ON CAMPUS
campusreview.com.au
Game of scores
What do final-year school results
really tell tertiary institutions?
By Conor King
W
ith the recent release of VCE
results, parents across Victoria
have been eagerly hoping to
find out what their children have achieved
at school during the past two years. Isn’t it
strange, then, that VCE results provide so
little insight into the knowledge and abilities
of each student?
It’s a question I asked myself last year
when I saw my son’s VCE results. During
his 10 years in primary school and early
secondary, we were kept up-to-date about
his progress against standard outcomes for
his year of schooling. Yet when students
get to Years 11 and 12, their results are
all rammed together into one ATAR and
several adjusted subject scores.
The ATAR is not an assessment of
learning. It simply tells us there were many
students who did better than our son
academically and many who did less well.
It tells us nothing about what each student
knows. The subject scores are little better.
Each one is set to an average of 30, with a
proportion of students’ results sitting either
side of that score.
To make the transition from schooling
to tertiary education and training effective
for students, we first need to understand
their level of achievement at school. It is the
strange reality that students are provided
with regular statements of learning levels
throughout school but, in most states, none
at the end of Year 12.
Throughout Australia, the senior
secondary outcomes are, with the major
exception of NSW, adjusted and normalised
results which inform students and parents
about the relative standing of each student
compared to others in the state but do not
make clear the actual level of capability. As a
result, we do not know what change (if any)
there is to Year 12 outcomes over time.
There was much bemoaning of the
recent results of PISA, an international test
of learning across 79 countries, which
showed that the level of knowledge and
capability of Australian 15-year-olds is
slipping backwards. If the PISA results are
accurate, then it is likely too that students
at the end of Year 12 are also in a worse
position than previously – but we cannot tell
from the way Victoria releases the results.
This is a problem for universities and
other tertiary education institutions. If
they are unsure what the students already
know or can do, they are hampered in
providing a smooth transition from school
to tertiary learning.
Universities have clear ideas about what
a graduate should be capable of – the
challenge is to ensure all graduates reach
that point, especially if the entry capability
is less strong than previously. Falling entry
standards is a regular catchcry that people
like me tend to dismiss as idealising of the
past. But perhaps it has some validity.
Universities are far from blameless.
We created the ranking systems that asks
not “are you capable of my course” but “are
you more or less capable than the next
applicant”. The Australian Tertiary Admission
Rank (ATAR) is an effective means to select
among those who are suitable when only
some can be successful. The assumption
is that the higher your academic capability
at the point of application, the greater
reason to admit you. This is a generally
accepted rationing mechanism, although
alternatives are possible.
We should not put school leavers in a
box for life based on a Year 12 outcome.
Instead, we need to understand each
person’s abilities and help them gain further
knowledge and skills. The more objective
the statement of Year 12 outcomes is, the
better placed everyone is to build off it.
Year 12 certificates are almost forgotten
during the end-of-year celebrations, yet
they should not be left to gather dust so
quickly. They should instead be the launch
pad into adult education and employment
by encapsulating the information each
person needs in a way that is useful across
the breadth of tertiary education and
school leaver employment.
They should include clear information
about the learnings of the individual,
allowing tertiary education providers to
directly assess whether a person has the
minimum level of capability to undertake
a course.
Rebalancing the focus from the ATAR to
the certificate would also help reduce the
pressure during the final years of school.
It would support a vibrant education
system that not only celebrates the most
capable students but pushes everyone to
new levels. ■
Conor King is executive director of
Innovative Research Universities.
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