Kylie Lang: Whether it’s OP or ATAR, the pressure around a final number is ridiculous

School may play a big part in our lives, but the number received in final exams – whether it’s the OP or the incoming ATAR system – doesn’t determine your future, writes Kylie Lang.

You know that peculiar thing where people ask what school you went to, decades after you graduated? Like it matters. Like it defines you.

Well, the same can’t be said of your OP score – unless, of course, you’re a complete tosser and you bring it up over cheese and crackers at a party.

Because that OP 1 – no point bragging if it wasn’t a 1 – is worth nothing down the track. No score is.

Once an OP gets you into university, its job is done.

So it will be with the incoming ATAR system. Instead of scoring 1-25, you’ll get a rank out of 100, which is basically the percentage of students you surpassed.

It’s arguably fairer than the OP because scores can’t be manipulated, notably by private schools with reputations and enrolments at stake, but it’s still just a number.

Students, and their parents, would do well to remember this as the pressure around that number is ridiculous.

When you’re in your final year of school, there’s enormous emphasis on that one final number.

There are all sorts of reasons a school leaver might tank in assessments – poor teaching, unsuitable subject choices, laziness, troubles at home, or a lack of interest.

And underperforming in school doesn’t have to mean underperforming in life.

I know plenty of people who’ve gone on to great things.

One guy in his early thirties, whose parents joked that he was so brilliant at school that he got two OP 1s (he got an 11), is now a pilot with a major international airline. It took him until age 23 to work out that flying was what he wanted to do.

He read a book by Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson and that was it.

Another guy, in his late 20s, didn’t even qualify for an OP due to suffering depression in his senior year but he enrolled in university as a mature age student and now is getting 7s, the highest grade, in physics.

My friend Tom Potter left school at 15, opened a pizza shop at 23 and from there built the Eagle Boys pizza empire.

There are success stories all around us and, equally, tragic tales where teens have buckled under the burden to excel.

Eagle Boys pizza CEO Tom Potter left school at 15.

Drug addiction, anti-social behaviour and even suicide have become all too common among youngsters struggling to meet external expectations.

There is no doubt school plays a big part in our lives – our adolescence is formative, which explains why the friendships we make are so influential – but it does not, and should not, solely determine how we tackle what comes next.

Critically, what an OP score fails to measure are core life skills such as resilience, creativity, adaptability and confidence.

And the kind of testing students are required to undertake – and it will be similar with the ATAR – does not assess how well people actually understand what they’re learning and how they might apply it in the real world.

The Mitchell Institute at Victoria University has admitted as much, calling the ATAR that already operates elsewhere in Australia narrow.

“To be successful in future jobs and participate in society, young people need a broad range of knowledge, skills and capabilities that might not all contribute to a high ATAR,” institute director Megan O’Connell says. “Why is it treated as the most important outcome of 13 years of schooling?” Why indeed?

Surely what matters is that those 13 years help turn out well-rounded individuals who better understand the world and contribute positively to it.

There is no doubt school plays a big part in our lives … but it shouldn’t solely determine how we tackle what comes next.

Harvard Graduate School of Education has developed a framework to help teachers make subject matter relevant, interesting and a springboard to higher level thinking.

Its Teaching for Understanding model involves regular reflection and checking in to ensure students “get it” and are engaged.

I don’t need to go into detail here, but it is a far cry from the pedagogy we see practised in most Australian schools – teaching to the test.

Any parent of a current or recent school leaver would agree that the level of stress placed on seniors is too high.

Anyone tuned into their child’s education would also see the angst from NAPLAN.

Life is a journey. It’s not a race to a finish line predetermined by a blinkered education system.

Success comes in many forms, and most certainly is not defined by your OP score – or the school your parents chose to send you.

Kylie Lang is associate editor of The Courier-Mail.