Two-thirds of students enrolled in Sydney’s most popular selective schools came from the most socially advantaged quarters of society last year, despite the rollout of a program designed to give more spots to disadvantaged pupils.
Just 1 per cent of students at the prestigious James Ruse Agricultural High, Baulkham Hills, Penrith and Girraween high schools in western Sydney were from the lowest socio-educational quartile last year, government data shows.
The new figures come two years after the rollout of the selective school “equity placement model”, which is designed to reserve up to 20 per cent of places for students from targeted equity groups, including Indigenous and rural and remote students, as well as those with a disability and from low socio-educational advantage areas. Their entry test scores must still fall within 10 per cent of the normal cut-off.
Of Sydney’s 10 most popular selective schools, only Hurlstone Agricultural College had a cohort where fewer than two-thirds of pupils came from the very top socio-educational quarter last year.
But at that school, the proportion of students from the bottom quartile actually fell in the two years the equity program was running, decreasing from 9 per cent in 2022 to 6 per cent in 2024.
The socio-educational advantage measure is a score that is used to describe the demographic make-up of a particular school as advantaged or disadvantaged, and is based on factors such as students’ parents’ level of education and occupation, alongside the school’s location in a remote, rural or metropolitan area.
Only 1 per cent of students from the lowest socio-educational quartile were enrolled in Sydney’s most popular selective schools last year.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
While the equity model appears to have so far failed to shift the dial in terms of the lowest quartile of socio-educational advantage at Sydney’s 10 most popular schools, an Education Department spokeswoman said there was a 10 per cent uplift in the number of students from all targeted equity groups in 2024, compared with the first year of the program.
“While this scheme has been in place for two entry cohorts, it is pleasing to see an increasing number of students entering selective high schools under the Equity Placement Model,” she said.
Australian Tutoring Association chief executive Mohan Dhall said there should have been an increase in the percentage of students from disadvantaged backgrounds showing up in selective schools in the past two years.
“If two years have had the benefit of the model, then you would expect a third of the target to be achieved,” he said, given high schools have six year groups.
He urged the government to consider other measures, such as extending the leeway beyond the 10 per cent margin for disadvantaged primary school students, to proactive measures such as providing free academic coaching to children whose families could not afford it, to level the playing field for the selective school test.
“If someone like Eddie Woo were to be paid by the department to run coaching classes, then suddenly you would have an equally high-profile coach, which could compete with the coaching college sector and reduce inequity,” he said.
University of NSW gifted education expert Dr Geraldine Townsend called for more years of data to see if the program was working, but said tutoring was not necessary to be successful in the test after it was overhauled in 2021 to be less coachable.
“There needs to be an understanding that you don’t need to be coached,” she said.
Townsend said the students admitted under the equity model had already done well in school.
“Those students, to my knowledge, are doing really well. Many of them aren’t coached, and they’re actually there because they have the ability to be there,” she said.
UTS academic Christina Ho, who has studied the make-up of selective schools, said a flood of students from target equity groups may not have eventuated as they may not be applying in the first place.
“Some families just don’t think that selective schooling is for them – and even if they do, they’re not really able to give the kids the preparation for them to succeed,” she said.
Christina Ho has studied how the migrant experience has influenced Australian education. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
She said that despite the test being designed to be less coachable, the hours of tutoring that migrant families often paid for in the months and years ahead of the test meant their children were at an advantage.
“I don’t think they’re gaming the system – they’re following the rules that were not set up by them,” she said.
Her research has previously found that, due to Australia’s skilled migration program, children in selective schools were more likely to have highly educated parents with professional jobs, placing them in the top socio-educational quartile.
“The more practice you do for a test, the more familiar you are with test questions and the faster you will be … It works because our education system rewards competition,” she said.
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