policy & reform
campusreview.com.au
We need to open doors,
not narrow pathways.
More than a number
Push for learner profiles
and a broadening of future
education choices.
By Dallas Bastian
The education sector should move
away from the heavy focus on
ATAR and students should instead
leave school with a ‘learner profile’ that
takes into account a range of their skills,
knowledge and experiences.
That was one of the key
recommendations to come from a federal
review of senior secondary pathways.
Led by Professor Peter Shergold,
the review looked at whether current
arrangements are supporting students to
make the best decisions for their future.
While the report held that ATAR will
likely continue to play a role in university
selection processes, learner profiles would
mean senior secondary students are seen
as young people, not numbers.
Such profiles would include ATAR where
relevant, individual subject results, VET
competencies and certificates, minimum
literacy, numeracy and digital literacy
achievement and broader capabilities like
caring responsibilities, sports achievements
and hobbies.
The report also pushed for all future
pathways to be equally respected.
“While higher education will remain
an aspiration for many young people,
academic pathways will no longer enjoy
more privileged access to school resources
than apprenticeships, traineeships or
other forms of vocational education and
training,” the report read.
In a letter to ministers, Shergold said:
“The present transition pathways presented
to young adults at school are too often
framed in a manner that they perceive to
narrow choice.
“The dominance of a ranking score,
the ATAR, privileges academic capability
over the value of vocational education
and training. Many students believe that
those headed for university are accorded
higher status at school than those who
prefer to pursue a trade apprenticeship or
traineeship.”
Shergold said the ATAR should be
regarded as just one important measure of
success.
“We need to open doors, not narrow
pathways.”
RMIT backed the report’s findings.
The university’s deputy vice-chancellor
education and vice-president, Professor
Belinda Tynan, said it was clear that
significant nationwide change is needed.
Tynan said single measurements of
success and an over-emphasis on the
importance of achieving a competitive
ATAR are narrow and can limit
opportunities for many young people.
Shergold pushed council members
to consider the proposal not despite but
because of the impact of COVID-19,
saying the disruption makes the report’s
recommendations “even more relevant”.
“Reform can become part of the ‘new
normal’. Schools, principals and teachers
have exhibited their extraordinary capacity
for flexibility and resilience,” he said. “They
are up for the challenge.
“Never has this been more necessary
because the future of work has rarely been
more uncertain.” ■
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