NSW students first to carry government’s digital ‘school passport

For the first time, NSW students will be able to have access to their academic records and qualifications using an app on their mobile phones under a new NSW government plan for a “one-stop shop” education passport.

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NSW students will carry a digital “education passport” containing their academic records and qualifications on their mobile phones, under a new state government plan.

The Saturday Telegraph can reveal work on the project is expected to start next year with NSW Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello saying the digital “one-stop shop” would potentially include academic reports starting from primary school through to university and TAFE, enabling students to build a lifelong record of their educational achievements.

“It would be like the digital driver licence so it would be on your phone — it’s your record that you can take with you,” Mr Dominello said.

“You’ve got complete control of it, you share it, you do what you like with it but it goes onto your education account.

“Once you’ve got your own passport — because everyone is a student for life — then that becomes the thread that brings the various education pathways together.”

HSC students at Fort Street High School, Petersham in NSW sit a trial HSC exam this year. Picture: Ryan Osland

To allay privacy concerns, Mr Dominello said only students could access their passports, which he expected would be available through the Service NSW app.

“This is a massive job,” he said.

“If it was easy, it would have been done before.”

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NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the education passports would “benefit students”.

“The idea would be it’s something that they can use and take to future employers or universities and say this is my digital passport — this is all the accreditations and results that I’ve had during my time at school,” she said.

Ms Mitchell said the project would include two elements.

“There’s the digital passport where we can put every student’s academic record in a digital format that they can use and take with them for the rest of their life,” she said.

“Then as part of that, there’s also what they’re calling the Learner Profile where we get an overview of not just their academic results and ATAR, if that’s relevant, but any VET courses and other broader capabilities — things they’ve done while at school like work experience or employment, sports, achievements, interests and hobbies.

“I think it’s just about making sure that we really present the whole package of a student to future employers or universities or training options.”

Ms Mitchell said the Learner Profile concept was canvassed in a recent Education Council report led by Professor Peter Shergold, the chair of the NSW Education Standards Authority.

She added NSW was the best-placed Australian state to deliver the passports.

“Given that we’ve got a lot of the digital capabilities and we’re really at the forefront of this, I think we’ve got the chance to really take this and run with it and potentially be the first state in the nation to do something like this — that’s my goal,” she said.

“It’s really up to us to design it as to what we think will work for the NSW system.”

Originally published as NSW students first to carry government’s digital ‘school passport