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No Year 13
Universities develop alternative
assessments for next year’s intake.
By Dallas Bastian and Wade Zaglas
Education Minister Dan Tehan has
assured that all Australian students
will graduate with an ATAR this year,
despite the disruptions brought on by the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Tehan said education ministers would be
working closely with schools, universities,
vocational training sectors and workplaces
to determine how the ATAR would be
worked out.
“When it comes to how the ATAR
is calculated and assessed, the
Commonwealth is going to do further work
with the university sector, with the vocational
education sector, and will come back to the
Education Council in May,” he said.
“For all those students out there, for all
those parents out there, there will be no
Year 13, there will be no mass repeating.
You will get your leaving certificate this year.
“Every year 12 student will get an ATAR
for 2020.”
While the education minister did not
explain how the ATAR could be adjusted,
he spoke about the need to ensure all
students’ ATAR scores weren’t negatively
affected by their IT conditions at home.
“What we are all going to do is to
endeavour to make sure that this year’s
ATAR scores are the same as last year’s
ATAR scores,” he said.
“But we will take into account those
students who have to learn from home,
those who might not be able to access the
technology like others do.”
Victorian Education Minister James
Merlino – who is the national chair of the
Education Council – said that he wanted
his state’s exams to proceed. But for Year 12
students, that will result in prolonging the
year significantly.
Usually held in June, Victoria’s exam, the
General Achievement Test (GAT), will likely
take place in October or November.
COAG’s education ministers’ meeting
also confirmed that NSW as well as
other states and territories will commit to
continuing with Year 12 assessments.
One of the most persuasive reasons for
Tehan’s decision was that schools would
not have the capacity to repeat a school
year. Importantly, universities – who have
been decimated by the drop in international
student enrolments – will require many
more domestic students to remain
financially viable.
Universities Australia (UA) has reassured
current Year 12 students that there will be
clear pathways into tertiary or vocational
education next year despite the disruptions.
UA’s CEO Catriona Jackson said
universities may consider extracurricular
work, Year 11 work and Year 12 assessments
as a way to evaluate a student’s overall
performance and aptitude in different
subjects.
“All universities offer a variety of bridging,
foundation and enabling courses to prepare
students for university, providing another
pathway.
“Also, universities will offer catch-up
sessions where needed.”
However, despite the assurances, many of
the 180,000 NSW Year 12 students have been
anxious about how they would be graded
and what that would mean for their futures.
One such Sydney student is Alexia Osler,
who is passionate about completing a
medical engineering degree.
“It’d be really upsetting if we weren’t able
to go to uni and go down that path after
school,” she said.
“So, I’m hoping the whole system is able
to come together and compromise in light
of the pandemic.”
ANU’s PROMISE
To curb some of that anxiety, Australian
National University announced it will open
applications earlier to admit domestic
undergraduate students for 2021 on the
basis of their Year 11 results.
ANU encouraged Year 12 students to
apply in their April school holidays, and said
they can do so between now and May 25,
with offers made in August.
Vice-chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt
said that should the marks of Year 12
students who apply to ANU meet the entry
requirements, they can then focus on
completing their studies and preparing for
their first year at university.
He added that last year’s admission round
showed ANU was able to reliably predict
students’ Year 12 performance based on
their Year 11 marks.
The university expects to accept about
2500 students from across Australia for
entry in 2021.
It will later make a separate round of
offers to students who choose to rely on
their Year 12 ATAR. ■
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