policy & reform
ATAR is one measure but it is not the only measure of ability,” said John Loughran( Monash).
“ While particular strategies will be needed to attract applicants for mathematics, science and languages education training, we do not believe that maintaining the current low ATAR requirements for teacher education courses helps to make teaching in these areas more attractive – indeed, quite the reverse,” the centre said.
“ It is regrettable that in 2012, education was the least popular course for students with ATAR scores of 90 or above. In fact, more than 20 per cent of undergraduate entrants had ATAR scores below 60. Some institutions admit a large proportion of their cohorts with ATAR scores lower than 60 and some as low as 40.”
It compared this situation with that of Finland, where teachers are required to have master’ s degree in teaching and where many applicants compete for the small number of places in teaching programs. The centre also pointed to Singapore, where“ the number of students admitted to teaching is capped, creating vigorous competition for those places”.“ We believe that establishing minimum ATAR requirements for entry to teacher education courses and further enhancing the quality of those courses will improve the quality of graduates and curb the oversupply in many areas.”
Supply and demand
So what are the reasons for the reduction in entrance scores for teaching degrees?
Professor Pat Drake, dean of Education at Victoria University, said government reforms were pushing for an increase in bachelor degree holders, and lower ATARs could help achieve this goal.“ Commonwealth reforms of 2012 aimed to increase the proportion of people who hold a bachelor-level qualification to
40 per cent by 2025, so students with lower ATAR will now be admitted into universities,” she said.
22 | Issue 2 2013