Why the ATAR is fatally flawed and makes remote learning even more unfair

Good ideas tend to spread, so why hasn’t the ATAR? Could it be that it’s so unfair and inequitable that no other country wants a bar of it? And with lockdown creating even more disadvantage, now could be the perfect time to get rid of it.

OPINION: If the ATAR is such a great measure of academic potential, why has no other country in the world picked it up in the 10 years it has been in existence?

Good ideas tend to spread, why hasn’t ATAR?

Because while it is very quick to calculate, transparent and APPEARS to provide an amazing level of precision, being able to directly compare a student studying maths/ science subjects to one studying dance, drama and music in a single number to an accuracy of 0.05 of one decimal place is plainly ludicrous.

It is also demonstrably unfair and inequitable and as such no other country wants a bar of

it.

As an educator of 30 years experience, leading schools in both the State and independent sector, I have always naively held on to the ideal that education should be a great leveller. Allowing students to improve themselves and achieve in spite of their home circumstances and background, neither of which they chose.

Since the ATAR’s inception I have seen the curriculum narrow and become less practical, less

engaging extending all the way into the primary years as teachers try to give advantage to their own children by teaching to the test and gaming the system.

In certain affluent and ambitious families this has been taken to a new level with tutors being employed in every subject.

The move to remote learning will make the gap between those with money and support and those without even wider.

Many of these tutors are themselves VCE teachers by day, subsidising their wages at night, and the pressure on them to raise marks extends to assisting with writing assessments for their students.

These tutors have ramped up their services and impact during the lockdown.

The desire to advantage our own children is a natural instinct I accept, but it should not be something condoned by the state, and because it is a direct ranking system of student against students, ATAR does this.

The current pandemic has not only highlighted the inequality but is directly accentuating it. The gap between students who are well resourced – financially, technologically, geographically and emotionally and those who are not is grossly unfair.

The OECD placed Australia 30th out of 38 countries for equity based on the strong correlation between socio economics and educational outcome, as any additional assistance one student gets over another inevitably pushes them higher in the ranking system.

Now let’s consider how the race this year is even more unfair.

For many students home is still a comfortable place to study remotely.

For others home is not physically or emotionally safe.

It is cramped, noisy and the adults around may not really value education, or be able to provide the academic support available to some.

Prior to COVID19 school was a sanctuary for our most vulnerable students and a place of support, now even public libraries are closed and studying at a friends house is out of the question.

ATAR rankings are already unfair but now disadvantaged students are also isolated and without the support of teachers and their school community.

Effective remote learning requires internet access, and usable technology.

For many disadvantaged students the phone may be their only connected device, with limited data plans not suited to prolonged periods of remote learning.

Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are now isolated from their peers but are also missing the daily support of trusted, stable adults previously provided by their school and community groups.

How fair is that ranking, that race, starting to look now?

The Black Dog Institute says one in four young people has a probable serious mental illness and young people are 60% more likely to die at their own hand than due to a car accident.

As an educator, I can assure you we had a health crisis even before the virus.

For rural students in particular this has been a ridiculously hard year which started with fire, floods and drought.

Before the pandemic, only one in two students living remotely completed secondary school, this year they will drop out in record numbers, but the ATAR will not reflect this, because these students simply won’t be connected to education any longer.

I cannot sit back any longer as Education Ministers and educational bureaucrats give trite assurances that no student will be disadvantaged and encouraging schools to adopt a business as usual approach.

Remote learning is NOT business as usual, it will further discriminate between those students from affluence and privilege and those not born quite so fortunate.

ATAR is not a fair race and no amount of tweaking or allowing principals to ‘make suitable adjustments’ can fix this.

Because it is a ranking system, there must be winners and losers and it is clear who those losers will be.

We still have time to come up with an alternative approach, but because it is a ranking system, ATAR needs to be cancelled for 2020 and an alternative more humane approach adopted.

Peter Hutton is Convener of the Future Schools Alliance

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