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.
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?
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.
In 2017, around 60% of domestic undergraduate university offers were reported as non-ATAR, meaning there’s a diversity of pathways to higher education.
More students than ever before have the opportunity for higher education but their choices are being undermined by a confusing admissions system in much need of reform.
In determining a replacement for the ATAR, it will be essential to consider the impacts of any such change on the school and vocational education systems.
The government wants to make the university admissions process more transparent as a way to provide greater choice. But this fails to recognise how the system currently works.
Low pay and status are the main factors turning potentially good teachers away from teaching. We need to work on making teaching an attractive profession.
The ATAR system is cheap and efficient, but it means students are selected to go to university on the basis of a single score which some have claimed is too simplisitc. Is it time for a new system?
A change in enrolment patterns demands a more comprehensive approach to selection to teacher education programs that goes beyond establishing minimum ATAR cutoff points.
The ATAR is being used less and less as the sole measure that universities use to select students. It’s time to question its value and the pressure it puts on students in year 12.
From 2016, students will be able to study Aboriginal languages in high schools in New South Wales – but a clause in the design of the course means grades will not contribute towards ATARs.
How do you choose the right university, or the right degree? The whole process can seem daunting. What should you focus on? How do you weigh up the different elements involved?