SA Education Department chief executive Rick Persse says ATAR system won’t last much longer

ATAR is too narrow a measure of a graduate’s preparedness for further study or work, says the head of the SA Education Department.

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The national student-ranking system for university entrance, known as the ATAR, will soon be dead, SA’s Education Department boss says.

Chief executive Rick Persse says the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank system can be “gamed” and is too narrow a measure of students’ preparedness for university study or employment.

That view is backed by a discussion paper used to launch a national review of pathways for high school students to university, vocational study and work.

The paper says a “systemic shift toward school improvement” has produced an “undue emphasis” on narrow academic outcomes, such as ATARs, rather than a broader view of students’ achievements, skills, maturity, community involvement and workplace experience.

It suggests students leave school with a “learning passport” detailing their various capabilities.

Mr Persse said he did not believe the ATAR “will be around in 10 years”.

“There is much more to an individual’s capacity to excel at their study and excel at their workplace than what their ATAR is,” he said.

“Did you go on a gap year and volunteer in Cambodia building schools? Have you been involved in your local footy club or Rotary or whatever? Did you win the Anzac school prize? All that talks to how well-rounded people are.”

Mr Persse said he had never considered anyone’s ATAR when hiring staff for public or private-sector roles.

“You can’t just hire a bunch of people who can’t communicate, who can’t work with a client, can’t work in a team, lead a team or be a team member. I don’t think ATAR is the best measure for that,” he said

The discussion paper for the national review, commissioned by the Education Council of federal, state and territory education ministers, says the ATAR system is biased toward “high socio-economic” students. And it is too often misinterpreted as an indicator of the quality of schools and unis.

The paper points to a national survey of young people in 2017 that found more than half “felt their school cared more about their ATAR than them”.

Despite SA universities introducing new entry methods, the vast majority of school-leaver admissions are still by ATAR alone.

The Advertiser last week revealed Adelaide University would allow students from all high schools to gain entry to a range of degrees based on results in combinations of two or three relevant Year 12 subjects, as an alternative to the ATAR pathway.

The degrees include engineering, science, psychology, arts and commerce. The aim is to persuade school students to pick SACE subjects that align with their passions and future study and career aspirations, instead of ones to maximise their ATAR.

Asked yesterday why the new scheme would cover entry to commerce, for example, but not the rest of Adelaide University’s wide range of business degrees, deputy Vice-Chancellor Pascale Quester said the chosen degrees represented about 80 per cent of the uni’s undergraduate intake.

“We have limited the pool of degrees captured by this scheme for now, as we will need to assess the success of subject-based entry and whether it is encouraging students in Years 10, 11 and 12 to make the right decisions about subject selection,” she said.

“As we continue to assess the success of subject-based entry, the university may decide to open the scheme to other degrees. Many students will still gain entry based on ATAR, but many others, who we know will succeed based on their subject choices and performance, will be given access to a quality education.”