The admission of students with ATARs in the low 50s into some NSW teaching degrees has prompted calls for a minimum entry requirement to be introduced across the state's universities.
Data from the Universities Admissions Centre released on Monday shows ATARs in the low 60s were the standard for entry into teaching courses at the Australian Catholic University, University of Newcastle and the University of Canberra, while some students with marks below that were eligible after adjustment factors were considered.
A student with a raw ATAR of 49.65 was offered a place in the ACU's secondary teaching degree in the humanities, and a raw rank of 48.30 was accepted for the University of Canberra's primary education degree.
While the median ATAR of students accepted in those courses was in the 60s or 70s, Teachers Federation president Maurie Mulheron said the standard should be higher. Almost half of NSW HSC students achieved an ATAR above 70, which was this year introduced as the mandatory standard for entry to teaching courses in Victoria.
"[OECD recommendations] say that to meet demand but not lower the standard, you should take no more than the top 30 per cent of [students]. If that were the case, then 80 is roughly the ATAR cut-off. The Victorian cut-off is too low," Mr Mulheron said.
"If you don’t have the intellectual capacity, you won’t be able to do teaching. It’s an extraordinarily demanding job and we should be expecting only the best and brightest going into it."
What is the 'lowest selection rank'?
A student's selection rank includes their raw Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) as well as adjustment factors considered by specific universities, which used to be called 'bonus points'. The lowest selection rank for admission to a university degree was formerly known as its 'ATAR cut-off'. It is calculated based on the number of places available, the number of applicants, and their ranks.
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said on Tuesday she would be open to any measure that helped improve the quality of teaching in NSW.
"Great teachers are critical to lifting student performance,'' she said. ''We are working in a number of areas to ensure that we are raising the bar for teachers in NSW. ATAR isn't the single indicator of a good teacher, but it is not unreasonable to expect that people wanting to become teachers can perform to acceptable standards academically.
''The teacher success profile has taken effect this year. This means that anyone wanting to be a teacher in a NSW government school will need to achieve a credit grade point average while studying at university and meet four other standards.''
The lowest selection rank for a combined arts and secondary education degree is 80 at both the University of Sydney and UNSW. At UTS, the lowest selection rank accepted was 72.60 for primary education and 76.45 for secondary education.
Rachel Wilson, a senior education academic at the University of Sydney, said an external benchmark was required and the Victorian approach to ATAR requirements had been helpful, although more action was needed.
"The fact we're seeing relatively low performers in this group is disappointing, but we don’t know the full story. We need a lot more reporting and research on who these students are [with low entry scores] and how they progress through their degree. That should be done as a priority. These patterns are damaging the esteem of a really important profession," she said.
ACU's executive dean of education, Professor Elizabeth Labone, said all students at the university had met requirements set by the NSW Education Standards Authority.
"Students in all teaching disciplines must also pass academic and non-academic capabilities criteria to continue and complete their degree. ACU continues to ensure we meet the relevant accreditation requirements,” she said.