Principals call for Qld to be more transparent with Year 12 results

A teacher’s union and two Brisbane school leaders have called for Queensland to follow the likes of NSW and Victoria in making more end-of-year ATAR and QCE results publicly available. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Principals at two of Brisbane’s biggest schools have called for “greater transparency” around Year 12 results and for Queensland to follow the likes of NSW and Victoria in making more end-of-year ATAR and QCE results publicly available.

This is the fourth year schools and parents have been in the dark about how their performance compares, with the benefits to more public data being a clearer picture of communities which need more funding and whether a particular school is lagging behind others in certain subjects.

Median VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) scores are published, as well as high-ranking scores, and whether students from certain schools go on to further study or into the workforce.

Brisbane Grammar School deputy headmaster Steve Uscinski with students Alex Thakur, Matthew Love and Hamish Moss. Picture: AAP/Claudia Baxter

In NSW, the state’s Education Standards Authority releases every student who topped a Higher School Certificate (HSC) subject, and ranks most schools by their students’ HSC performance.

Queensland however, simply releases a snapshot of overall performance data including how many students achieved the perfect ATAR.

Instead, it’s up to individual schools on whether they choose to release their results, which has been standard since Queensland changed from OP to ATAR in 2020.

Brisbane Grammar School Steve Uscinski called for “greater transparency”.

“I’m all for greater recognition and celebration, and the focus on the individual subjects I would certainly advocate for that being a priority,” he said.

“Would it be nice to have greater transparency and great visibility with ATAR? Of course.

“I think transparency is always valuable, when used in the right way it drives improvement and focuses on what needs to be prioritised.

“Having insight and visibility of how schools are performing, what opportunities are being offered to students is beneficial to everyone.

“Being able to identify which areas and sectors of the community might need further assistance and lifting up, is a real benefit to pursue.”

St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School students Sanuli Ranatunga, Lucy Bristow, Shreya Jayaram, and Isla Williams with principal Toni Riordan (centre). Picture: John Gass

St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School principal Toni Riordan said we now live in “a data world”.

“We really rely on open and transparent data – data that we can access and use to inform our practice is ideal,” she said.

“I would like to see more data released, but of course, an education for the wider public in terms of what that data is and what it is used for.”

Teachers’ Professional Association national co-ordinator Scott Stanford also called out a lack of transparency, saying it is “symptomatic of the big issue” in Queensland education.

Education Minister Grace Grace was contacted for a response on Friday, but did not comment.

She previously said the ATAR system was not designed as a measure of school performance; as it was not an “apples with apples” comparison.

In 2022, Ms Grace said there was a wealth of information about school performance online for parents to do their own research.

“The focus of student outcomes reporting – whether that be for ATAR, NAPLAN or other year 12 outcomes – is to provide important state-level data, with a focus on individual students’ achievements,” Ms Grace said at the time.