjects, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/senior-subjects-series-107516">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article has been corrected to note that essential English and general English can contribute to an ATAR in South Australia. Students should consult with the subject advisers in their own schools to confirm their subject choices align with their goals.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163978/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kirsten Lambert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are different versions of ‘English’ in different states, with various titles and levels of difficulty. It’s important to choose the right one to reach your desired destination.Kirsten Lambert, Lecturer, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1647782021-07-21T20:11:03Z2021-07-21T20:11:03ZThinking of choosing a science subject in years 11 and 12? Here’s what you need to know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412084/original/file-20210720-23-17n7gzi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-high-school-student-microscope-laboratory-701387218">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/senior-subjects-series-107516">series</a> providing school students with evidence-based advice for choosing subjects in their senior years.</em> </p>
<p>Studying science helps you make sense of the world and opens the door to a wide range of careers.</p>
<p>If you’ve decided to be a doctor or engineer then you will already know you need to do a science. But if you’re in the <a href="https://growingupinaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/lsac-asr-2018-chap9-subject_choices.pdf">45% of students</a> who don’t know what career they’ll end up in, you may want to study a range of different subject types to keep your options open. Science could be one of them.</p>
<h2>Who takes science?</h2>
<p>In Australia, science is compulsory until year 10 – after that, it’s a choice.
The Australian Curriculum groups <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/senior-secondary-curriculum/science/">science</a> into four areas:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>biology — the study of life</p></li>
<li><p>chemistry – the study of materials and substances </p></li>
<li><p>earth and environmental science — a broad subject about the interactions between the Earth and its water, air and living organisms</p></li>
<li><p>physics — the study of the nature and the properties of matter and energy. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>The specific science subjects you can choose depends on where you live and what your school offers but they will fall into these areas, or a combination.</p>
<p>Just over <a href="https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia-data-portal/year-12-subject-enrolments#view1">half</a> of all students choose to continue with science into year 12. In 2010, 53.1% of girls in Australia took a year 12 science subject. This had increased to 56.2% by 2019. In contrast, the proportion of boys taking science actually dropped – from 49.6% to 46.9% in the same period.</p>
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<p><iframe id="wF7cI" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/wF7cI/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
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<p>Biology was the <a href="https://growingupinaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/lsac-asr-2018-chap9-subject_choices.pdf">most popular</a> science subject among both boys and girls – 32.4% of all students who took a science subject in 2016 took biology. This was compared to 21% taking chemistry and 15% taking physics.</p>
<p>But more girls (40%) chose biology than boys (24%). And more boys (21%) chose physics than girls (8%). Similar proportions of girls and boys chose to study chemistry and life and earth sciences (such as geology and agriculture).</p>
<hr>
<p><iframe id="0e5PL" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0e5PL/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
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<p>There are <a href="https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/handle/10453/134514">several</a> theories for this difference. Some research shows girls consistently show a less positive attitude to science than boys and don’t feel they are as good at it. This is interesting because girls get <a href="https://theconversation.com/girls-score-the-same-in-maths-and-science-as-boys-but-higher-in-arts-this-may-be-why-they-are-less-likely-to-pick-stem-careers-131563">similar</a> marks to boys in science. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/girls-score-the-same-in-maths-and-science-as-boys-but-higher-in-arts-this-may-be-why-they-are-less-likely-to-pick-stem-careers-131563">Girls score the same in maths and science as boys, but higher in arts – this may be why they are less likely to pick STEM careers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Girls tend to have better language skills than boys, so another suggestion is they are more likely to choose subjects that require those skills, such as humanities. </p>
<p>There are no clear answers but your gender shouldn’t matter when it comes to choosing science.</p>
<h2>Careers in science</h2>
<p>Back in the 1990s, 85% of students in year 12 took at least one science <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/acer_monographs/4/">subject</a>. Enrolments started to fall around 1992 and <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/73153/1/Continuing_decline_of_science_proof.pdf">settled</a> around where they are now. The <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/68725/1/Choosing_Science.pdf">reason</a> for the fall continues to be debated but popular theories include a wider range of subject choices, and the perception science is too hard and not worth the effort. </p>
<p>Many experts <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-it-matters-that-student-participation-in-maths-and-science-is-declining-47559">consider the current enrolment levels</a> too low and this is confusing in light of <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/newsroom/articles/stem-jobs-growing-almost-twice-fast-other-jobs">evidence</a> that the demand for science, or more broadly STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), skills is increasing. </p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/newsroom/articles/stem-jobs-growing-almost-twice-fast-other-jobs">government report</a> showed STEM jobs are growing almost twice as fast as other jobs. </p>
<p>Many <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/2020-11/sci-science-careers-guide-Nov-2020.pdf">roles</a> are available inside and outside the lab. These are in areas such as climate change, materials science (anything involving how things are made and how they work — from nanoparticles to concrete), health, food technology, drug manufacturing and education. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Climate scientists studying images of hurricanes as a consequence of climate change." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Climate science is among the many and varied areas science graduates could work in.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-scientists-investigating-hurricane-consequence-global-755538235">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course it’s unlikely you’ll go straight out of school into a science job. You’d have to do a university or another type of course – such as vocational education and training – first. It will be far easier to do one of these courses if you did a science in your final years. Although, there are still pathways into them even if you didn’t.</p>
<p>The reverse is true too — you may change your mind about wanting to pursue science after studying it at school (or uni). In fact, about <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/download/2777/stem-leaf-where-are-australians-science-technology-engineering-mathematics-stem-students-heading/3792/document/pdf">two-thirds of students</a> who do a STEM subject at school or university actually end up with jobs outside of STEM. </p>
<h2>What else can science teach you?</h2>
<p>In my <a href="https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/handle/10453/98701">research</a> into how students chose their subjects, most students thought science was only useful for traditional science careers such as medicine or engineering. That’s not the case.</p>
<p>Studying science helps build <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/f30da688-en.pdf?expires=1626174177&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=33B57670770AFD3CE540B84797A486EE">scientific literacy</a>, which means being able to engage with and reflect on science topics in your daily life. Good scientific literacy gives you skills to see fake science for what it is and talk meaningfully about issues like climate change or COVID vaccines. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teach-questions-not-answers-science-literacy-is-a-crucial-skill-144731">Teach questions, not answers: science literacy is a crucial skill</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Studying science also helps students <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/49285411_Science_Teaching_and_Learning_in_Australian_Schools_Results_of_a_National_Study">understand their world</a> and be interested in what is happening around them. Knowing how science works means you can make up your own mind about evidence. You can decide if getting solar panels makes sense or if kale really is a wonder food.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Woman buying kale at the market." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scientific literacy can help you determine things like whether kale is in fact a superfood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-woman-buying-kale-farmers-market-1182084073">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today’s <a href="https://www.fya.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/The-New-Work-Mindset.pdf">15 year olds are predicted to</a> have five different careers and 17 changes of employer in their lifetime. So it makes sense to choose a range of subjects that build skills which are portable across a range of roles. </p>
<p>Including a science subject in the mix, even if you’re not planning for a scientifically related career, can provide a good balance. But only, of course, if you’re interested.</p>
<h2>Don’t choose it for the ATAR</h2>
<p>You may hear science subjects are great because the marks are scaled up when your ATAR is calculated. That’s not quite right.</p>
<p>As you probably know, the ATAR is your rank compared to other students and it’s one factor in how universities select students. </p>
<p>Historically science subjects have been favourably scaled because the average academic ability of students doing science has been higher than the average student. <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/assets/documents/scaling-reports/scaling-report-2020-nsw-hsc.pdf">Scaling</a> happens after the marks are in and aims to even the playing field between subjects. You have a far better chance of getting a good mark if you do a subject because you enjoy it, or are good at it.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/choosing-your-senior-school-subjects-doesnt-have-to-be-scary-here-are-6-things-to-keep-in-mind-160257">Choosing your senior school subjects doesn't have to be scary. Here are 6 things to keep in mind</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In my <a href="https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/134514/1/ESERA-2017-eProceedings%2520Palmer%25202018.pdf">research</a> I found both girls and boys ranked finding a subject interesting and enjoyable as the most important influences when deciding to choose or reject a subject for year 11. Next came needing a subject for a career and then their expectation of getting a good mark. </p>
<p>You will need to weigh this up for all your subject choices, not just science. In the words of a year 10 student from my research</p>
<blockquote>
<p>if you choose everything that you love, you might not necessarily be doing very well and it might bring your marks down, but if you choose things that you are doing really well in, but you might not necessarily love them, you are not going to have the motivation to keep doing well.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You don’t have to love science but you do need to like it and think you can do the work. </p>
<p><em>Read the other articles in our series on choosing senior subjects, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/senior-subjects-series-107516">here</a>.</em></p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1417399025930698752"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164778/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tracey-Ann Palmer received funding from the Australian Government. This work was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award.</span></em></p>Science teaches you many skills. Even if you don’t plan for a science related career, including a science subject in your senior years can provide a good balance. But only if you’re interested.Tracey-Ann Palmer, Lecturer, Initial Teacher Education, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1602572021-07-19T20:10:01Z2021-07-19T20:10:01ZChoosing your senior school subjects doesn’t have to be scary. Here are 6 things to keep in mind<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411400/original/file-20210715-15-988qv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teenager-girl-holding-stack-books-shows-683832130">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is the first article in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/senior-subjects-series-107516">series</a> providing school students with evidence-based advice for choosing subjects in their senior years.</em></p>
<p>From about August each year, young people in year 10 go through a round of interviews to close in on their subject selections for years 11 and 12.</p>
<p>They’re given a portfolio full of reading materials. They may also attend vibrant careers markets to get helpful information. The principal and heads of the year give presentations, and occasionally a VIP guest speaker will arrive.</p>
<p>Somewhere at this point, my sobbing daughter had cried: “I’m growing up too quickly!” She’d been told a complex story about ATARs, prerequisites and options for her career path, all with the solemn authority about the importance of making wise decisions.</p>
<p>Studies have shown <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1978-11057-001">students experience anxiety</a> around choosing subjects that relate to their desired career path. Nothing as serious as this will have happened in most children’s lives before now. </p>
<p>What if they don’t know what they want to do? Or worse, what if they make a mistake in their subject choices? </p>
<p>The good news is, there is not much need to worry. Choices you make now about your subjects don’t need to have a severe impact on your future. </p>
<p>There are some myths about senior schooling all kids and parents need to know. Here are six of them.</p>
<h2>Myth 1: you need an ATAR to go to university</h2>
<p>There are several pathways to university — an ATAR is only one of them. </p>
<p>The federal education department reports there are significant intakes for courses that <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/undergraduate-applications-offers-and-acceptances-publications">don’t require an ATAR</a>. A <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj7yovWurbwAhWVlEsFHe9oCBIQFjABegQIBxAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dese.gov.au%2Fdownload%2F3989%2Fadmissions-transparency-phase-two-common-terminology-and-information-sets-dec-2017%2F5902%2Fdocument%2Fpdf&usg=AOvVaw1D3">2020 report</a> says the share of university offers for applicants with no ATAR or who were non-year 12 applicants was 60.5% in 2020. This was up from 60.1% in 2019.</p>
<p>Some courses, like <a href="https://universityreviews.com.au/atar-course-entry-scores/">engineering</a>, normally require an ATAR of <a href="https://australianuniversities.click/list/atar-course-entry-requirements/">somewhere around the mid 80s</a>. But you could also get in through having done a VET certificate or diploma. RMIT, for instance, offers up to two years of credit to <a href="https://www.rmit.edu.au/study-with-us/engineering?&s_kwcid=AL!10529!3!470822493004!b!!g!!%2Brmit%20%2Bengineering&gclid=CjwKCAjwos-HBhB3EiwAe4xM995Hf2gitvqKIYmAsQhtG1-XAaLqGBT4Z7jvCDrbJQQ0y0SooMZjQhoCRFcQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds">transfer from TAFE</a> into an undergraduate degree.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/your-atar-isnt-the-only-thing-universities-are-looking-at-93353">Your ATAR isn't the only thing universities are looking at</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There are many alternative pathways described by most institutions on their websites. Curtin University has a <a href="https://study.curtin.edu.au/applying/pathways/">helpful journey finder</a> for students without a competitive ATAR. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Girl with backpack sitting in front of a road that splits into two." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411804/original/file-20210719-17-1e28oos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411804/original/file-20210719-17-1e28oos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411804/original/file-20210719-17-1e28oos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411804/original/file-20210719-17-1e28oos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411804/original/file-20210719-17-1e28oos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411804/original/file-20210719-17-1e28oos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411804/original/file-20210719-17-1e28oos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are several pathways into university.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/concept-choice-crossroads-spliting-two-ways-717943141">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A year 12 student, expecting not to gain an ATAR, who is not studying English or doesn’t expect to gain a 50 scaled rank for English, has at least <a href="https://study.curtin.edu.au/applying/pathways/">three pathways</a> into Curtin — sitting the Special Tertiary Admissions Test, doing a course at Curtin College, and using a portfolio for assessment. </p>
<p>Curtin also has a <a href="https://study.curtin.edu.au/applying/pathways/uniready-enabling-program/">UniReady Enabling Program</a>. This is a short course of 17 weeks. Completing the course means you will fulfil Curtin’s minimum admission criteria of a 70 ATAR. Many universities have similar types of preparatory pathways.</p>
<h2>Myth 2: your senior subjects majorly influence your career</h2>
<p>With all the disruption we’re experiencing, technical and social, we actually don’t have any idea what types of careers will be available in the future. Industry advice bodies, like the National Skills Commission, <a href="https://www.nationalskillscommission.gov.au/australian-jobs-report">recommend students choose subjects</a> that suit their interest and skill set, rather than to prepare for a specific future career.</p>
<p>Reports show today’s 15-year-olds will <a href="https://www.fya.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/FYA_TheNewWorkSmarts_July2017.pdf">likely change employers 17 times</a> and have five different careers through their working life. Many of their career may have very little, if any, connection to the senior subjects they took at school.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-government-actually-predict-the-jobs-of-the-future-141275">Can government actually predict the jobs of the future?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A 2018 report by <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/economics/articles/value-humanities.html">industry body Deloitte Access Economics showed</a> 72% of employers “demanded” communication skills when hiring and that transferable skills, such as as teamwork, communication, problem-solving, innovation and emotional judgement, “have become widely acknowledged as important in driving business success”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411805/original/file-20210719-13-1och1o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People working together at a desk. New team member reaching over to shake the head of collaborator." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411805/original/file-20210719-13-1och1o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411805/original/file-20210719-13-1och1o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411805/original/file-20210719-13-1och1o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411805/original/file-20210719-13-1och1o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411805/original/file-20210719-13-1och1o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411805/original/file-20210719-13-1och1o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411805/original/file-20210719-13-1och1o2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ability to work in a team will be an important skills for future employers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/welcome-our-team-top-view-young-1067103281">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This can include subjects like music, dance, debating and theatre will teach the exact skills employers value the most.</p>
<h2>Myth 3: you should do ‘hard’ subjects to get a high ATAR</h2>
<p>All subjects are hard if you lack interest or ability. Students are unlikely to do well if they are unhappy and unmotivated. </p>
<p>Research shows being motivated will improve how well you do in something. But academic performance is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01443410.2020.1778640">better associated</a> with internal motivation (such as liking something) than external (like the drive for an ATAR). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-tips-to-help-year-12-students-set-better-goals-in-the-final-year-of-school-109954">Five tips to help year 12 students set better goals in the final year of school</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>So, if a student only values a subject for what it might get them, like a high ATAR, they’ll do better than if there was no purpose at all. But they won’t do as well as if they are internally motivated by it. </p>
<h2>Myth 4: your ATAR will stand as the measure of your ability into the future</h2>
<p>The ATAR is simply a profile of achievement on a limited number of tasks over a defined period. A person at the end of school, aged 17 or 18, hasn’t reached the end of their development. </p>
<p>Studies show there is an <a href="https://jhu.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/the-adult-development-of-cognition-and-learning-3">interaction between</a> gains in knowledge and expertise, and losses in the speed of cognitive processing as we age (meaning we learn less as we get older, to some extent). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411806/original/file-20210719-19-1hc90rv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411806/original/file-20210719-19-1hc90rv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411806/original/file-20210719-19-1hc90rv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411806/original/file-20210719-19-1hc90rv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411806/original/file-20210719-19-1hc90rv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411806/original/file-20210719-19-1hc90rv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411806/original/file-20210719-19-1hc90rv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411806/original/file-20210719-19-1hc90rv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You will keep learning from experience.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/training-investing-education-invest-skills-investment-1452918791">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But these losses are offset by an older person’s access to a rich base of experience which can inform their understanding of things and their actions. Also the older a person is, the better developed their <a href="https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/276480">self-regulation</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019188690700175">motivation</a>. </p>
<p>Our abilities are shaped and reshaped by experience <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0893608019300231">across our lifespan</a>. </p>
<h2>Myth 5: year 12 will be demanding and stressful</h2>
<p>Year 12 can be demanding and stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. The most common source of distress in the senior years comes from <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08039488.2017.1389986">anxiety</a>, specifically test anxiety, and the pressures that come from selecting subjects for reasons not driven by interest and ability.</p>
<p>These years should not be devoted to self-flagellation for a high ATAR.</p>
<p>Students with a range of subjects types will have variety in their day and week. They are likely to have the best experience in their senior years. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411807/original/file-20210719-17-19glzqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Artist's palette with lots of colourful paint." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411807/original/file-20210719-17-19glzqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411807/original/file-20210719-17-19glzqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411807/original/file-20210719-17-19glzqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411807/original/file-20210719-17-19glzqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411807/original/file-20210719-17-19glzqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411807/original/file-20210719-17-19glzqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411807/original/file-20210719-17-19glzqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Variety in your day can help you enjoy your senior years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/artist-paints-picture-oil-paint-brush-132622640">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research suggests a balanced life underscores success and general achievement, and <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/255e/18221ad3601c8d3ac91a74d6c613c58cc6e9.pdf">setting the tone is vital</a> during these formative years.</p>
<h2>Myth 6: taking a VET subject in year 11 or 12 will affect your ATAR</h2>
<p>Taking a VET subject reduces the opportunity to take another ATAR subject. It could be argued this puts greater pressure on achievement in the remaining ATAR subjects. But taking a VET subject also reduces the ATAR subjects on your dance card, so they may well be easier to manage. </p>
<p>Including a VET subject is also likely to provide a balanced education in senior years, which may actually improve a student’s chances for a high ATAR.</p>
<p>So here’s what you should think about when making your subject choices:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>what do you like?</p></li>
<li><p>what comes easily to you?</p></li>
<li><p>will the selection give you variety in your day?</p></li>
<li><p>in which subjects will you have the most fun?</p></li>
</ul>
<p><em>Read the other articles in our series on choosing senior subjects, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/senior-subjects-series-107516">here</a>.</em></p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1417399025930698752"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160257/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Nan Bahr does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are some myths about senior schooling kids and parents need to know. They include the idea everyone needs an ATAR to get into university, and that year 12 must be stressful. Neither are necessarily true.Professor Nan Bahr, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Students), Southern Cross UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1474472020-11-10T01:53:02Z2020-11-10T01:53:02ZOpen access to higher education is about much more than axing ATARs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367869/original/file-20201105-14-1hxj0km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C27%2C5979%2C3962&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-young-attractive-smiling-students-dressed-276679442">George Rudy/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The importance of higher education for the growth and development of society is generally accepted. But openness and access to education for all is essential to maximise its benefits. Leaders in higher education must be ready to examine what it will take to achieve this.</p>
<p>What do we mean by open access? Higher education should provide access for as many people as possible to reach their full potential as individuals. It is a <a href="https://www.sdgfund.org/goal-4-quality-education">priority</a> in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals because inequality is emerging as a key threat to societal development.</p>
<p>Openness in education depends on the democratisation of societies and, with it, the democratisation of information and knowledge. Nobel Prize-winning Indian economist <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-new-yorker-interview/amartya-sens-hopes-and-fears-for-indian-democracy">Amartya Sen</a> described development as freedom. That is, development that enhances meaningful and quality living.</p>
<p>In this context, openness broadly refers to flexible, fair, welcoming and unprejudiced access to higher education. Openness of access requires adherence to basic purpose values – the promotion of self-regulated life-long learning, self-determination and personal agency. Enabling citizens to realise these aspirations contributes to strengthening our democracy.</p>
<h2>So what will it take?</h2>
<p>Changes in mindset will be non-negotiable for open access. Removing barriers, challenging assumptions and finding innovative means to ensure access and support are important starting points.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.torrens.edu.au/about">Torrens University and Think Education</a>, like other institutions such as <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/anu-announces-major-changes-to-student-admissions-for-2020">ANU</a> and <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/no-atar-required-swinburne-dumps-ranking-system-for-dozens-of-degrees-20200615-p552s5.html">Swinburne</a>, recently <a href="https://www.torrens.edu.au/blog/news/an-important-decision-about-how-we-will-approach-the-atar">announced</a> the Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR) will no longer be the only thing that determines students’ entry into university. We now have alternative entry pathways. Systematic support and monitoring to ensure student success will be critical.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/students-are-more-than-a-number-why-a-learner-profile-makes-more-sense-than-the-atar-143539">Students are more than a number: why a learner profile makes more sense than the ATAR</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Higher education openness should also be understood in terms of the choice and flexibility it allows individuals. Service delivery needs to respond to personal circumstances and learning and support needs. It enables people to choose between different types or modes of access, geographical locations, synchronous (learning with others at same time) or asynchronous (learning individually in one’s own time) activity – in timeframes that suit their circumstances.</p>
<p>This is why online or hybrid learning is essential. At Torrens University, students can choose face-to-face or online study – or both – to undertake their studies. </p>
<p>Importantly, online offerings must never compromise on quality. Students studying remotely must not be worse off than students learning face-to-face.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Student talking as he studies online" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367871/original/file-20201106-20-18de42t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367871/original/file-20201106-20-18de42t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367871/original/file-20201106-20-18de42t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367871/original/file-20201106-20-18de42t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367871/original/file-20201106-20-18de42t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367871/original/file-20201106-20-18de42t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367871/original/file-20201106-20-18de42t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Students who study online must not be disadvantaged compared to those learning face-to-face.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-male-student-online-teacher-wear-1526125214">insta_photos/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Offering choice through innovation</h2>
<p>To help secondary students consider their options, higher education providers pulled together a series of <a href="https://www.torrens.edu.au/blog/news/first-ever-trans-tasman-higher-education-virtual-expo">virtual expos</a> this year. Technology enabled these expos to reach almost 20,000 students across Australia and New Zealand. These expos showed how the higher education sectors in Australia and New Zealand can adapt, innovate and collaborate to ensure no one lacks choices.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-learning-economy-challenges-unis-to-be-part-of-reshaping-lifelong-education-144800">New learning economy challenges unis to be part of reshaping lifelong education</a>
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<p>It is important to understand that the ideas of openness and inclusive learning environments do not refer to having no norms or boundaries. Openness or open access to higher education depends on the values, ideology and practices of each institution. Equally important are regulatory and societal systems that provide the freedoms and incentives for institutions to develop complementary approaches and capacity. </p>
<p>In South Africa, for example, the higher education and school systems were transformed to open opportunities for all. Policies to increase participation among disadvantaged communities included financial and academic support throughout the education journey. </p>
<p>A set of enabling values and mechanisms will be critical. This means putting in place ideology that gives people the right and the means to participate. It involves creating an ethos that ensures every person is welcome in the education system.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students in a lecture" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367875/original/file-20201106-17-9bn5dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367875/original/file-20201106-17-9bn5dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367875/original/file-20201106-17-9bn5dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367875/original/file-20201106-17-9bn5dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367875/original/file-20201106-17-9bn5dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367875/original/file-20201106-17-9bn5dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367875/original/file-20201106-17-9bn5dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A deliberate process of transformation opened up formerly exclusive institutions in South Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/johannesburg-south-africa-april-17-2012-1268989687">Sunshine Seeds/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>A full spectrum of support services will be just as important. But why? And what will they be? </p>
<p>Well, while you may open up education for all, remote locations as well as lack of resources in secondary schools could be barriers. So you need arrangements in place to ensure access. Adjustments to entrance requirements and financial support might also be needed to deliver on the promise of education for all. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/poorer-nsw-students-study-subjects-less-likely-to-get-them-into-uni-127985">Poorer NSW students study subjects less likely to get them into uni</a>
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<h2>Time to come down from the ivory tower</h2>
<p>In higher education, the institutionalised roles of knowledge creators and education providers require them to lead and support societal development through the creation of knowledge that supports innovation. This equips citizens with the social and human capital they need to prosper.</p>
<p>This advancement of human well-being will necessitate breaking down existing barriers between higher education and society. It requires coming down from the ivory tower where a monopoly over knowledge, knowledge creation and distribution has been institutionalised. It means reviewing entrance requirements, policies and procedures that result in exclusion. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-coronavirus-universities-must-collaborate-with-communities-to-support-social-transition-140541">After coronavirus, universities must collaborate with communities to support social transition</a>
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<p>This is not to suggest it will be straightforward. </p>
<p>Higher education providers function in a complex and dynamic environment. Each institution will have to carefully choose the focus and scope of its activities. Institutions will have to follow up with strategies, systems and processes that open their boundaries to interaction with industry, society, decision-makers and government, while providing for individual choice and participation.</p>
<p>At Torrens University, Think Education and Media Design School, for example, we collaborate with industry from the outset as we build our curricula. This engagement continues throughout the student journey – through work-integrated learning, our “success coaches” and teaching staff who are industry leaders in their own right.</p>
<p>Openness is therefore not only a matter of access to higher education. It is an inclusive process of opening entrance opportunities, followed by a purpose-driven support environment that aims to prepare successful graduates to contribute to society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147447/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alwyn Louw does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Higher education should provide access for as many people as possible to fulfil their potential as individuals. Leaders in higher education must be ready to examine what it will take to achieve this.Alwyn Louw, Vice Chancellor, Torrens University AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1435392020-07-30T19:57:10Z2020-07-30T19:57:10ZStudents are more than a number: why a learner profile makes more sense than the ATAR<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350335/original/file-20200730-31-1tfirxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/highschool-student-raising-her-hand-class-112722187">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="https://uploadstorage.blob.core.windows.net/public-assets/education-au/pathways/Final%20report%20-%2018%20June.pdf">recent review</a> of available pathways after secondary school into work, further education and training recommended all students leave school with a learner profile.</p>
<p>Recommendation four of the report, commissioned by the Education Council, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Students should leave school with a Learner Profile that incorporates not only their ATAR score (where relevant) together with their individual subject results, but that also captures the broader range of evidenced capabilities necessary for employment and active citizenship that they have acquired in senior secondary schooling. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This report echoed many of the themes raised in a September 2019 paper by the Australian Learning Lecturre: <a href="https://www.all-learning.org.au/sites/default/files/resources/beyond_atar_proposal_for_change_all.pdf">Beyond ATAR: A Proposal for Change</a>. The paper proposed differences in the way we represent students’ knowledge, capabilities and activities, to describe secondary school graduates as whole human beings, and to ease transitions and pathways into further education and work. </p>
<p>The paper recommended completely replacing the ATAR (Australian tertiary admissions rank) with a learner profile, as opposed to having the ATAR be part of the profile. </p>
<p>But what is a learner profile, and do students really need it when they leave school?</p>
<h2>More than a number</h2>
<p>Is there a single number that can represent the totality of who you are? Your salary, height, weight, IQ? I think most of us would say “no”.</p>
<p>Yet a single number — the ATAR — is the main way secondary school students are represented, ranked and given access to tertiary education. The ATAR is the result of a scaling process that gives students a <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-actually-is-an-atar-first-of-all-its-a-rank-not-a-score-126594">percentage rank</a> in relation to others in their age group. If a student gets an ATAR of 80, it means they are 20% from the top of their age group.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-actually-is-an-atar-first-of-all-its-a-rank-not-a-score-126594">What actually is an ATAR? First of all it's a rank, not a score</a>
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<p>A number of universities and degree programs complement ATAR scores with entry tests, interviews or other measures. But the ATAR remains dominant.</p>
<p>Australia is the only country that uses an almost universal student ranking system for tertiary entry. <a href="https://www.all-learning.org.au/sites/default/files/resources/beyond_atar_proposal_for_change_all.pdf#page=13">Beyond ATAR: A Proposal for Change</a>, p. 11.</p>
<p>The dominance of ATAR has costs. It can shape senior secondary schooling, transforming it from a broad activity of learning to be an adult and citizen to the quest for a higher score. It can influence students’ and families’ subject choices, and their decisions about things like extracurricular activities. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-majority-of-music-students-drop-out-before-the-end-of-high-school-is-the-atar-to-blame-126350">The majority of music students drop out before the end of high school – is the ATAR to blame?</a>
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<h2>What is a learner profile?</h2>
<p>The model of the learner profile in the 2019 Australian Learning Lecture paper proposed including information about the student’ extracurricular activities such as sport, part time work, music and theatre, hobbies and the other things they do to broaden their engagement with society and enhance interpersonal skills.</p>
<p>It is broader than the model prescribed in the recent Education Council report which recommended that the learner profile focus on students’ school-based activities.</p>
<p>Perspectives differ on whether a learning profile would complement and include an ATAR or similar score, or completely replace it.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.ibo.org/benefits/learner-profile/">learner profile</a> has been part of the International Baccalaureate for some time. Students complete the program with a document focused on their personal qualities such as communication, risk-taking and open-mindedness as well as on their knowledge and thinking skills. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-will-the-class-of-covid-19-get-into-university-using-year-11-results-is-only-part-of-the-answer-137158">How will the class of COVID-19 get into university? Using year 11 results is only part of the answer</a>
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<p>Similar profiles are used for senior <a href="http://www.hkeaa.edu.hk/DocLibrary/HKDSE/Progress_promote_HKDSE/SLP_Information_Sheet_Eng.pdf">secondary students in Hong Kong</a>, recording three years of academic results and learning experiences, including the attitudes and values students have developed. These profiles also list awards and achievements, inside and outside school, and an essay in which the students describe themselves. </p>
<p>While the Australian National University does consider the ATAR, applicants must also meet a <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/study/apply/domestic-applications-anu-undergraduate/applying-to-anu-application-details/co">co-curricular or service requirement</a>. This is a measure of the breadth of a student’s engagement in the community.</p>
<h2>School is about building citizens</h2>
<p>Both the Education Council and Australian Learning Lecture reports argued that using a learning profile would better match graduates with the university courses that will best allow them to develop and fulfil their potential.</p>
<p>But school shouldn’t be just about getting into a university course, or getting the right job. It should also be about preparing students to be citizens actively engaged in society, who participate in the arts and community organisations, who have lives outside of work, who serve others and have a global vision. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-education-its-no-longer-just-about-getting-a-job-117897">What's the point of education? It's no longer just about getting a job</a>
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<p>Broadening the ways we measure and represent the outcomes of the senior years of schooling has the potential to broaden our vision of school itself.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143539/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Geelan is a member of the Queensland Greens.</span></em></p>A recent report recommended all students leave school with a learner profile. This will capture their academic results, as well as other achievements like extracurricular activities.David Geelan, Deputy Head of School, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1407462020-07-26T19:56:23Z2020-07-26T19:56:23ZWe know by Year 11 what mark students will get in Year 12. Do we still need a stressful exam?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348833/original/file-20200722-21-1f2hsh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/view-large-exam-room-hall-examination-1228286686">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>By the end of Year 11 we know almost exactly how well New South Wales students will perform on the state’s senior school exams. We used <a href="https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/analytics-framework-for-k-12-school-systems/193558">predictive analytics</a> to reliably predict a student’s HSC (<a href="https://ace.nesa.nsw.edu.au/higher-school-certificate">Higher School Certificate</a>) results in a study of more than 10,000 students.</p>
<p>Predictive analytics links multiple data sources about student progression through school. These sources synthesise different kinds of data to reveal current trends and predict future performance.</p>
<p>A recent report into pathways for senior secondary school students, by the <a href="http://www.educationcouncil.edu.au/site/DefaultSite/filesystem/documents/Reports%20and%20publications/Publications/Senior%20Secondary%20Pathways%202020/Review%20into%20senior%20secondary%20pathways%20-%20Final%20report.pdf">Education Council</a>, notes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Academic achievement is important but not the sole reason for schooling. We need to focus more on preparing the whole person, no matter what career path they choose.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We believe predictive analytics gives us a way to replace the current Year 12 structure with one more personalised, and that will help prepare the whole student for their journey into the future. </p>
<h2>Ten years of data</h2>
<p>In our study – the results of which are yet to be published – we analysed ten years of data across 14 HSC subject areas, for about 10,000 students. We started by analysing 41 variables over a child’s educational career. These included a student’s gender, marks across the decade and number of siblings.</p>
<p>But we found we only needed 17 of the 41 variables to accurately predict Year 12 performance. These included a student’s demographic information (such as how long he or she has lived in Australia and the school’s socioeconomic index), Year 9 NAPLAN scores in all areas, their HSC subject choices at the beginning of Year 11 and Year 11 attendance. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-could-be-called-on-to-estimate-year-12-student-grades-this-is-fairer-than-it-sounds-136039">Teachers could be called on to estimate year 12 student grades – this is fairer than it sounds</a>
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<p>Using these variables, we could remarkably predict a student’s HSC scores. The predictions are 93% accurate (within an error margin of 3%).</p>
<p>For example, if a student chooses <a href="https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/resource-finder/hsc-exam-papers/2019/english-advanced-2019-hsc-exam-pack">English Advanced</a> in Year 12, he or she likely did well in the reading and writing areas of the Year 9 NAPLAN. </p>
<p>If the same student’s (who did well in Year 9 NAPLAN) attendance is above 90% and we factor in their demographic information, we can tell them their HSC mark in English Advanced before they take the course and the exam.</p>
<p>Likewise, if a student has low numeracy results on their Year 9 NAPLAN and plans to take <a href="https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/resource-finder/hsc-exam-papers/2019/chemistry-2019-hsc-exam-pack">Chemistry</a> and <a href="https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/key-learning-areas/mathematics/stage-6/mathematics-advanced">Mathematics Advanced</a> in Year 12, they aren’t going to do well on the HSC in those areas. The Year 9 NAPLAN numeracy criteria dominates the other variables.</p>
<p>Our research tells us we know enough about each student by the end of Year 11 to help direct them into the pathway that best aligns to their current strengths. It also tells us we need to provide a different kind of Year 12 experience — one that boosts students’ chances for success in areas they are passionate about or interested in.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349277/original/file-20200724-19-rupjpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A female student taking notes at her desk but looking bored." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349277/original/file-20200724-19-rupjpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349277/original/file-20200724-19-rupjpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349277/original/file-20200724-19-rupjpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349277/original/file-20200724-19-rupjpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349277/original/file-20200724-19-rupjpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349277/original/file-20200724-19-rupjpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349277/original/file-20200724-19-rupjpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Many students are disengaged from school.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/uninterested-student-drawing-during-class-classroom-687472933</span></span>
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<p>Of course, the science of predictive analytics isn’t perfect. Our study shows some students do improve their academic achievements throughout Year 12 and score higher than expected on the HSC exams (no more than 7%). But for an <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Engaging-students-creating-classrooms-that-improve-learning.pdf">increasing number of students</a>, the HSC and the process leading towards it are barriers to active engagement in education at a pivotal transition period. </p>
<h2>So, what does all this mean?</h2>
<p>End of school exams and the resultant ATAR are often presented as make-or-break milestones. Students <a href="https://clueylearning.com.au/blog/atar-anxiety/">preparing for the exams</a> suffer <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-11/year-12-exams-are-they-worth-the-stress/9029260">increased anxiety and stress</a> beyond what is normal. The process is unnecessarily debilitating for many young people. </p>
<p>The purpose of the HSC is to use the cumulative exam results to convert to a tertiary admission ranking (ATAR) that is used to facilitate university entry. But our data reveal we don’t need the current Year 12 to determine the HSC results and therefore the ranking. And for those who do not have university aspirations, the HSC is already irrelevant.</p>
<p>There are now <a href="https://theconversation.com/your-atar-isnt-the-only-thing-universities-are-looking-at-93353">multiple ways</a> to be accepted into university, including early offers, portfolios and principal recommendations. These make the HSC increasingly redundant.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-stress-your-atar-isnt-the-final-call-there-are-many-ways-to-get-into-university-125429">Don't stress, your ATAR isn't the final call. There are many ways to get into university</a>
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<p>A Productivity Commission report showed <a href="https://www.qt.com.au/news/high-school-dropouts/2151766/">almost one fifth of Year 10 students</a> in 2010 didn’t complete Year 12 by 2012. And the perpetuation and widening of equity gaps due to the realities of the senior years of high school are staggering. A 2015 <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/quarter-of-australian-students-drop-out-new-report-reveals-20151025-gkhtpo.html">Mitchell Institute report</a> found about 40% of Australia’s poorest 19 year olds don’t finish Year 12, compared with about 10% of the wealthiest. </p>
<p>The challenge we face is to make the senior year more relevant in preparing students for their next steps.</p>
<h2>A new Year 12 design</h2>
<p>We propose to dramatically revise Year 12 with the help of predictive analytics.</p>
<p>Our proposal is to allow flexibility for each student to get ready for the next phase of their learning during Year 12. This includes opportunities to use Year 12 to engage in real-world projects, formal apprenticeships, TAFE or university certificates, study abroad (when that can occur again safely), going deeper into advanced courses of interest and providing new supports to promote success without dumbing things down.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/most-young-people-who-do-vet-after-school-are-in-full-time-work-by-the-age-of-25-133060">Most young people who do VET after school are in full-time work by the age of 25</a>
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<p>All of these are currently the exception rather than the rule. Through these experiences, Year 12 students can build unique evidence about their skills, knowledge and passions that take them into their futures. </p>
<p>Instead of using Year 12 to prepare for the exams, students can use it for broadening their experiences and honing in on life and career aspirations. This approach refocuses the final year to an <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Leaving-Learn-Out-School-Engagement/dp/0325046042">individualised journey</a> that better prepares young people for Year 13 — whatever that may be for them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140746/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new study and its methods provides a way to replace the current Year 12 structure with one that will help prepare senior school students for their journey into the future – whatever that may be.John Fischetti, Professor, Pro Vice Chancellor of the Faculty of Education and Arts; Dean/Head of School of Education, University of NewcastleMaxwell Smith, Professor, University of NewcastleRaju Varanasi, Doctoral candidate, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1371582020-04-29T00:28:41Z2020-04-29T00:28:41ZHow will the class of COVID-19 get into university? Using year 11 results is only part of the answer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330908/original/file-20200428-76560-149p9bo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-senior-pupils-flee-toss-their-1230808384">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Several Australian universities (<a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/anu-to-make-2021-offers-based-on-year-11-results">Australian National University</a>, <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/swinburne-gives-year-12-students-a-break-with-delayed-2021-start-20200408-p54icu.html">Swinburne</a> and the <a href="http://www.news.uwa.edu.au/2020041912001/vice-chancellor/uwa-will-admit-students-year-11-results">University of Western Australia</a>) have announced they will accept students based on their year 11 results. </p>
<p>The rationale is that the disrupted 2020 year will affect year 12 results. So, it’s fairer to use their results from last year.</p>
<p>It’s clear <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/vce-students-short-changed-by-covid-19-even-if-school-year-extended-20200407-p54hyh.html">finishing school in the midst of a global pandemic is tough</a>. Students are facing escalating pressure from learning online and loss of vital connections to peers, extended family and the community.</p>
<p>Rates of mental health issues and self-harm among Australian young people have <a href="https://www.aracy.org.au/publications-resources/command/download_file/id/361/filename/ARACY_Report_Card_2018.pdf">risen over the last decade</a>. Easing the pressures they face is a priority.</p>
<p>But universities accepting students based on year 11 scores is only a small response in a world experiencing enormous changes.</p>
<h2>Is using year 11 results a good thing?</h2>
<p>The Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR) is a rank used by universities to select which students, out of high school, will be offered a place in a particular course. It represents the <a href="https://about.au.reachout.com/there-is-a-whole-world-beyond-your-atar-2015/">Holy Grail of school achievement</a> for many Australian students and schools.</p>
<p>Its importance is reinforced by <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/vce-2019-live-victorian-school-and-atar-results-20191211-p53iv2.html">media reports of ATAR excellence</a> each December. The decision to use year 11 results will likely be welcomed by many students concerned their ATAR is in jeopardy.</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://twitter.com/gripgirl/status/1253866921922981889?s=20">students have argued</a> using year 11 results is unfair or flawed, as some students may have eased off in year 11 and <a href="https://getatomi.com/blog/how-important-was-year-11">planned to put in the extra effort</a> to recover in year 12. But using year 11 results is unlikely to damage these students’ chances. </p>
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<p>That’s because <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/downloads/working_paper_series/wp2014n22.pdf">ATAR scores are strongly correlated</a> with earlier school achievement, which means high achievers are unlikely to lose their position in the race.</p>
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<p>Importantly, using year 11 results will go some way towards reducing the effects of the ‘"<a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/school-closures-will-increase-inequality-unless-urgent-action-closes-the-digital-divide-20200331-p54fjq.html">digital divide</a>“ on student learning. Students with limited access to technology, or from less wealthy schools with fewer resources to cope with the sudden adaptation to online learning, will be further disadvantaged in the Class of 2020.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/schools-are-moving-online-but-not-all-children-start-out-digitally-equal-134650">Schools are moving online, but not all children start out digitally equal</a>
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<p>One downside is the potential for confusion for students who have been assured by <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-07/year-12-students-to-graduate-with-atar-despite-coronavirus/12128854">education minister Dan Tehan</a> that they will still receive an ATAR in 2020, with appropriate adjustments. </p>
<p>It’s not yet clear what these adjustments will be, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-has-thrown-year-12-students-lives-into-chaos-so-what-can-we-do-134891">state differences in senior secondary assessments</a> complicate matters further.</p>
<h2>What else do students need?</h2>
<p>Even before COVID-19, only <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Crunching-the-number_Exploring-the-use-and-usefulness-of-the-ATAR.pdf">around one-quarter of students</a> entered Australian universities based on their ATAR. </p>
<p>Universities already offer a range of other entry pathways including <a href="https://www.uow.edu.au/study/high-school/other-entry/">interviews</a>, <a href="https://www.murdoch.edu.au/news/articles/five-alternative-pathways-into-university">preparation tests</a>, <a href="https://study.curtin.edu.au/applying/pathways/portfolio-entry/">portfolios</a>, <a href="https://www.torrens.edu.au/apply-online/admissions-criteria">recognition of knowledge from paid or voluntary work</a>, or <a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/study-at-vu/courses/pathways-to-vu/education-pathways">pathways through vocational education and training</a> to gain credit for university entry.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-stress-your-atar-isnt-the-final-call-there-are-many-ways-to-get-into-university-125429">Don't stress, your ATAR isn't the final call. There are many ways to get into university</a>
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<p>The post-COVID-19 tertiary education landscape will be a <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/global-he-we-know-it-has-forever-changed">buyers’ market</a>, as universities compete for students in a less globally mobile world.</p>
<p>Australian universities are experiencing massive drops in their numbers of international students. This means the university sector will be experiencing estimated losses of up to <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/reports/higher-education/">A$19 billion</a>. A logical policy response would be to <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-universities-could-lose-19-billion-in-the-next-3-years-our-economy-will-suffer-with-them-136251">enable universities to open up access for domestic students</a> to make up some of the shortfall.</p>
<p>So, the biggest question may be how to create fair entry pathways into tertiary education for the surge in participation the sector will need to survive – not how to cobble together fair ATAR scores for the relatively small proportion of university students who use it for an entry pathway.</p>
<p>Success at university does not depend on a high ATAR. This is especially so in courses like <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/future-applicants/admission-criteria/requirements-for-certain-courses">teaching and nursing </a>where interpersonal skills and attitudes matter even more.</p>
<p>Calls to ditch the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/atar-a-strait-jacket-around-our-kids-mark-scott-20190225-p5105r.html">ATAR "straitjacket”</a> and develop alternative assessments like <a href="https://www.all-learning.org.au/sites/default/files/resources/beyond_atar_proposal_for_change_all.pdf">learner profiles</a> (student records that include academic and other learning) existed before COVID-19. Such calls <a href="https://www.theeducatoronline.com/k12/news/now-is-the-perfect-time-to-axe-the-atar--former-principal/270786">are intensifying</a> in the current environment. </p>
<p>This may be the perfect opportunity to rethink the ATAR as the main entry assessment for school leavers into university.</p>
<h2>Not everyone goes to university</h2>
<p>The preoccupation with ATAR scores ignores <a href="https://uploadstorage.blob.core.windows.net/public-assets/education-au/pathways/190919%20FINAL%20Background%20Paper%20-%20Web%20Accessible%20post%20design.pdf">around half of school leavers</a> who aren’t bound for university. Many of these students head to TAFE or other vocational education and training (VET) courses, which depend more on practical skills than academic achievement.</p>
<p>The COVID-19 crisis has reinforced the importance of practical, hands-on skills in the Australian economy. Many people in the occupations that have kept Australia going during the crisis – including nurses, aged care workers, early childhood educators and freight and logistics workers – have VET qualifications.</p>
<p>COVID-19 may have an even bigger impact on students in the Class of 2020 who prefer practical skills to academic subjects as <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/Pages/coronavirus-advice-schools.aspx">students doing VET subjects are missing out on hands-on learning</a>. Meanwhile, young aspiring apprentices are struggling to find work, as job adverts for <a href="https://theconversation.com/trade-apprentices-will-help-our-post-covid-19-recovery-we-need-to-do-more-to-keep-them-in-work-135830">new apprenticeships collapse</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/trade-apprentices-will-help-our-post-covid-19-recovery-we-need-to-do-more-to-keep-them-in-work-135830">Trade apprentices will help our post COVID-19 recovery. We need to do more to keep them in work</a>
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<p>Australia is notoriously bad at <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Student-centred-senior-secondary-schooling-FINAL.pdf">recognising the value of learning that does not lead to university</a>. There is a risk these students will again be forgotten in the current focus on ATAR. </p>
<p>While university-bound students might begin to breathe a sigh of relief, many more are still waiting for solutions that keep their year 12 dreams alive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137158/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jen Jackson is receiving funding from the Victorian Government to assist with the Skills for Victoria's Growing Economy Review.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Pilcher does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Even before COVID-19, use of the ATAR for university entry was contentious. Now it’s even more so, and universities need to rely on other ways to admit students.Jen Jackson, Education Policy Lead, Mitchell Institute, Victoria UniversitySarah Pilcher, Policy Fellow, Mitchell Institute, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1348912020-04-02T04:37:24Z2020-04-02T04:37:24ZCOVID-19 has thrown year 12 students’ lives into chaos. So what can we do?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324506/original/file-20200401-66163-zjg8rz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-high-school-students-doing-exam-704245198">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Schools have been progressively moving classes online due to the COVID-19 pandemic and there is uncertainty over what the next months may bring. This has thrown many year 12 students’ lives into chaos. </p>
<p>States and territories are yet to determine what will happen with final year exams. More <a href="https://twitter.com/theprojecttv/status/1245259199090655232">than 180,000 students</a> are expected to complete their final year certificates across Australia in 2020. This includes around <a href="https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/about-HSC/HSC-facts-figures">68,000</a> in NSW completing the higher school certificate (HSC); and <a href="https://www.educationmattersmag.com.au/vce-results-are-in-for-class-of-2019/">49,000</a> completing the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). </p>
<p>Victoria’s education minister has said <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/melbourne/programs/drive/vce-exams-could-be-pushed-back-due-to-coronavirus/12086784">year 12 exams</a> may be moved to later in the year or even early next year. But students will still be able to get their VCE qualifications.</p>
<p>The NSW education department has <a href="https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/about/news/media-releases/media-release-detail/2020-HSC-is-going-ahead">determined the HSC</a> will also go ahead; and similar statements have been made about the South Australian Certificate of Education (<a href="https://www.sace.sa.edu.au/covid-19-coronavirus">SACE</a>) and other senior certificates across Australia.</p>
<p>A statement from the <a href="https://twitter.com/theprojecttv/status/1245259199090655232">Education Council of Australia</a> says a decision on exams will be made later this month.</p>
<p>But how will the move to online study, and the disruption of routine, affect students’ abilities to perform and, consequently, their grades? And what does this mean for university entry?</p>
<h2>Exams and coursework across the states</h2>
<p>In Australia most students finish classes in September, so they are about half way through their courses. </p>
<p>In NSW, students start their final year subjects in term four the previous year and finish classes late in term three, before <a href="https://ace.nesa.nsw.edu.au">doing trial HSC exams</a>. Others, like the <a href="http://www.bsss.act.edu.au/information_for_students/act_qualifications">ACT, use credit systems</a> where students accumulate course credits with no final external exam – again most students would have completed about half their credits in these systems. </p>
<p>In some states, exams can comprise more than <a href="https://studentsonline.nesa.nsw.edu.au/go/seniorstudy/how_your_hsc_works/">half a student’s final score</a>. Schools also tend to have less weighted tasks earlier in a course and higher weighted tasks later. For instance, in NSW half a student’s grade in the HSC comes from the exam <a href="https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/key-dates-exam-timetables/hsc-written-exam-timetable">held from late September</a>. And up to half a student’s school grade can comes from their trial exams. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/year-12-can-be-stressful-but-setting-strong-and-healthy-goals-can-help-you-thrive-131028">Year 12 can be stressful, but setting strong and healthy goals can help you thrive</a>
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<p>Some other states have less heavily weighted external exams. <a href="http://www.bsss.act.edu.au/information_for_students/act_senior_secondary_system">The ACT final score is based on school assessment</a>, some of which might be exams. In South Australia external exams are worth <a href="https://www.sace.sa.edu.au/teaching/assessment/external-assessment">30% of the final SACE score</a>. </p>
<p>The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) has <a href="https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/about/news/novel-coronavirus">given principals</a> or system authorities the power to make decisions for the 2020 HSC in relation to formal assessments.</p>
<p>This essentially means school principals can give students fewer tasks, change when they are due and how much they count towards the final grade. </p>
<p>Similar advice exists in other jurisdictions such as <a href="https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/news-and-events/latest-news/Novel%20coronavirus%20update/Pages/default.aspx">Victoria</a> and the <a href="http://www.bsss.act.edu.au/information_for_students/covid-19_novel_coronavirus">ACT</a>. </p>
<h2>How this affects university entry</h2>
<p>Once a student has their final year credentials such as the HSC or VCE, they are then ranked for university entry through a scaling system. The scaled grades are then converted into the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) which is used as the main entry criterion for university.</p>
<p>There are equity issues for students who plan to go to university as students are ranked across the ATAR. Students with access to higher speed internet and devices are at an advantage. This also the case for students whose parents can support them in their subjects, those who have space at home for their study and who can access tutoring. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-actually-is-an-atar-first-of-all-its-a-rank-not-a-score-126594">What actually is an ATAR? First of all it's a rank, not a score</a>
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<p>When we learn online, especially when we are new to it, we <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0047239516661713?journalCode=etsa">often revert to content transmission</a> – it’s easier to study content than develop structured and interactive learning activities. This changes the nature of what teachers do and what students are prepared for in assessments. </p>
<p>Exam creators will need to ensure questions match this new reality and ask for factual recall. This means students with better online systems and those better at factual recall – a strength for exams – have an advantage in states where exams are weighted higher for their final certificate and the ATAR.</p>
<p>If schools focus more on the material many year 12 students have already covered before the move to online, this may help with the equity problem.</p>
<p>However, many students may feel short changed as they were preparing to give it their all towards the end of the year when the final tasks are weighted more.</p>
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<p>Students studying subjects where they produce a major work, such as a piece of furniture or who have performances such as music and drama, will also likely have only had their knowledge components assessed to date. They would be relying on the final score of their major project.</p>
<h2>What can we do?</h2>
<p>Reducing the breadth of material covered, as a system wide response, is a sensible option – either the detail in each subject or number of options within subjects. The final exams can be reduced in length to accommodate this. </p>
<p>The school year can also be extended and the exams pushed back – although this will mean university entry will need to be delayed. </p>
<p>Major works, performances and vocational education placements are another issue altogether. Many students will need access to specialist resources and rooms in schools to prepare these, as well as transport to and from these spaces. </p>
<p>Seemingly this would be possible by having a trained adult overseeing the space and observing appropriate health protocols. But group tasks such as in drama may need creative solutions such as dialogues at distance and dance pieces without interaction. </p>
<p>Another option may be to cover the content now and the practical components later. This may disadvantage students in subjects with practical components such as art and technology, because they have greater affinity with production and performance than classic academic study. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-stress-your-atar-isnt-the-final-call-there-are-many-ways-to-get-into-university-125429">Don't stress, your ATAR isn't the final call. There are many ways to get into university</a>
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<p>We will need to ensure we recognise this change when calculating the overall year 12 grade. </p>
<p>Leaving grade calculations to individual schools could be problematic if schools try to game the system and get their student marks up (by, for instance, expelling low grading students).</p>
<p>There are several ways to mediate this.</p>
<p>All students in the ACT take a general aptitude test, (the <a href="http://www.bsss.act.edu.au/information_for_students/act_scaling_test">AST</a>), which is used to scale student grades. </p>
<p>In South Australia the final SACE grade is moderated by comparing students across subjects without the use of a major external exam such as in NSW. </p>
<p>A move to the ACT or SA approach in other jurisdictions this year can’t be ruled out. A further option is the <a href="https://stat.acer.org/">Special Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT</a>) which is used for university entry for non-school leavers. </p>
<p>This situation could also be the impetus we need to further the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-actually-is-an-atar-first-of-all-its-a-rank-not-a-score-126594">debates about the ATAR</a> and if it should be recast for university entry. The current crisis may just show us some avenues to make the current system fairer for everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134891/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Roberts receives funding from the NSW and Australian Government's. He is a member of the ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies. </span></em></p>How will the move to online study, and the disruption of routine, affect year 12 students’ abilities to perform and, consequently, their grades? And what does this mean for university entry?Philip Roberts, Associate professor (Curriculum Inquiry / Rural Education), University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1279852019-12-16T19:03:31Z2019-12-16T19:03:31ZPoorer NSW students study subjects less likely to get them into uni<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307037/original/file-20191216-124041-eo73xd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More students from poorer families study vocational education and training subjects than students from advantaged backgrounds.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More students from advantaged backgrounds study subjects that will get them a higher ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank) in New South Wales, while students from lower socioeconomic families are over-represented in subjects that contribute less to the score. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://researchprofiles.canberra.edu.au/en/publications/still-winning-social-inequity-in-the-nsw-senior-secondary-curricu">new study</a> showed subjects such as advanced English are studied by students with an average higher socio-economic status than students studying standard English. </p>
<p>Advanced English is weighted around 13 marks higher than standard English by the <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/about">Universities Admissions Centre</a>, which uses these points to calculate the ATAR. Students with a higher ATAR are more likely to get into a university course of their choice.</p>
<p>We examined who studies which subjects, and the benefits of studying some subjects over others in the NSW year 12 curriculum, or the Higher School Certificate (HSC).</p>
<p>We also calculated most advanced English students were likely in the top 20% of their year in reading in NAPLAN in years 3, 5, 7 and 9. But most standard English students were likely in the bottom 20% for each of their NAPLAN years.</p>
<p>We saw similar patterns across many subjects, including between mathematics and general mathematics, between physics, chemistry and senior science, and between economic and business studies. </p>
<p>We also found more advantaged students took vocational education and training (VET) subjects at a much lower rate than their less advantaged counterparts. This included VET subjects that contribute to an ATAR, and other VET subjects done in year 12. </p>
<p>If some subjects are more likely to get you into university, and these are not being accessed equally, we have an unequal system. This means the NSW curriculum and the system it operates in legitimises social status and later opportunity based on student family background.</p>
<h2>What we did</h2>
<p>We looked at 73,371 non-identifiable student records, analysing the subjects students took and their grades in the HSC. We developed a <a href="https://www.acer.org/au/ausei06">scale for student socio-economic status</a> using information on parents’ occupation and education level, as well as the students’ gender and school location.</p>
<p>To determine the weight of subjects, we referred to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-actually-is-an-atar-first-of-all-its-a-rank-not-a-score-126594">HSC scaled mean</a> used by the Universities Admission Centre to calculate a student’s ATAR. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-actually-is-an-atar-first-of-all-its-a-rank-not-a-score-126594">What actually is an ATAR? First of all it's a rank, not a score</a>
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<p>There are options within subject areas, each having greater or less weight towards an ATAR. For instance, mathematics has a mean 12 points higher than standard mathematics; physics and chemistry are 12 points higher than senior science; and economics is eight points higher than business studies. </p>
<p>We have used the ATAR as a proxy for measuring student outcomes. This is because ATAR is the basis on which places in university courses are determined, and because it is often the focus of conversations to summarise how a student went in the HSC. </p>
<h2>An unequal curriculum</h2>
<p>The socio-economic status of a student’s parent(s), school location and student gender continue to exercise significant influence on completing the HSC, the subjects a student studies in the HSC, and ultimately their results. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306074/original/file-20191210-95153-c95cj7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306074/original/file-20191210-95153-c95cj7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306074/original/file-20191210-95153-c95cj7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306074/original/file-20191210-95153-c95cj7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306074/original/file-20191210-95153-c95cj7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306074/original/file-20191210-95153-c95cj7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306074/original/file-20191210-95153-c95cj7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There is a hierarchy among the subjects in the NSW curriculum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adapted from Roberts, Dean, & Lommatsch (2019)</span></span>
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<p>The options weighted higher, and which therefore contributed more to an ATAR, were overwhelmingly studied by students from higher socio-economic families, and by students in the city.</p>
<p>Prior achievement also played a role in determining the subjects students took. Our calculations show most physics and chemistry students were likely in the top 20% of numeracy in NAPLAN when they were in years 3, 5, 7 and 9; but most senior science students were likely in the bottom 20%. </p>
<p>Most mathematics students were likely in the top 20% of numeracy in NAPLAN when they were in years 5, 7 and 9; but most standard mathematics students were in the bottom 40%. And economics students had higher NAPLAN grades than those in business studies. </p>
<p>There was also a gender divide.</p>
<p>A much higher proportion of females studied advanced English than males. And city students took the subject at nearly twice the rate of outer regional students. </p>
<p>This was also the case for physics, chemistry and economics when compared to senior science and business studies.</p>
<p>Mathematics was studied more by males but general mathematics studied about equally by males and females. However only a small proportion of outer regional students studied mathematics compared to major cities. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-majority-of-music-students-drop-out-before-the-end-of-high-school-is-the-atar-to-blame-126350">The majority of music students drop out before the end of high school – is the ATAR to blame?</a>
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<p>Similar patterns could be seen in languages and within vocational education subjects. Students can study one VET subject from a limited range and sit an optional exam to have it contribute to their ATAR or study approved VET courses towards the HSC (and not the ATAR).</p>
<p>Students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds took digital technology VET subjects. But students from less advantaged families took more retail, metal, engineering and hospitality subjects. </p>
<p>VET subjects were also studied at about three times the rate in outer regional and remote areas than in major cities, and twice as much in less advantaged areas than more advantaged ones. </p>
<h2>Why this matters</h2>
<p>Previous studies have shown a <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/235595">similar hierarchy of subjects in Victoria</a>. </p>
<p>It is now generally accepted teachers have the <a href="https://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement/">biggest influence on student learning outside the family and home</a>. Our focus to date has been on the quality of teachers, not what teachers are teaching. </p>
<p>This research shows family and home is highly related to what students do at school, overwhelmingly sorting students into subject pathways that reinforce their current place on the social ladder.</p>
<p>The higher your ATAR, the more likely you are to get into a more prestigious university course, which will give you more job options.</p>
<p>We need to look at the way subjects are arranged in the school curriculum, and ensure all students have genuine access to subjects that enhance their post-school options.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127985/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Roberts receives funding from the Australian Government.. </span></em></p>Some subjects are more likely to get you into university. But more advantaged students access these subjects. This means we have an unequal system.Philip Roberts, Associate professor (Curriculum Inquiry / Rural Education), University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1263502019-11-28T19:10:04Z2019-11-28T19:10:04ZThe majority of music students drop out before the end of high school – is the ATAR to blame?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303914/original/file-20191127-180279-1dnb7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More than half of students who took music in year 10 in NSW had dropped out by year 12.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than half of year 10 music students in NSW dropped the subject by the time they reached year 12. Their teachers said this was so they could choose subjects that would help them get a higher ATAR. </p>
<p>These are the findings of my PhD study where I looked at data across NSW schools and conducted interviews with music teachers.</p>
<p>An average of 56% of students in year 10 music courses dropped out by the time they reached year 12 between 2008 and 2016. This comes to an average of around 7,200 music students lost between year 10 and 12.</p>
<p>Interviews with 50 teachers at 23 schools around NSW – including comprehensive, selective, independent and Catholic – suggest many of their best music students opt for subjects that will perform better when it comes to their ATAR.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/before-you-let-your-child-quit-music-lessons-try-these-5-things-125944">Before you let your child quit music lessons, try these 5 things</a>
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<h2>Numbers of music students lost</h2>
<p>I took figures from every school across NSW that offered music at the Higher School Certificate (HSC) level.</p>
<p>There were 13,005 students taking year 10 music in 2014. This dropped to 7,001 by year 11, in 2015. By the time year 12 rolled around in 2016, only 5,294 of the student cohort were enrolled in an HSC music subject.</p>
<p>That’s an average loss of 58.6% of music students. </p>
<p>The numbers are similar for every year 12 graduating cohort from 2007 to 2015.</p>
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<p><iframe id="kmRrt" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/kmRrt/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
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<h2>Music is often scaled down</h2>
<p>Students starting year 11 must choose the subjects they want to study for the next two years. These choices can be made for a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09500693.2017.1299949">range of reasons</a>: what they’re good at, what they’re interested in and what may help them in the future.</p>
<p>But a student may also be aiming to get into a university degree with a particular ATAR cut-off. Then, it may be reasonable, and even somewhat responsible, for that student to consider both what they may be good at and what has <em>historically</em> scaled well, to maximise their chance of getting the ATAR they’re hoping for.</p>
<p>Scaling <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/assets/documents/scaling-reports/Scaling-Report-2018-NSW-HSC.pdf">is the process</a> by which all student marks in HSC courses are adjusted to become “the marks the students would have received if all courses had the same candidature and the same mark distribution”.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-actually-is-an-atar-first-of-all-its-a-rank-not-a-score-126594">What actually is an ATAR? First of all it's a rank, not a score</a>
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<p>This means a mark in one subject, such as music, can be scaled lower than the same mark in another subject, such as physics. For instance, in 2018 in NSW, a total mark of 93 in Music 1 (<a href="https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/stage-6-learning-areas/stage-6-creative-arts">one of the two senior music courses available</a>) was <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/assets/documents/scaling-reports/Scaling-Report-2018-NSW-HSC.pdf">scaled down</a> to 72.2. While a total mark of 89 in physics was scaled to 84.4.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/assets/documents/scaling-reports/Scaling-Report-2018-NSW-HSC.pdf">Universities Admission Centre’s report</a> on scaling in HSC recommends students don’t “choose courses on the basis of what you believe is the likely effect of scaling”. </p>
<p>But students also have access to online <a href="https://www.hscninja.com/atar-calculator">ATAR calculators</a> where they can put their predicted marks in for their subjects to determine where their ATAR will most likely lie, and to see how those marks have scaled in previous years.</p>
<p>It’s reasonable then, for a student to use such information to decide which subjects they should pursue for their HSC. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/does-the-suzuki-method-work-for-kids-learning-an-instrument-parental-involvement-is-good-but-other-aspects-less-so-111995">Does the Suzuki method work for kids learning an instrument? Parental involvement is good, but other aspects less so</a>
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<h2>What teachers said</h2>
<p>Several of the teachers I interviewed acknowledged the ATAR effect on music enrolments. </p>
<p>One said music was a “negative drag on the ATAR”. Another said Music 1 is “just going to lower your ATAR”. One teacher told me music was “not rated very highly among the ATAR”.</p>
<p>One teacher said a particular student was advised by her curriculum co-ordinator to drop music so she could get the ATAR to become a doctor. And another teacher was constantly losing music students at his school because of the perception of scaling. </p>
<p>The teacher said</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve lost a lot of very good musicians to science and maths, because they’ve decided to drop the subject, which has been pretty devastating at times.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Teachers should consider allowing their high performing music students to complete their HSC music course early, in Year 11. This is known as acceleration.</p>
<p>As one teacher put it, <a href="https://www.cese.nsw.gov.au/images/stories/PDF/Revisiting_gifted_education.pdf">accelerating high-achieving</a> music students allows them to get their <a href="https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/results-certificates/understanding-results">Band 6</a> (meaning they’ve received a mark from 90-100) for music so they can focus on other subjects in year 12. A student’s ATAR in NSW is calculated from their best ten units, including English. Going into year 12 with two units already completed can alleviate study time and boost confidence.</p>
<p>Some schools in NSW already use the acceleration option for music students. It allows their musically gifted students to still keep music as a HSC subject, and helps maintain healthy senior music cohorts at their school.</p>
<p>According to my analysis, around 20% of schools in NSW offer accelerated courses in the HSC for courses including modern history, studies of religion, physics, economics and, most commonly, mathematics. </p>
<p>Given this prevalence of acceleration, particularly in the HSC, teachers and schools should consider this a reasonable and achievable strategy to accommodate their musically gifted students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126350/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel White does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>NSW schools are losing senior music students in significant numbers. Teachers say they’re dropping the subject in year 12 to ensure a higher ATAR.Rachel White, PhD candidate and sessional lecturer, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1265942019-11-26T18:41:42Z2019-11-26T18:41:42ZWhat actually is an ATAR? First of all it’s a rank, not a score<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303065/original/file-20191122-112985-ltjwy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Think of the ranking system like a queue. The closer you are to the front of the queue, the more likely you are to get a university spot.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR) is a number mainly used by universities to select which students, out of high school, will be offered a place in a particular course.</p>
<p>The ATAR is not a score, it’s a rank. If a student gets an ATAR of 80, this doesn’t mean they averaged 80%. It <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/future-applicants/atar">means they are</a> 20% from the top of their age group.</p>
<h2>How is an ATAR calculated?</h2>
<p>Each <a href="http://www.tisc.edu.au/static-fixed/statistics/ter-frequency/atar-technical-specification.pdf">state and territory</a> does <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/assets/documents/atar/atar-technical-report.pdf">their own calculation</a> of students’ ATAR. Although differing in certain details, they follow the same principles. </p>
<p>A student must be studying a minimum number of subjects that can be used in the final calculation. The specifics depend on state and territory.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.tisc.edu.au/static/guide/atar-about.tisc">WA</a> the calculation is based on a student’s four ATAR subjects and the student has to satisfy English competency requirements. In <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/future-applicants/atar/how-your-atar-is-calculated">NSW</a>, you have to study at least eight ATAR “units”, of which six have to be what are called Category A, plus two units of English. Category A units are <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/assets/documents/atar/atar-technical-report.pdf">defined as having</a> “academic rigour” and a “depth of knowledge” required for tertiary studies. They <a href="http://www.gsu.uts.edu.au/academicboard/cabs/051/papers/c-listofcatacourses.pdf">include</a> maths, English, science and history, as well as some arts and physical education subjects. </p>
<p>Queensland traditionally used something called an Overall Position, not the ATAR, but is moving to an ATAR in <a href="https://www.qtac.edu.au/atar-my-path/atar">2020</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-stress-your-atar-isnt-the-final-call-there-are-many-ways-to-get-into-university-125429">Don't stress, your ATAR isn't the final call. There are many ways to get into university</a>
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<p>In most cases, students are marked on how they did in the school assessments that count towards the ATAR. Again, this can differ across states. </p>
<p>In NSW, the assessments that count form part of the Higher School Certificate (HSC). In Victoria, it’s the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). In VCE, units 1 and 2 are generally taken in year 11, and units 3 and 4 in Year 12. Units 3 and 4 generally count for the ATAR, but sometimes the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/what-counts-towards-the-atar-20161207-gt5lg5.html">first two units also count</a>, such as in some VET programs.</p>
<p>The purpose of providing these examples is to highlight how complicated the creation of an ATAR is and how much it is affected by local factors, including the state or territory you are in.</p>
<p>Using the relevant units, a raw score for each subject is created. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303605/original/file-20191125-84231-jlb8ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303605/original/file-20191125-84231-jlb8ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303605/original/file-20191125-84231-jlb8ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303605/original/file-20191125-84231-jlb8ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303605/original/file-20191125-84231-jlb8ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303605/original/file-20191125-84231-jlb8ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303605/original/file-20191125-84231-jlb8ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303605/original/file-20191125-84231-jlb8ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A raw score is then scaled to get a rank of where the student sits relative to their peers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>But remember, an ATAR is a rank, so the scores need to be re-interpreted as a rank. Each mark needs to be <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/media-centre/news/5-facts-about-scaling">scaled</a>, which means adjusting it so it can be more fairly compared with the marks for other students and subjects. </p>
<p>Scaling takes into account how competitive, not how difficult, a subject is.</p>
<p>One type of scaling considers where each subject’s mark ranks the student compared to the other students at the same school doing the same subject. Say a student gets 85% for a subject, if the average mark for their class was 90%, they will be ranked lower.</p>
<p>Another type of scaling considers how many students take a subject, and their average marks, compared to other subjects. This is because some subjects have relatively small numbers of students compared to others. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, advice - often on the internet - on how to “game” the system and get a higher ATAR is mostly incorrect. The best advice to ensure your best ATAR is, in the words of one <a href="https://www.vtac.edu.au/results-offers/atar-explained/scaling.html">admission centre</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>to choose your studies according to what you are interested in; what you are good at; and what studies you need for future study.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What is the ATAR used for?</h2>
<p>The main purpose of the ATAR is to determine who gets offered a place in a university course. Think of a queue. When places are limited, the closer to the front of the queue the student is, the more likely they will get in. </p>
<p>Some years there are less people in the queue, or more places in the course. These affect the ATAR required to get in.</p>
<p>Universities sometimes set minimum ATARs, either for a course or the university. So, the student can only apply to the university/course if they achieve this minimum. </p>
<p>A minimum might be set because the university believes this is the minimum ATAR required to succeed. It might also be a way of branding a course, or an entire university, as elite. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_NNx5NVFPQk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>It could be a combination of both. And again, because it’s a queue, achieving the minimum still doesn’t guarantee a place.</p>
<p>Universities can and do sometimes make adjustments to its ATAR requirements. This might be due to special consideration - perhaps illness - or because the student received a <a href="http://www.tisc.edu.au/static/guide/atar-about.tisc">bonus</a> for studying a language other than English. </p>
<p>For example, for 2019 applicants, Curtin University published <a href="https://www.tisc.edu.au/static-fixed/statistics/cutoff-ranks/2019-lowest-ranks-cur.pdf">advice</a> the minimum ATAR for the Bachelor of Advanced Science (Honours) in Coastal and Marine Science was 95. The minimum selection rank for that course actually ended up being 98.9 – above the university minimum. But at least one student was selected with an ATAR of 94.25 – slightly below the published minimum.</p>
<h2>Why is the ATAR contentious?</h2>
<p>An ATAR is primarily designed, and works best when it is used, as an efficient way of allocating limited places in a course in a first-come, first-served basis. </p>
<p>But because it’s a rank, it is not a direct representation of a student’s academic ability or potential to succeed in higher education. However, there is a correlation. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-does-your-entrance-score-strongly-correlate-with-your-success-at-university-16224">FactCheck: does your entrance score strongly correlate with your success at university?</a>
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<p>A <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/assets/documents/atar/usefulness-of-the-atar-report.pdf">recent study</a> by the <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/">University Admission Centre</a> found:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the ATAR is the best available predictor of university success[…] The higher the ATAR, the higher the student’s first-year GPA is likely to be.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It also cautioned:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] the ATAR is not perfect. There will be instances where the prediction will ‘miss the mark’. Also, there will be cases where selection based on the ATAR alone would not be optimal.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are always exceptions to the rule that ATAR can predict success. And these exceptions are not just numbers on a spreadsheet but people. For this and other reasons, many would like to see the ATAR scrapped. </p>
<p>But so far, agreement has not been reached on an alternative system that is fairer than the ATAR or as efficient. </p>
<p>In the meantime, it’s important to have alternative pathways to higher education for students who do not have the required ATAR but nonetheless have the capacity to succeed in higher education.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article previously stated if a student had an ATAR of 80, it means they performed as well as, or better than, 80% of the other students also graded. This has now been clarified to say it means they are 20% from the top of their age group.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126594/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Pitman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ATAR is mainly used as an efficient way for universities to decide which students can be offered a place in a certain course.Tim Pitman, Senior Research Fellow, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1254292019-10-21T19:00:28Z2019-10-21T19:00:28ZDon’t stress, your ATAR isn’t the final call. There are many ways to get into university<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297832/original/file-20191021-56194-25saqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More students get into university without having an ATAR than those with one.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a recent <a href="https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/6444222/hsc-well-wishes-atar-anxiety-affects-most/">nation-wide survey</a> by online tutoring company <a href="https://clueylearning.com.au/?utm_expid=.HwYk17uqRb-tUWLKjAcSJA.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fclueylearning.com.au%2Fblog%2F">Cluey Learning</a>, 75% of Australian senior students said their ATAR score would impact on the rest of their life. And more than 80% said a score under 60 would be detrimental to their life. </p>
<p>But here’s something Australians anxious about their senior exams might be surprised to know. More students are accepted into university without an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) – a number that indicates a student’s position relative to all students in their age group – than with one. </p>
<p>In 2018, around 279,000 people were made an <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/node/51541">offer to study</a> at a higher education institution. Of those, more than half (around 163,000 or 58%) were accepted on criteria other than an ATAR.</p>
<p>This has been an ongoing trend for many years and it’s not limited to a few courses or universities. In 2018, more offers were made to no-ATAR students in all but three fields of study: medicine, engineering, and the natural and physical sciences. Even then, around two out of every five offers in those courses were made to no-ATAR applicants.</p>
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<p>So, if you don’t have an ATAR or you don’t score as highly as you’d hoped, here are some ways you can still get into a university course.</p>
<h2>1. Special consideration</h2>
<p>If factors such a physical or mental-health issues have significantly affected your Year 11-12 studies for an extended time, you may still be eligible for university. </p>
<p>Special consideration programs – such as the <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/future-applicants/scholarships-and-schemes/educational-access-schemes/">Educational Access Schemes</a> in NSW or the <a href="http://www.vtac.edu.au/who/seas.html">Special Entry Access Scheme</a> in Victoria – allow students with a low ATAR or even no ATAR to apply for a course that may have an ATAR requirement they don’t meet. </p>
<p>These programs consider many things including financial hardship, excessive family responsibilities, refugee status or a school environment where you may not have thrived as well as you could have. </p>
<p>Assessments are made on a case-by-case basis. Depending on the course or university, individual student circumstances might be sufficient to grant them entry to one course but not another.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-calm-down-exam-stress-may-not-be-fun-but-it-can-help-you-get-better-marks-124517">Don't calm down! Exam stress may not be fun but it can help you get better marks</a>
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<h2>2. Alternative admissions tests</h2>
<p>If you never did Year 12, didn’t get the required ATAR (or any ATAR) or completed studies outside Australia, you can sit alternative exams that can generate an ATAR. </p>
<p>The most well-known is the Special Tertiary Admissions Test (<a href="https://stat.acer.org/">STAT</a>), developed by the Australian Council of Educational Research. As a general rule, you must be 18 years or over by a certain date in the year of admissions to use STAT results in your university application.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1184713632380121089"}"></div></p>
<p>Some alternative admission tests are designed specifically for degrees that require a very high ATAR, such as medicine. Many <a href="https://www.uow.edu.au/science-medicine-health/schools-entities/medicine/md/">universities</a> offer <a href="https://www.monash.edu/medicine/som/archive/non-pathway-applications">graduate</a> medicine and <a href="https://study.unimelb.edu.au/find/courses/graduate/doctor-of-dental-surgery/">dentistry courses</a> with varying requirements for entry. The basic criteria comprise an undergraduate degree and a certain mark in the Graduate Medical School Admissions Test (<a href="https://gamsat.acer.org">GAMSAT</a>).</p>
<h2>3. Enabling programs</h2>
<p>Also known as bridging or foundation programs, enabling programs are seen as alternatives to Year 12. They prepare you for an undergraduate course by providing academic and other skills necessary for university study. Programs range in length from four to 28 weeks and some are delivered online.</p>
<p>Enabling programs are generally free for Australian citizens and delivered by the university itself. Successfully completing an enabling program gains the student entry into a number of courses – though which ones differ between universities. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-you-have-a-low-atar-you-could-earn-more-doing-a-vet-course-than-a-uni-degree-if-youre-a-man-121624">If you have a low ATAR, you could earn more doing a VET course than a uni degree – if you're a man</a>
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<p>Most universities offer enabling programs. In 2017, almost 29,000 students were <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/node/51321">enrolled in enabling programs</a> across more than 30 higher education institutions. Some give priority to people who have experienced financial or other disadvantage. Others are designed for specific groups, such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. </p>
<p>There are also fee-paying foundation studies programs for students who are not eligible for a free place, such as international students.</p>
<h2>4. VET/TAFE studies</h2>
<p>Most students enrol in a vocational education and training (VET) course for its own value. But a VET program can be used similarly to an enabling program. A VET qualification can help meet university entry requirements and, in some cases, can get you credit towards the university degree. </p>
<p>Unlike enabling programs, VET is not free. But many VET courses and providers have access to <a href="https://www.studyassist.gov.au/vet-students/vet-student-loans">VET Student Loans</a>, similar to the HELP loans for university courses.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1184760182456217600"}"></div></p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Final-Pathways-to-Higher-Education-The-Efficacy-of-Enabling-and-Sub-Bachelor-Pathways-for-Disadvantaged-Students.pdf">2015 study</a> I participated in found disadvantaged students used the VET pathway more than the enabling pathway. However, a greater proportion of students in enabling pathways were satisfied with their pathway than VET students. </p>
<p>This was mostly the case when participants were asked to consider how well the pathway had prepared them for university.</p>
<h2>5. Portfolio entry</h2>
<p>A portfolio is a collection of evidence, examples or demonstrations of how prepared a student is for university study. Traditionally, portfolios were a requirement for entry to courses that needed specific skills, such as art or design. </p>
<p>Now, many universities are increasingly using portfolios to give students without an ATAR the opportunity to show they have the skills, motivations and commitment required for academic success.</p>
<p>Each university has its own way of determining what can be used in a portfolio and how the elements relate to each other. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/your-atar-isnt-the-only-thing-universities-are-looking-at-93353">Your ATAR isn't the only thing universities are looking at</a>
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<h2>Which pathway is best for you?</h2>
<p>Ultimately, what pathway is best depends on you and your circumstances. The various pathways can make it confusing, a fact the government has recognised by implementing an <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/admissions-transparency-implementation-working-group-0">Admissions Transparency Implementation Working Group</a>. Some of the changes planned include requiring universities to provide information in a similar format and combining the five admission centre websites we have now into one national website. </p>
<p>In the meantime, these steps can help you make the right choice:</p>
<ul>
<li>decide which course you want to do</li>
<li>find out which universities offer the course – the best way to do this is through the relevant state’s admission centre (<a href="http://tisc.edu.au/static/home.tisc">WA</a>, <a href="https://www.satac.edu.au">SA and the NT</a>, <a href="https://vtac.edu.au">VIC</a>, <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au">NSW and the ACT</a>, <a href="https://www.qtac.edu.au/">QLD</a>, or for Tasmania the <a href="https://www.utas.edu.au/admissions?ppc=1">University of Tasmania</a>)</li>
<li>identify your preferred universities – it may help to use the national <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/">Quality Indicators in Learning and Teaching</a> resource, which provides information on things such as student experience and graduate employment</li>
<li>visit each university’s website and call them to find more specific information about: pathways you’re eligible for; what you need to provide or exams you need to sit; what support is available to help you prepare; and whether there are costs involved.</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p><em>This article previously said more than half of applications offered a course in a higher education institution in 2018 had no ATAR. This has now been updated to say they were accepted using criteria other than an ATAR.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125429/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Pitman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Universities are increasingly accepting more students into degree programs without an ATAR. Here are some of the most common ways in.Tim Pitman, Senior Research Fellow, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1222712019-08-25T19:55:04Z2019-08-25T19:55:04ZBetter pay and more challenge: here’s how to get our top students to become teachers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289032/original/file-20190822-170956-342a4n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C17%2C5694%2C3873&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Relative to other careers, bright students who were surveyed didn't see teaching as coming with career challenges. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s young high achievers are turning their backs on teaching. They want to make a difference in their careers, and they are interested in teaching, but when it comes to the crunch they choose professions with better pay and more challenge. </p>
<p>This is not just a cultural problem – governments can and should do more to make teaching an attractive career for our best and brightest. If they don’t, we’ll feel it for generations to come.</p>
<p>A Grattan Institute survey of 950 young high achievers Australia-wide shows what might change their minds. In our new report, <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/attracting-high-achievers-to-teaching/">Attracting high achievers to teaching</a>, we propose a reform package that would transform the teaching workforce within a decade.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-to-support-quality-teaching-with-the-evidence-to-back-it-99022">Here's how to support quality teaching, with the evidence to back it</a>
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<h2>Attracting high achievers</h2>
<p>More high achievers in teaching would mean more student learning. <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w13617">International</a> <a href="https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/wdobbie/files/dobbie_tfa_2011.pdf">evidence</a> <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w14485.pdf">shows</a> <a href="http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2018/07/03/jhr.55.1.0317.8619R1.abstract">teachers</a> who are good learners themselves do a better a job in the classroom. One <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w14021.pdf.">New York City</a> initiative cut the achievement gap between the poorest and richest schools by a quarter simply by encouraging high achievers to become teachers in poorer schools.</p>
<p>But in Australia, demand from high achievers for teaching has steadily declined over the past 40 years. As top-end salaries for teachers became less competitive with other professions, fewer high achievers chose to teach.</p>
<p>Over the past decade, high-achiever enrolments in teaching courses <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/attracting-high-achievers-to-teaching/">fell by a third</a> – more than for any other undergraduate field of study. </p>
<p>Today, only 3% of young high achievers choose teaching in their undergraduate studies, compared with 19% for science and 9% for engineering.</p>
<h2>Better pay and more challenge</h2>
<p>Our survey of young high achievers (aged 18-25 and with an ATAR of 80 or higher) found the best and brightest would take up teaching if it offered better top-end pay and greater career challenge. </p>
<p>This does not mean young people today are not altruistic. In fact, all higher achievers in our survey said they wanted to make a difference. But they thought they could do so in any number of better-paid careers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289155/original/file-20190823-170922-4lnvwv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289155/original/file-20190823-170922-4lnvwv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289155/original/file-20190823-170922-4lnvwv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289155/original/file-20190823-170922-4lnvwv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289155/original/file-20190823-170922-4lnvwv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289155/original/file-20190823-170922-4lnvwv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289155/original/file-20190823-170922-4lnvwv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289155/original/file-20190823-170922-4lnvwv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Grattan Institute survey of 950 young high achievers</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>High achievers’ big worry was that they would get stuck in the one classroom, doing the same thing over and over again. They knew teaching is a tough job, but they wanted greater intellectual challenge and “the ability to move forward”. As one respondent told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It feels like teachers don’t have a clearly defined career progression path.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>High achievers also know that teaching falls short on pay. They estimated that by the time they reached the top of their chosen career, they would be earning A$142,000 a year. That’s a very achievable goal in fields like law, engineering, and commerce. But for teachers, that sort of salary is only a very remote possibility. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289189/original/file-20190823-170922-18oo78a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289189/original/file-20190823-170922-18oo78a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289189/original/file-20190823-170922-18oo78a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289189/original/file-20190823-170922-18oo78a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289189/original/file-20190823-170922-18oo78a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289189/original/file-20190823-170922-18oo78a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289189/original/file-20190823-170922-18oo78a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289189/original/file-20190823-170922-18oo78a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABS 2017</span></span>
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<h2>How to reform the teaching workforce</h2>
<p>We propose a $1.6 billion reform package for government schools to double the number of high achievers choosing teaching within a decade. The reform package would lift the average ATAR of teaching graduates from 74 to 85, and when fully implemented would give the typical Australian student an extra six to 12 months of learning by Year 9.</p>
<p>The package has three key components.</p>
<p>First, offer $10,000-a-year cash-in-hand scholarships to high achievers to study teaching, a fast and cheap reform.</p>
<p>Second, make career pathways more challenging, by offering new roles with much higher pay and significantly more responsibilities. About 5-to-8% of teachers would become Instructional Specialists, responsible for helping all other teachers in their school to improve, and paid around $140,000 each year – $40,000 more than the highest standard pay rate for teachers. </p>
<p>About 0.5% of teachers would become Master Teachers, responsible for improving the quality of teaching in their region, and paid around $180,000 a year – $80,000 more than the highest standard teacher pay. </p>
<p>Third, run a $20 million-a-year marketing campaign, similar to the Australian Defence Force recruitment campaigns, to promote the new package and re-position teaching as a challenging and well-paid career option for high achievers. </p>
<p>The reforms package will help current teachers too. All teachers benefit if there are better opportunities for career progression, higher pay and new dedicated roles that help teachers develop and improve.</p>
<p>The package would costs $620 per government school student per year, or $1.6 billion across the country. It’s not cheap, but it is affordable – and ultimately it would pay for itself many times over in improved educational outcomes for future generations.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/expert-panel-what-makes-a-good-teacher-25696">Expert panel: what makes a good teacher</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grattan Institute began with contributions to its endowment of $15 million from each of the Federal and Victorian Governments. In order to safeguard its independence, Grattan Institute’s board controls this endowment. The funds are invested and Grattan uses the income to pursue its activities.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Sonnemann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Our top-scoring students aren’t choosing to become teachers, and that has flow-on effects for the students who come after them.Peter Goss, School Education Program Director, Grattan InstituteJulie Sonnemann, Fellow, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1216242019-08-11T20:05:22Z2019-08-11T20:05:22ZIf you have a low ATAR, you could earn more doing a VET course than a uni degree – if you’re a man<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287584/original/file-20190810-144868-t52vhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Once qualified, men who did a popular engineering-related VET course often worked in high-paid fields such as construction or manufacturing.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prime Minister Scott Morrison <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/08/08/pm-tafe-vocational-training-coag/">said in recent days</a> that “TAFE is as good as university”, and in many cases leads to better pay. </p>
<p>TAFE plays a vital role, but for most university students, a TAFE course is not going to increase their income. University graduates usually have <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/mapping-australian-higher-education-2018/">higher rates of pay and employment</a> than non-graduates.</p>
<p>But a new report from the Grattan Institute – <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/risks-and-rewards-when-is-vocational-education-a-good-alternative-to-higher-education/">Risks and rewards: when is vocational education a good alternative to higher education?</a> – looked at the employment outcomes for students leaving school with a lower Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (<a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/future-applicants/atar">ATAR</a>) (their main entry criteria into most undergraduate university programs). </p>
<p>It found men with a lower ATAR have options among vocational educational and training (VET) courses that can get them a job faster, and often higher earnings, than if they do a university degree. But these VET options are less attractive for women. And women who choose them often have poor outcomes, such as being denied a job in a male dominated industry like engineering.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1159307507656847362"}"></div></p>
<p>ATAR is not everything. It does not perfectly predict university results or outcomes after university. But compared to graduates with a high ATAR, graduates with a lower ATAR have, on average, worse academic results, lower rates of high-skill employment and less earnings.</p>
<p>The Grattan Institute report looked at VET courses offered as a potential alternative to university. Especially once the income effects of lower ATAR are taken into account, the report found some bachelor degrees led to lower earnings than some VET <a href="https://www.aqf.edu.au/aqf-qualifications">diplomas</a> and <a href="https://www.aqf.edu.au/aqf-qualifications">Certificate III/IV</a> courses. </p>
<h2>How ATAR can affect employment outcomes</h2>
<p>Over the last decade, <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/completed/university-report-card">more school leavers</a> have been starting university with an ATAR below 70. Before an enrolment boom that began in 2009, about 20,000 school leavers with ATARs between 30 and 70 started university each year. In more recent years, the reported number is around 34,000. </p>
<p>But the true figure is higher, as universities <a href="https://andrewnorton.net.au/2018/06/07/how-big-an-obstacle-is-low-atar-to-university-admission/">don’t always record an ATAR </a> when it is not used to admit the student. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-students-are-going-to-university-than-before-but-those-at-risk-of-dropping-out-need-more-help-118764">More students are going to university than before, but those at risk of dropping out need more help</a>
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<p>Employment outcomes usually improve over time, but slow career starts can have long-term consequences. The Grattan Institute report used data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (<a href="https://www.lsay.edu.au/">LSAY</a>), which tracks young graduates up to age 25.</p>
<p>Graduates with a lower ATAR are more likely than those with a higher ATAR to fail subjects during their degree. But fail rates differ between courses. In education and nursing, for instance, graduates with ATARs below 60 failed 5% of all the subjects they took. This was half the fail rate of disciplines such as science, engineering, IT and commerce. </p>
<p>With fails on their academic transcripts, graduates with a lower ATAR have more trouble finding full-time work within four months of finishing their studies, and the jobs they find are less likely to use their skills. </p>
<p>But when it comes to employment options, the course matters more than the ATAR. In the months after graduation, humanities, science and commerce graduates with higher ATARs struggle more than nursing or education graduates with lower ATARs to find a job. </p>
<p>ATAR and annual income are connected within each university course. For example, male science graduates with ATARs of 90 earn about 13% more than graduates with ATARs of 60. </p>
<h2>Men’s VET options could make them better off</h2>
<p>To be considered a potential better choice, a course must <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0963721414522812">plausibly interest</a> the student and have better employment outcomes. There is no point telling a potential performing arts student an accounting diploma would improve their job prospects. </p>
<p>Few people are interested in both these courses. University applications, which often include <a href="http://www.vtac.edu.au/applying/courses.html">preferences for multiple courses</a>, reveal what other fields students are interested in.</p>
<p>One in five of all men whose first preference university course was science had a lower preference for engineering. Science is a high-risk university course, as rapid enrolment growth has <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/mapping-australian-higher-education-2016/">led to graduates significantly outnumbering jobs</a>. </p>
<p>Young people with lower ATARs considering science would receive a university offer, but could potentially earn more enrolling in a VET diploma (as shown in the chart below). </p>
<iframe title="Men's lifetime median earnings ($millions) with an ATAR 65, 2016 " aria-label="Column Chart" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/3cUbS/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="100%" height="473"></iframe>
<p>Similarly, about one in five men whose first preference is arts (another high-risk field) have a lower preference for commerce. </p>
<p>For men, with a lower ATAR, a commerce-related VET diploma would give them better employment prospects than an arts degree. These and other possible alternatives can be seen in the chart. Often a diploma is acquired after first completing a Certificate III/IV course. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-change-negative-views-of-the-jobs-vet-serves-to-make-it-a-good-post-school-option-101388">We need to change negative views of the jobs VET serves to make it a good post-school option</a>
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<h2>Women should stick with uni</h2>
<p>Women make up the majority of students who enrol into university with a lower ATAR. For them, a commerce diploma can sometimes be a good alternative to university, too. But otherwise women’s realistic choices differ from men’s – for both positive and negative reasons – in ways that make VET less attractive.</p>
<p>A positive reason is that two popular courses for women with lower ATARs – education and nursing – have good outcomes. Rates of professional employment for graduates of both courses are high across the ATAR range. </p>
<p>Nurses and teachers with higher ATARs who went to university tend to earn more than those with lower ATARs but the differences aren’t large enough to not recommend a bachelor degree over a VET course (as the chart shows). </p>
<iframe title="Women's lifetime median earnings ($millions) with an ATAR 65, 2016" aria-label="Column Chart" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/9Lsm7/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>A negative reason why vocational education is less attractive for women is that they show little interest in engineering-related fields that are popular for men. Once qualified, these men often work in construction, manufacturing, electrical and maintenance related fields. </p>
<p>But even when women have the relevant qualifications they often work in other occupations that pay less but offer more flexible working conditions. </p>
<p>VET fields popular with women, such as child care, nursing, aged care and hospitality have a large number of job vacancies, but don’t pay as well as most graduate occupations. </p>
<p>Vocational education does get overlooked in careers advice. But VET is less attractive for women than for men, if pay is a significant factor in course choice. Women have been a <a href="https://blog.grattan.edu.au/2019/07/the-gender-divides-at-university/">majority of university students since 1987</a>. Given the nature of the labour market, it is not hard to see why.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121624/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Norton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Students with lower ATARs generally have lower lifetime earnings. But a Grattan Institute report found low ATAR men could earn more doing a VET course than a bachelor degree in their chosen field.Andrew Norton, Higher Education Program Director, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1100952019-01-27T18:55:40Z2019-01-27T18:55:40ZLift teacher status to improve student performance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255538/original/file-20190125-108348-iksykx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There need to be deeper reforms to teaching, such as higher pay at the top end, better opportunities for career advancement, and improvements to the professional working environment.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia needs to lift the status of teachers to attract the best and brightest to teaching. The world’s top-performing school systems make it a national priority to attract the strongest candidates. Improving teacher selection improves student results.</p>
<p>Australia’s brightest students are increasingly rejecting teaching. The greatest <a href="http://andrewleigh.org/pdf/TrendsTeacherQuality%20(old).pdf">falls</a> were in the 1980s. But entry standards have slipped further over the past decade. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255508/original/file-20190125-196215-1tqd02y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255508/original/file-20190125-196215-1tqd02y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255508/original/file-20190125-196215-1tqd02y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255508/original/file-20190125-196215-1tqd02y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255508/original/file-20190125-196215-1tqd02y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255508/original/file-20190125-196215-1tqd02y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255508/original/file-20190125-196215-1tqd02y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>In 2018, only <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/undergraduate_applications_offers_and_acceptances_2018.pdf">one in four</a> students offered a place in undergraduate teaching based on their <a href="http://www.vtac.edu.au/results-offers/atar-explained.html">Australian Tertiary Admission Rank</a> (ATAR) had an ATAR of 80 or more, compared to one in two across all courses. </p>
<p>To stop the decline, <a href="https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/teacher-accreditation/how-accreditation-works/your-accreditation/future-teachers/increased-academic-standards">New South Wales</a> and <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/educationstate/Pages/intteached.aspx#link51">Victoria</a> have tightened entry standards. Victoria will increase minimum ATAR requirements from 65 to 70 this year.</p>
<p>Federal Labor’s shadow education minister Tanya Plibersek <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-06/low-scoring-atar-students-to-be-barred-from-becoming-teachers/10687746">wants</a> to make entry to teaching far more competitive by significantly increasing ATAR requirements towards an ATAR of about 80. She has threatened to cap teaching places if universities don’t lift entry standards themselves. She says too many high-achieving school students get told not to “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/they-should-try-me-universities-reject-labor-call-on-raising-atar-20190106-p50pvk.html">waste their ATAR</a>” by going into teaching. </p>
<p>The federal minister, Dan Tehan, says better <a href="https://au.educationhq.com/news/56273/tehan-staggered-by-how-educators-are-treated-in-australian-schools/">career paths</a> and pay reforms are key to making teaching a more attractive profession. His <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Employment_Education_and_Training/TeachingProfession">Parliamentary Inquiry</a> into teaching status will report back soon.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/viewpoints-should-teaching-students-who-fail-a-literacy-and-numeracy-test-be-barred-from-teaching-109882">Viewpoints: should teaching students who fail a literacy and numeracy test be barred from teaching?</a>
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<p>Both arguments have merit. Making entry more selective will help lift status, but the low status of teaching is more than an image problem. There also needs to be deeper reforms to the job itself, such as higher pay at the top end, better opportunities for career advancement, and improvements to the professional working environment.</p>
<p>These reforms would have dual benefits: they would help attract talented people to teaching, and empower existing teachers to be more effective. </p>
<h2>Entry to teaching should be more selective</h2>
<p>Tightening teacher selection can deliver big improvements in student results. Yet universities tend to have a knee-jerk reaction to proposals to raise ATAR entry standards. For example, earlier this month the President of the Australian Council of Deans of Education, Tania Aspland, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/they-should-try-me-universities-reject-labor-call-on-raising-atar-20190106-p50pvk.html">claimed</a> “there is no evidence to show that those with higher ATARs become better teachers”.</p>
<p>But the world’s top-performing systems, such as Singapore, Korea and Finland, invest heavily in screening candidates on admission to teaching. Prospective teachers are assessed on their prior academic ability, as well as traits such as dedication to teaching. </p>
<p>Singapore even assesses student teacher performance in a real-world classroom trial. Only one in ten students who apply to be teachers in Singapore are <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/130_report_learning_from_the_best_detail.pdf">accepted</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255510/original/file-20190125-108367-sb2khk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255510/original/file-20190125-108367-sb2khk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255510/original/file-20190125-108367-sb2khk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255510/original/file-20190125-108367-sb2khk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255510/original/file-20190125-108367-sb2khk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255510/original/file-20190125-108367-sb2khk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255510/original/file-20190125-108367-sb2khk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Making entry to teaching more selective will need careful management.</span>
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<p><a href="https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/wdobbie/files/dobbie_tfa_2011.pdf">Several</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.3386/w14485">rigorous</a> <a href="http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2018/07/03/jhr.55.1.0317.8619R1.abstract">studies</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.3386/w14021">find</a> prior academic performance is a good indicator of who will go on to become a great teacher, not just on standardised tests but <a href="https://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jrockoff/papers/Manuscript,%20Teacher%20Hiring%20082118.pdf">also</a> according to on-the-job performance reviews. One 2018 multi-country study found countries with teachers who have high academic aptitude <a href="http://hanushek.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/Hanushek%2BPiopiunik%2BWiederhold_JHR.pdf">get better</a> student maths and literacy results.</p>
<p>Yes, <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w12155">some</a> <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED509656.pdf">studies</a> find no link between markers of cognitive ability (such as the SAT scores of US teachers) and student results. But on balance, the evidence suggests requiring prospective teachers to have a higher ATAR – along with other predictive factors such as leadership capabilities and dedication to teaching - will increase the likelihood of recruiting more effective teachers. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-the-atar-battle-one-thing-is-clear-teaching-needs-to-attract-better-recruits-55700">In the ATAR battle, one thing is clear: teaching needs to attract better recruits</a>
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<p>Making entry to teaching more competitive will need to be carefully managed. To ensure diversity in the future workforce, there will need to be adequate alternative pathways for students from a variety of backgrounds or specialist skills. But alternative pathways should not be used as a smokescreen for lowering overall entry standards.</p>
<h2>Deeper reforms are needed to help raise teacher status</h2>
<p>Tightening selection into teaching will help make it more prestigious, but lifting the profession’s low status requires at least three other reforms. </p>
<p>First, lift teacher pay at the top end. Teachers in Australia start on a good salary compared to other graduates, but the pay is too low at the top end. Australia’s top teacher salary is 40% higher than the starting salary, well below the <a href="https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=EAG_TS_ACT">OECD</a> average of 80%. To attract high-achievers, the top-end salary needs to be competitive with their options elsewhere. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255509/original/file-20190125-108361-14n0o5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255509/original/file-20190125-108361-14n0o5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255509/original/file-20190125-108361-14n0o5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255509/original/file-20190125-108361-14n0o5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255509/original/file-20190125-108361-14n0o5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255509/original/file-20190125-108361-14n0o5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255509/original/file-20190125-108361-14n0o5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">There are no easy fixes.</span>
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<p>Second, offer better career pathways. The best teachers should have fast-track opportunities that give them responsibility for developing other teachers and driving improvement in their school and beyond. Job descriptions such as this exist on paper, but they don’t necessarily happen in practice. </p>
<p>Better career options for those passionate about mastering teaching should sit <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/662684_tgta_accessible_final_0.pdf">alongside</a> school leadership pathways, so teachers don’t have to switch into school management to gain promotion and a pay rise. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-raise-status-of-teaching-australia-needs-to-lift-pay-and-cut-teacher-numbers-63518">To raise status of teaching, Australia needs to lift pay and cut teacher numbers</a>
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<p>Third, improve the professional work environment for teachers. Teachers need more opportunities to develop on the job, with meaningful feedback on how to improve their classroom practice. They need more high-quality, tried-and-tested materials – and fewer time-consuming administrative tasks.</p>
<p>There are no easy fixes to the entrenched problem of low teacher status in Australia. Making entry to teaching more selective would be a good first step, but deeper reforms to pay, career and the work environment are also necessary.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110095/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Evidence shows improving teacher selection will improve student results.Julie Sonnemann, Fellow, Grattan InstituteJonathan Nolan, Associate, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1076012018-12-12T05:56:21Z2018-12-12T05:56:21ZThree things high school graduates should keep in mind when they have their ATARs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250179/original/file-20181212-76962-i950ib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">About one in five school leavers who start university will not complete a degree within nine years.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>School leavers across Australia are about to get their ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank). In the coming weeks, they will get a chance to update their university course preferences.</p>
<p>Most students attend university to improve their job prospects. But <a href="http://www.aair.org.au/app/webroot/media/pdf/JIR/Journal%20of%20Institutional%20Research%20in%20Australasia%20and%20JIR/Volume%209,%20No.%201%20May%202000/James.pdf">less than half of surveyed students</a> believe they had enough information when they chose their course.</p>
<p>Here are three things prospective university students should keep in mind when finalising their preferences.</p>
<h2>1. Drop-out rates</h2>
<p><a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/node/51501">About one in five school leavers</a> who start university will not complete a degree within nine years – and they generally earn less than their peers who graduate.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/dropping-out/">Grattan Institute report</a> released in April showed people who study part-time are much more likely to drop out than full-time students. Course choice is also important. Among students with similar characteristics, those studying health or education are less likely to drop out than those studying IT, engineering, science, or humanities. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/so-youve-got-your-atar-now-what-here-are-some-options-88152">So you've got your ATAR, now what? Here are some options</a>
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<p>Surveys of people who consider dropping out show engineering and IT students are often dissatisfied with the teaching and cite a lack of interest in their course. Science students are more likely to consider leaving because of poor employment prospects. This is rarely a reason cited by health and education students.</p>
<h2>2. Early-career employment</h2>
<p>Health and education bachelor-degree graduates have strong employment prospects. <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/mapping-australian-higher-education-2018/">A Grattan report released in September</a> found about 80% of health and education graduates were in a full-time jobs four months after finishing university. And they continue to do well during their early career (from their mid-20s to mid-30s). The share of women in this age range in full-time jobs is generally lower than men because many women leave work to have children.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/docs/default-source/gos-reports/2017/2017_gos_national_report_final_accessiblea45d8791b1e86477b58fff00006709da.pdf?sfvrsn=ceb5e33c_4">Only 60%</a> of science graduates who were looking for a full-time job found one within four months of finishing their degree. While this is partly because more science graduates continue studying, their poor job prospects persist into their early career. Some 66% of male and 50% of female science graduates in their mid-20s to mid-30s have a full-time job. Employment outcomes for other disciplines are shown below.</p>
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<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-318" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/318/0a2b9e74e5449ba155fca8b6431c2e94a194d7ea/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
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<p>Having a job is one thing. Having a job that uses the skills developed at university is another. About 80% of employed early-career engineering and law graduates have a professional or managerial job. The figure for early-career nursing and education graduates is even better.</p>
<p>Getting a professional job is more difficult for graduates in generalist fields – humanities, commerce and science – and their prospects have declined since the Global Financial Crisis. Fewer than 60% of employed early-career male science graduates have a professional job. Female humanities graduates who have a job are more likely to work in sales or services than in professional occupations. Figures for other disciplines are shown below.</p>
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<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-319" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/319/fc31cee74ffbd521851c7d4f2aaaf62ef906eef7/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
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<h2>3. Lifetime earnings</h2>
<p>In terms of pay, commerce graduates typically have a slow start but can expect to earn above-average income over their lifetime – A$2.1 million for women and A$3 million for men. </p>
<p>Because nurses and teachers have flatter pay scales, men in nursing or education have lower-than-average lifetime earnings (about A$2.5 million). But their flexible working conditions make it easier for women with children to work in these fields. The average female nursing or education graduate can expect to earn A$2.1 million over their lifetime – more than the average female graduate.</p>
<p>Law and engineering graduates have much stronger lifetime earnings prospects than humanities and science graduates.</p>
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<p><a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/mapping-australian-higher-education-2014-15/">A 2014 Grattan Institute report</a> found graduates of some universities tended to earn more over their lifetime than graduates of others, but the variation between universities was not as large as variation between fields of education. </p>
<h2>A final word of advice</h2>
<p>Students should look beyond course names to explore course content. That way they may be able to improve their employment prospects while still studying in a field that interests them. This information can be found on each university’s web page.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/your-atar-isnt-the-only-thing-universities-are-looking-at-93353">Your ATAR isn't the only thing universities are looking at</a>
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<p>For example, students who like science should consider health courses. Health students spend about 25% of their first year studying science subjects – and they have better chances of securing a job that uses their qualification.</p>
<p>While choosing preferences is only one of the many steps students will take in their higher education journey, getting this right is important. The better choices they make now, the sooner students can realise their career goals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107601/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Before deciding what to study at which university, high school graduates should consider the drop-out rates, early-career employment prospects and lifetime earnings their program is likely to yield.Ittima Cherastidtham, Fellow, Higher Education Program, Grattan InstituteWill Mackey, Associate, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1074402018-11-27T19:07:38Z2018-11-27T19:07:38ZFinkel: students, focus on your discipline then you’ll see your options expand<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246953/original/file-20181122-182050-9soh6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A musician must master the instrument before they can master playing in an orchestra.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is a long read. Enjoy!</em></p>
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<p>Today I want to set out my case for the enduring relevance of the disciplines. I want to advocate for a content-rich curriculum. And I want to focus in particular on the importance of teaching maths, in sequence, through a structured program, and at the level of a student’s real ability.</p>
<p>But I want to get there by way of a parable. </p>
<h2>The Light in the Cave</h2>
<p>A few years ago, I travelled with my family to New Zealand. We decided to spend a few hours at the Te Anau caves, near the south-western tip of the South Island.</p>
<p>Every year, people flock there in their tens of thousands not so much for the caves – although they’re stunning – but for the glow-worms. Like a scene from The Phantom of the Opera, you step into a barge that glides silently through the water, shrouded by the subterranean darkness. Then you look up, and you’re in a grotto, and all you can see are thousands upon thousands of tiny blue pin-points of light.</p>
<p>Now I’m an engineer – and the author of the <a href="https://www.energy.gov.au/government-priorities/energy-markets/independent-review-future-security-national-electricity-market">Finkel Review of the National Electricity Market</a>. It’s hard to take off your hats when you’re on holiday. So when I looked at those lights, I thought to myself: what a brilliant mechanism for the efficient conversion of chemical energy into light energy!</p>
<p>It works like this: glow-worms live on mosquitoes and midges. To catch them, they dangle an invisible web of silken threads and switch on their lights. The light confounds the prey, then the silk entangles the victims. And the victims provide the energy to keep the lights on. Genius. So that’s what I saw in the cave: engineering inspiration.</p>
<p>Then there’s my wife, a life scientist. She can tell you that glow-worms are found only in Australia and New Zealand. And she’s also the very recently retired editor of Cosmos magazine. So she knows a lot about the natural phenomenon of bioluminescence.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247389/original/file-20181126-140507-virf71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247389/original/file-20181126-140507-virf71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247389/original/file-20181126-140507-virf71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247389/original/file-20181126-140507-virf71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247389/original/file-20181126-140507-virf71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247389/original/file-20181126-140507-virf71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247389/original/file-20181126-140507-virf71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The light in the cave in New Zealand comes from glow-worms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, we can isolate the luminescent and fluorescent proteins in creatures like glow-worms and jellyfish. And we use gene editing techniques to modify – for example – the neurons in a fruit fly, so they flash in different colours depending on the level of electrical activity.</p>
<p>That means we can take images of complex structures like the brain in glorious technicolour. We move ever closer to answers to the cruellest conditions: dementia, motor neuron disease, schizophrenia. So that’s my wife’s perspective: great science, great pictures, and great material for Cosmos.</p>
<p>Then there’s my older son, Victor. He’s a management consultant. He deeply respects the Kiwi capacity to monetise what is, when you think about it, colonies of fungus gnats living on mosquitoes in a cave. And my younger son, Alex. He’s a software engineer who appreciates the way the tour operator keeps iterating and improving the experience.</p>
<p>And as I stepped off the barge I wondered, would an astronomer look up and see a living galaxy of stars? Would an airline pilot be reminded of the view from the cockpit, flying over a city at night? Would a historian be intrigued by all the myths and legends we’ve used to explain this phenomenon over the centuries?</p>
<p>I wish I’d had more time to ask. But just from my sample group of four, it was clear: every one of us, with a grounding in a discipline, stepped off that boat with something distinctive to say. We’d seen the world in different patterns. And we’d imagined its possibilities in many forms.</p>
<p>That’s the parable of the Light in the Cave.</p>
<h2>The importance of specialising in something</h2>
<p>When I was a student the importance of actually specialising in something – mastering a discipline – was more or less assumed. We thought about the skills mix of our future society in the same way we imagined an orchestra. You want a broad mix of people who excel in a range of speciality fields.</p>
<p>Yes, we do want those people to be able to play together. And we want them to sound like an orchestra, not several dozen simultaneous solos.</p>
<p>That means – if you’ll excuse the pun – that every one of those musicians needs to have at least two strings to their bow: a primary discipline – the instrument, and a secondary discipline – orchestral performance. But they can’t master the secondary discipline without reaching a level of proficiency in their instruments first.</p>
<p>If you think you can, I challenge you to give a clarinet to a ten year old and enrol her on the same day into the school band. Now, that student could have a genuine passion and talent for music – but until she can manage her fingers, and the breathing, and read music, and produce a noise that isn’t a brain-splitting shriek – she’s got to knuckle down and practice. Solo. Focus on your discipline – then you’ll see your options expand.</p>
<p>And I internalised that logic. I now understand that a discipline is like a ladder. You have to put in the effort to climb it, step by step, with structure and sequence, accepting the guidance of your teachers. Learn the principle. Do the practice. Apply the skills. Repeat.</p>
<p>In particular, that’s the approach my parents and teachers took to my mathematical education. They didn’t leave it to me to decide. Of course, they didn’t know what I might one day want to do at university. I didn’t know what I wanted to do at university!</p>
<p>But right from the beginning, they knew maths was likely to be extremely important, and mastering it would maximise my choices. So they made sure I worked at it until I didn’t have to work at it – starting with the times table.</p>
<p>At first, I had to stop and think – all the time. It was tedious. But I wanted to do well. That made me determined. And soon enough I could see “11 times 12” or “nine squared” and the answer just sprang up in my mind unbidden, so that I wasn’t even conscious my brain was doing any work.</p>
<p>By the time I got to university I had reached a level of proficiency that allowed me to devote all my mental energy to mastering engineering. Again, I worked at it. I became an incurable engineer just like I’d become a human calculator: rung by rung, climbing the ladder.</p>
<p>The next step for me was setting up a company to commercialise a medical research tool I’d developed in the course of my study. I was uncertain of many things in my life at that time, including my bank balance, because there were many days when I was too nervous to look at it. But at least when it came to hiring, I knew exactly what was required. Discipline experts who could work together – not generalists who thought the same. </p>
<p>Since that time, I’ve seen a lot of teams, in business and in research, and I’ve sat on a lot of boards. I would still build my company exactly the same way. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247391/original/file-20181126-140531-19c0p83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247391/original/file-20181126-140531-19c0p83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247391/original/file-20181126-140531-19c0p83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247391/original/file-20181126-140531-19c0p83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247391/original/file-20181126-140531-19c0p83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247391/original/file-20181126-140531-19c0p83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247391/original/file-20181126-140531-19c0p83.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Learn the principle. Practice. Apply the skills. Repeat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I now have the life experience to confirm the wider application of the golden rule: yes, you will go badly astray if you pick ten people who collectively specialise in nothing at all. And I worry that we, as a nation, will go the same way, if we take away from the next generation of workers the disciplinary ladders that we climbed ourselves. In short: if we raise a generation who come out of the glow-worm cave perhaps ready to talk – but with nothing distinctive to say.</p>
<h2>The future is uncertain</h2>
<p>Why would we take that route? There are any number of rationales presented, and usually, by thoughtful people with the very best of intentions.</p>
<p>Don’t encourage students to limit themselves to a discipline, they say. Encourage everyone to be a capable generalist instead. Teamwork! Emotional intelligence! Public speaking! Creative thinking! That’s what will make them adaptable, so that’s what we ought to teach. And let students acquire those generic skill sets by following their passions. </p>
<h2>Maximising choice</h2>
<p>What does that look like in practice? It means putting the expectation on teenagers to pick from over a hundred different courses available to them in years 11 and 12. At the same time, training their minds on the importance of graduating with the highest possible ATAR, on the understanding the higher the number, the wider the choice. And giving them minimal guidance on the discipline-specific knowledge they might actually need to do well in a particular degree.</p>
<p>Yes, I am thinking in particular here about the removal of prerequisites from university course guides. And most of all, I am thinking of the messages we give to students about the importance of focus and mastery in maths.</p>
<p>Why do I focus on mathematics? Partly, because it’s a skill set that’s fundamental to science, to commerce, to economics, to medicine, to engineering, to geography, to architecture, to IT. And partly, because it’s the textbook example of why you need to learn things in sequence through hard work, with the guidance of an expert teacher – and the very clear message from schools that it’s a priority.</p>
<p>You can’t just trust your passions to help you meander through it. So it’s particularly vulnerable when we shift the focus from hard content to soft skills.</p>
<p>We have the year 11 and 12 course enrolment data to confirm it. These show a 20 year decline in the proportion of students taking intermediate and advanced maths at year 12. And it’s worse for girls. <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/spf_issues_paper_final_trim_id_d17_2145710.pdf">In 2016</a>, just 7% of female year 12 students took advanced maths compared with 12% of male students.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247395/original/file-20181126-140534-1tnf857.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247395/original/file-20181126-140534-1tnf857.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247395/original/file-20181126-140534-1tnf857.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247395/original/file-20181126-140534-1tnf857.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247395/original/file-20181126-140534-1tnf857.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247395/original/file-20181126-140534-1tnf857.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247395/original/file-20181126-140534-1tnf857.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Even the Chief Scientist had to practice times tables until proficient.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also have a recent <a href="http://www.iier.org.au/iier28/hine.pdf">study</a> from Western Australia. The heads of the maths departments in 50 high schools were surveyed on the reasons why students were turning away in droves from their more advanced maths classes.</p>
<p>And the three stand-out reasons were exactly what I’ve heard, and I’m sure you’ve heard, from teachers all over the country:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>it’s not required for entry to university</p></li>
<li><p>other courses are easier</p></li>
<li><p>everyone says you can maximise your ATAR – and thereby, your choices – if you just drop down a level in maths.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The logic is beguiling – especially when it’s coupled with the message that the future is all about the soft skills.</p>
<h2>The value of prerequisites</h2>
<p>But we also know that the logic is false – because we know what happens to those students who opt for easier courses with more soft skill components in school. They arrive at university and discover they’re in the same unprepared position as the ten-year-old holding a clarinet in her hand for the first time the same day she was enrolled in the school band. They’ve got to grapple with a discipline like science, commerce, or architecture while simultaneously trying to fill the maths gap.</p>
<p>And at that stage, what choice do they have? They can drop out of university. They can find another course – after drawing a cross through all the courses involving maths. Or they can struggle through and find themselves at the end of the degree, competing for a job with students who were better prepared and thriving from day one.</p>
<p>Consider the data compiled by the University of Sydney, and presented this year. Students who took only elementary maths for the <a href="http://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/about-HSC">Higher School Certificate</a> (HSC) were <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/school-maths-strugglers-more-likely-to-fail-uni-sciences/news-story/b866ff29f502bd2e04b4ae986a98f203">twice as likely</a> to fail both first year biology and first year chemistry, compared to those who opted for intermediate or advanced maths.</p>
<p>Another <a href="https://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws:9120">study</a> conducted at Western Sydney University in 2009 looked at first year university mathematics. Every one of the students who entered with advanced maths passed. 77% of those with only elementary maths failed. That’s four out of five, failed.</p>
<p>And yet cohort after cohort of school leavers keeps repeating the pattern, and we continue to allow it – even encourage it. Where is the duty of care?</p>
<p>We have another <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/369/8488-22008-1-PB_%282%29.pdf?1542932326">paper</a> from the University of Sydney, published in 2013. Even at an institution with high ATAR requirements, 9% of students in science degrees had no mathematics study in senior secondary years, and 17% had only elementary mathematics, with no calculus. Fewer than half of the students in science degrees met the “assumed knowledge” of advanced maths to enrol in the first year differential calculus unit.</p>
<p>And the same study confirmed, once again, that higher levels of mathematics taken for the HSC are strong predictors of success in first year science, as well as first year maths.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247396/original/file-20181126-140513-1celkdv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247396/original/file-20181126-140513-1celkdv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247396/original/file-20181126-140513-1celkdv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247396/original/file-20181126-140513-1celkdv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247396/original/file-20181126-140513-1celkdv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247396/original/file-20181126-140513-1celkdv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247396/original/file-20181126-140513-1celkdv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Removing prerequisite courses for entry to university does students a disservice – they’re more likely to drop out of or fail first year university maths.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">QUT/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now if you were a teenager in the UK, and you wanted to study at one of the elite universities – called <a href="https://russellgroup.ac.uk/">the Russell Group</a> – you would open up the group’s annual guide. There you would see, very clearly stated, what subjects are essential for entry into every university course, and which are useful. For example, students thinking of engineering would learn that advanced level maths is essential.</p>
<p>Discipline-based courses like maths, English, physics, biology, chemistry, geography and history are identified as “facilitating subjects” – the subjects most likely to be required or preferred for entry. Generic courses like critical thinking and general studies are less important and, quote, “usually better taken only as an extra”. So the message is very clear: generic courses cut your choices.</p>
<p>For some Australian universities, and some courses, intermediate or advanced mathematics might still be explicitly required – but the number of those institutions and courses has dwindled. Some have replaced “prerequisite” with “assumed knowledge”.</p>
<p>They are not the same. The word “prerequisite” means the subject is compulsory. The phrase “assumed knowledge” means the subject is nice to have. There is no possible way in English to interpret them to mean the same. It’s not clear to me why the universities even mention “assumed knowledge” if there is no formal requirement for students to have done the preparatory courses.</p>
<p>On the evidence from the University of Sydney, perhaps it might be more accurate to replace the phrase “assumed knowledge” with a longer phrase, “you will not comprehend or pass this course unless you take this subject but the choice is yours”.</p>
<h2>We can do better</h2>
<p>I believe we can do better. We have to do better than mixed signals. We have to get across the message maximising your choices is not the same as maximising your ATAR. And we have to ensure that the ladders to opportunity – the disciplines – are strong.</p>
<p>Mastering a discipline is mastering your destiny. So let’s ensure all our students come out of the glow-worm cave with something distinctive to say.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is an edited extract of a <a href="https://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/2018/11/speech-the-winning-2030-cv/">keynote speech</a> delivered at the 5th International STEM in Education Conference on Wednesday 21 November 2018.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107440/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Finkel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Chief Scientist Alan Finkel writes we can do a better job of teaching students to master a discipline and maximise their post-school opportinities.Alan Finkel, Australia’s Chief Scientist, Office of the Chief ScientistLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1028412018-09-08T11:26:14Z2018-09-08T11:26:14ZViewpoints: should universities raise the ATAR required for entrance into teaching degrees?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235347/original/file-20180907-190662-11zmcvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How much does ATAR matter when selecting teacher education students?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Shadow education minister Tanya Plibersek has announced a Labor government would raise the ATAR required for entrance into a teaching degree if elected at the next election. Plibersek said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t want people with ATARs of 35 going into teaching, I just don’t.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The effectiveness of ATAR as an entrance criteria has been heavily debated for some time. Some say to improve teacher quality, we need to raise the entrance criteria. Others argue ATAR doesn’t tell us all we need to know about a person’s suitability for teaching.</p>
<p>So is raising the ATAR for teachers a good idea, or will it simply exclude potentially great teachers?</p>
<hr>
<h2>The case for no minimum ATAR</h2>
<p><strong><em>Tania Aspland, Professor in Teacher Education, Dean, Education Policy and Strategy at Australian Catholic University and President, Australian Council of Deans of Education</em></strong></p>
<p>We all want to attract and retain the best teachers and move away from the singular focus on ATAR scores. Earlier this year, the Mitchell Institute released a <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/papers/crunching-the-number/">report</a> which stated only one in four domestic undergraduate students was admitted to courses based on an ATAR. This does not match the message reinforced by schools, families and the media that ATAR is everything.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235353/original/file-20180907-190639-1mocoxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235353/original/file-20180907-190639-1mocoxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235353/original/file-20180907-190639-1mocoxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235353/original/file-20180907-190639-1mocoxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235353/original/file-20180907-190639-1mocoxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235353/original/file-20180907-190639-1mocoxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235353/original/file-20180907-190639-1mocoxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many students with average or comparatively low senior secondary results also do well once at university.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2014, the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/teacher-education-ministerial-advisory-group">report</a>, which has underpinned the raft of recent reforms in teacher education, found:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>research indicates ATAR is a good predictor of success for students entering university with strong secondary school performance, but loses predictive capability for those entering university with lower scores. Many students with average or comparatively low senior secondary results also do well once at university</p></li>
<li><p>while rankings are clearly a very good predictor of performance in engineering, agriculture and science, the relationship is low for education.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The argument about ATARs ignores the range of <a href="https://www.acde.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/final-report-siite-project.docx.pdf">selection methods</a> universities use to choose teacher education students with the right mix of academic and personal traits. These include looking at prior experience, interviews or psychometric tests.</p>
<p>It ignores the clearly defined <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards">professional teaching standards</a> and the <a href="https://teacheredtest.acer.edu.au/">new numeracy and literacy test</a> teaching students must pass before they graduate. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-need-to-review-how-we-test-for-teacher-quality-95074">Why we need to review how we test for teacher quality</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It also strikes at the heart of whether or not we want to provide multiple pathways to attract a diverse cohort to teach in our increasingly diverse classrooms. This includes those from marginalised and disadvantaged groups, such as students from rural or regional areas and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. </p>
<p>Teacher education students accepted with lower ATARs need to be viewed in context. They may be selected because:</p>
<ul>
<li>they have gained further experience and qualifications that supersede their ATAR, as their ATAR may have been acquired years before their university entry</li>
<li>they’re given special consideration due to personal circumstances (such as the death of a parent) as their low ATAR doesn’t reflect prior academic performance</li>
<li>as a member of a disadvantaged group, they’re granted access to a pathway course during which they would have to prove they’re capable of undertaking teacher education.</li>
</ul>
<p>Research does not support the move to mandate ATAR entry scores. </p>
<hr>
<h2>The case for setting benchmarks</h2>
<p><strong><em>Anne-Marie Morgan, Professor and Associate Dean, Teaching and Learning at the University of New England</em></strong></p>
<p>ATARs provide a visible measure of standard to the public, prospective students and their families. They’re also used by politicians as an indicator of confidence in producing quality teachers. But the reliance on ATAR levels as a predictor of success is insufficient on its own, and is tied up <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1449800?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=hpje20">with complex equity issues</a> around location (especially for regional and rural students), socioeconomic status, family dynamics and unequal access to educational opportunities. </p>
<p>In the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/teacher-education-ministerial-advisory-group">report</a> which has guided national education policy on initial teacher education, the relationship between ATARs and student success in education courses was acknowledged to be low, and is the reason why other processes are included for entry, within programs and at graduation.</p>
<p>There is <a href="https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/en/publications/predicting-the-academic-achievement-of-first-year-pre-service-tea">research</a> that indicates an ATAR of 70 supports successful outcomes. It found ATAR scores were significant, but scores on a scale which measured motivation and engagement were a much stronger predictor of first year marks results. This indicates students’ motivation and how they’re taught in their first year are more important than ATAR, but so is setting an appropriate benchmark for ATAR, for students who enter using this pathway. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235351/original/file-20180907-190662-170q4rc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235351/original/file-20180907-190662-170q4rc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235351/original/file-20180907-190662-170q4rc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235351/original/file-20180907-190662-170q4rc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235351/original/file-20180907-190662-170q4rc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235351/original/file-20180907-190662-170q4rc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235351/original/file-20180907-190662-170q4rc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Setting an ATAR benchmark is prudent, while also allowing for other entry pathways.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>UNE currently has an ATAR requirement of 77 for its education courses. Historically, competition for places in our teacher education programs has justified this level. This is higher than most NSW and interstate universities. </p>
<p>We are currently considering lowering this to 70 in line with confidence in our students’ results, the literature, and to open opportunities for teaching to a wider range of students and to compensate for pathways lost through changes such as removal of Principals’ recommendations of year 12 students considered to have the right attributes for teaching.</p>
<p>The Victorian state government currently requires an ATAR of 65 for teaching courses, which will be <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/raising-the-bar-top-30-per-cent-of-students-for-teaching/">raised to 70</a> in 2019. This will be done so teacher education students in Victoria are from the top 30% of year 12 graduates, but there are also opportunities in this policy for entrance pathways other than ATAR.</p>
<p>So, setting an appropriate ATAR benchmark is prudent, while also ensuring there are other entry pathways that uphold our commitment to equity of access. The programs we provide, and how we teach students are other critical factors in ensuring we prepare great teachers.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-get-quality-teachers-in-disadvantaged-schools-and-keep-them-there-71622">How to get quality teachers in disadvantaged schools – and keep them there</a>
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<h2>Tania Aspland</h2>
<p>I appreciate that we are both largely on the same page that the best research doesn’t supports the case for minimum ATARs. Setting minimum ATARs may make the public feel more confident, but that confidence stems largely from perceptions based on the narrow focus on ATARs by public figures. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-scrap-the-atar-what-are-the-alternative-options-experts-comment-55501">Should we scrap the ATAR? What are the alternative options? Experts comment</a>
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<p>I also appreciate the valuable contributions made by the diverse range of great teachers who have have come into teacher education through different pathways and graduated with high professional academic standards. </p>
<h2>Anne-Marie Morgan</h2>
<p>We agree on the conclusion that the research to date does not support the obsession with ATARs as the only source for entry to an initial teacher education course. But it will be important to continue to collect data to demonstrate this conclusion, and to show how both other entry pathways <em>and</em> what happens during a student’s preparation to be a teacher influence their chances of success, and suitability to be a great teacher.</p>
<p>As Tania says, governments, communities, parents, teacher educators, and the wider community all want to attract and retain the best teachers. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/your-atar-isnt-the-only-thing-universities-are-looking-at-93353">Your ATAR isn't the only thing universities are looking at</a>
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<p>Our teachers are recognised as some of the best in the world. We should continue to provide opportunities for our teachers to come from diverse communities and backgrounds to work with children who are also diverse. We need to talk about the complexity of the profession and the needs of students in more nuanced terms.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102841/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne-Marie Morgan is the Immediate Past President of the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations (AFMLTA) and consults for this association with government and education departments. She is also a member of ALEA, LCNAU and PETAA. Anne-Marie receives funding from the Western Australian Department of Education to develop an online Indonesian program and one from DFAT to work with Presidents of Philippines Normal (education) universities.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tania Aspland does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some universities accept students into their teaching degree programs with an ATAR as low as 35. Do we need to raise the bar, or are other factors more important than a high ATAR for teachers?Anne-Marie Morgan, Professor and Associate Dean, Teaching and Learning, Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, and Education, University of New EnglandTania Aspland, Professor in Teacher Education and Dean, Education Policy and Strategy, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/975332018-06-05T20:06:21Z2018-06-05T20:06:21ZANU’s new entrance criteria won’t do much to improve equity<p>The Australian National University recently <a href="http://www.anu.edu.au/study/apply/new-admissions-for-2020/co-curricular-or-service-requirement">announced</a> that from 2020 it will require all students to meet co-curricular requirements alongside the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) requirement. </p>
<p>The diverse <a href="http://www.anu.edu.au/study/apply/new-admissions-for-2020/co-curricular-or-service-requirement">list</a> of co-curricular requirements includes part-time employment, participation in the creative arts, sports, and community and service activities. Academic internships, international exchange, and scholastic activities such as the prestigious <a href="https://www.googlesciencefair.com/#!?modal_active=none">Google Science Fair</a> are also recognised under the scheme. </p>
<p>This represents perhaps the largest admissions policy shift from a <a href="https://go8.edu.au/">Group of Eight</a> university to date. It’s a clear indication the national university is looking beyond the ATAR to ensure it attracts the most suitable young people to its courses. But it will not do much to improve equity of access.</p>
<h2>Anti-ATAR sentiment</h2>
<p>Sentiment against the Australian Tertiary Admissions Ranking (ATAR) is <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/atar-should-be-simplified-or-even-abolished-says-chief-scientist-alan-finkel-20180423-p4zb74.html">rising</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-scrap-the-atar-what-are-the-alternative-options-experts-comment-55501">Should we scrap the ATAR? What are the alternative options? Experts comment</a>
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<p>A <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/nsw-universities-taking-students-with-atars-as-low-as-30-20160126-gmdvr6.html">Fairfax report</a> in 2016 showed universities were accepting students with ATARs much lower than advertised cut-off scores. The report confirmed suspicions university admissions are <a href="https://myaccount.news.com.au/sites/theaustralian/subscribe.html?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a&mode=premium&dest=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/year-12-and-atar-need-a-rethink/news-story/08187e86c4d8f26d7b514e23eb61e4c9&memtype=anon">opaque</a> and at risk of being gamed <a href="http://campusmorningmail.com.au/news/no-the-atar-cant-be-gamed-but-it-can-be-tuned/">by schools</a>.</p>
<p>Since then, there have been calls across the sector to <a href="https://theconversation.com/atars-you-may-as-well-use-postcodes-for-university-admissions-19154">increase transparency</a> around how ATAR is used for university entrance. And a rising chorus suggests the ATAR should be <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-scrap-the-atar-what-are-the-alternative-options-experts-comment-55501">scrapped all together</a>.</p>
<p>More recently, Australia’s chief scientist Alan Finkel has emerged as a fierce opponent of the ATAR system, going as far as to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/atar-should-be-simplified-or-even-abolished-says-chief-scientist-alan-finkel-20180423-p4zb74.html">suggest</a> the system is “completely obscure” and results in students “being given poor advice” about their post-secondary options. </p>
<h2>What has changed?</h2>
<p>The majority of universities across the country already accept some students based on other-than-ATAR requirements. These include portfolios, interviews, and community service. Most also allocate a number of places to students from underrepresented communities, and specific pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. </p>
<p>What’s different about ANU Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt’s announcement last week is the specific commitment by a high status, research-intensive university to base admissions on more than “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/community-service-as-important-as-atar-for-year-12s-in-anu-overhaul-20180529-p4zi7n.html">just a score</a>”.</p>
<p>The addition of a co-curricular or “service” requirement follows an announcement by <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/act/australian-national-university-to-abandon-atar-as-sole-entry-requirement-20160801-gqi4ai.html?_ga=2.204029648.1351890709.1528065145-1249041768.1524834919">Professor Schmidt in 2016</a> that the national university was looking to “move away from judging students only on their year 12 ATAR results”. </p>
<p>The move will see students required to meet a threshold of out-of-class activities alongside the ANU floor ATAR of 80 for admission to most courses. ANU has two advantages which allow it to take this policy position: </p>
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<li><p>the lowest ATAR admitted to ANU in 2018 was close to 80.00, which means ANU draws almost exclusively from the top quintile of results overall</p></li>
<li><p>ANU enjoys a remarkably high completion rate, with <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/third-of-university-students-failing-to-complete-course/news-story/0c70435cf7690878811d957a51523a5b">over 80%</a> successful completions between 2009 and 2014. </p></li>
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<p>This policy may help to attract students with a “near-miss” on their admission into high-status degrees. By necessity, it will certainly encourage already high performing students to look beyond their academic studies and develop their whole selves in the final years of secondary school.</p>
<p>But it won’t dramatically alter the student cohort in terms of encouraging low-SES students to apply. These students are significantly <a href="https://theconversation.com/year-12-results-day-does-the-atar-actually-matter-that-much-48890">more likely</a> to achieve an ATAR under 80 than their more advantaged peers </p>
<p>Rather, ANU’s co-curricular or service requirement will increase competition for places at the lower-end of those students the university already accepts. It gives the university a powerful lever with which to allocate university places moving forward. This is especially important given the <a href="https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/link/9d7c304cafe37e80cf41a5e7b34f4e9c?domain=theaustralian.com.au">increased scrutiny</a> on the use of ATAR as the sole basis for university admissions. </p>
<h2>What does this mean for equity?</h2>
<p>ANU’s plan has <a href="https://psnews.com.au/2018/05/31/universitys-new-admission-plan-wins-praise/">drawn praise</a> from Federal Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham. He suggested the policy represents a “commitment to welcome, educate and accommodate the best and brightest Australians, regardless of their background”. </p>
<p>Professor Schmidt has positioned these changes as an access measure. But as higher education policy expert Andrew Norton notes, high-socioeconomic young people tend to <a href="https://andrewnorton.net.au/2018/05/30/will-extra-curricular-admission-requirements-improve-low-ses-access-to-the-anu/">perform better</a> on these kinds of co-curricular requirements than their less advantaged peers. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/your-atar-isnt-the-only-thing-universities-are-looking-at-93353">Your ATAR isn't the only thing universities are looking at</a>
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<p>Non-academic requirements are very common overseas. The US is the most prominent example, where students are required to apply directly to each institution. That system is widely <a href="https://www.theodysseyonline.com/income-students-disadvantage">criticised</a> as advantaging high-socioeconomic students who often enjoy far superior resources, time, and parental support in putting together their applications. There have been significant moves in recent times to address these issues, with the continued adoption of <a href="http://www.commonapp.org/search-colleges">common application</a> processes.</p>
<p>Multiple factors influence young people’s readiness for tertiary study. This is especially true for students from diverse, underrepresented, and low-socioeconomic backgrounds.</p>
<p>First, these young people are at a <a href="https://theconversation.com/career-studies-and-advice-start-early-or-dont-start-at-all-40563">significant disadvantage</a> in terms of the quality and availability of career planning and counselling.</p>
<p>Second, even after they’re admitted, young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are significantly <a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/completing-university-in-a-growing-sector-is-equity-an-issue/">more likely to drop out</a>. This is often due to beyond-academic reasons, such as balancing work and study, caring responsibilities, and social exclusion.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-atar-debate-students-need-to-be-able-to-finish-uni-not-just-start-it-36478">The ATAR debate: students need to be able to finish uni, not just start it</a>
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<p>Third, the tertiary admissions process, and the use of ATAR remain <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/call-rethink-australian-university-admissions">poorly understood</a> by the community more generally.</p>
<p>Finally, even if these students do succeed, they tend to find it <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/nice-work-if-you-can-get-it">more challenging</a> to secure work experience, and full-time employment after their studies. This is <a href="https://www.thesmithfamily.com.au/%7E/media/files/research/research-evaluation/research-disadvantaged-young-australians-learning-for-life.ashx">due to</a> more limited professional networks and parental support.</p>
<p>In short, less advantaged students require significant additional supports, well beyond acknowledging their diverse pathways for entry into a degree program. These challenges remain the key litmus test for any debate around the continued usefulness of the ATAR.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97533/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shane Duggan receives funding from the Department of Education and Training. </span></em></p>From 2020, ANU will require students to meet co-curricular requirements alongside ATAR. This significant policy shift is meant to improve equity of access, but won’t change much.Shane Duggan, Vice Chancellor's Postdoctoral research fellow, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.