Campus Review Vol 29. Issue 11 | November 2019 | Seite 24

VC’s corner
campusreview.com.au
Where to for tertiary ed?
CONTEXT
New thinking needed to help
students navigate the future.
By Peter Shergold
I
was delighted recently when, through
Education Minister Dan Tehan, I was
asked by COAG’s Education Council to
chair a review of how to improve senior
secondary pathways into training, future
education and work. So, I know, were
the other members of the panel who
collectively bring a wealth of experience
to the inquiry: Tom Calma, Patrick
O’Reilly, Sarina Russo, Patrea Walton,
Jennifer Westacott and Don Zoellner.
Our goal, in the words of the National
Schools Reform Agreement, is “to ensure
students leave school with the best
education and skills to enable them to
navigate life beyond school”. We have just
issued a discussion paper and background
paper designed to spark interest and
generate public debate. They can be found
at www.pathwaysreview.edu.au.
At a personal level, which is the
position from which I write this article,
this is a matter of significant public policy.
Working lives depend on it. Let me frame
my initial thoughts around four key issues.
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Much of the debate about the transition
from school has been focused on the
proposition that a demand-driven system
has persuaded too many young people
to undertake university education. This,
it is suggested, leads to lower academic
standards and higher rates of non-
completion. It may also increase the burden
of income-contingent debts that students
will find harder to repay if the lifetime
income rewards for a degree start to
decline. Many observers believe this is likely.
It is suggested that it would be better,
and more economically rational, for
some of these young people instead to
choose vocationally-oriented education,
industry-oriented skills training and/or
formal apprenticeships. Now, the truth is
that some of these underlying propositions
do not seem to be strongly supported
by evidence. But the prevailing narrative
strongly influences political debate and
public discourse.
I sense, however, that the either/or
framing of the higher/vocational education
argument is being overtaken by events.
There is increasing recognition that the
demarcation between the two forms of
education is becoming ever less clear
cut. Perhaps it is better to envisage (or
even rediscover) a single tertiary sector
in which students move smoothly
between different forms of certificated
training. They may choose to undertake,
consecutively or concurrently, a variety
of learning opportunities that will provide
them with a portfolio of qualifications –
degrees, diplomas, certificates, structured
internships and micro-credentials. Industry
might provide some of this directly. Perhaps
students can be encouraged to create
their own educational passports while at
school, which they can continue to update
throughout their working lives.
Institutional rigidities will need to give
way to far more flexible pathways to
career-oriented learning. The structure of
financial incentives and disincentives, and
the cultural biases that often create false
perceptions of a hierarchy of educational
status, will need to be changed. We need
to encourage students to make choices
that better reflect their own interests and
ambitions. But to do this, young people
will need a better navigational assistance to
decide which suite of training, education
and employment experience best prepares
them for the path ahead. It is a future in
which their success is going to depend
upon a proven capacity to continue to
develop their capabilities through lifelong
learning, rather than just acquiring a suite
of professional, administrative or trade skills
that will equip them for today’s workplace.
PARADOX
The good news – and we should proclaim
it with some pride – is that the Australian
educational system now provides more
second chances than ever before. A
student who performs academically
poorly at school today has a much better
chance than in the past of finding a
pathway into university, either by taking
university foundation or bridging courses,
transferring on the basis of success in
vocational education or work experience,
or entering as a mature aged student. That
is why, overall, only a minority of students
win their place at university solely on the
basis of their ATAR score. Even for school
students, many universities now admit an
increasing number on the basis of their
success in certain HSC subjects (rather than
on a composite single score). Some gain
admission by submitting a portfolio of work
or even on interview performance.
The opportunity to find new pathways
into education is particularly beneficial
to disadvantaged students who may
have struggled at school. The increasing
proportion of university students from
low socioeconomic backgrounds
symbolises this success: I speak as
chancellor of a university in which almost
a third of students now come from low
socioeconomic backgrounds.