Victoria’s select-entry schools are in demand, but experts warn against their expansion

Victoria should avoid a push to radically expand the number of select-entry schools across the state because it would worsen social divisions in public schools, experts have warned.

A report into the education “catastrophe” facing boys suggested emulating NSW’s large network of select-entry high schools in a bid to get better outcomes for public school students.

William Ao wants more students to have the chance of attending a select-entry school.Credit: Penny Stephens

But a persistent criticism of select-entry education has been that enrolments are dominated by students from wealthy families, who could afford private schooling, rather than giving students from lower-socioeconomic backgrounds an education leg-up.

Victoria has four select-entry schools, with about 5700 youngsters sitting the entrance exam in June vying for just 1000 places across Melbourne High, Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School, Nossal High School, and Suzanne Cory High School.

Some specialist schools, such as John Monash Science School (a joint venture between the state and Monash University), the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School and Maribyrnong College, are also wholly or partially select-entry.

NSW has 43 secondary schools where some or all places are won by sitting an entrance exam, with more than 18,500 students applying for 4200 places.

In Victoria, the in-demand schools performed competitively against their high-fee, private school rivals in VCE results with Mac.Robertson the third-best overall last year, and Melbourne and Nossal high schools 11th and 13th, respectively.

By comparison, no other government schools (which are not select-entry or specialist schools) were in the top 20.

Trevor Cobbold, from the group Save Our Schools, which campaigns for education equity, believed more select-entry schools would be the wrong move for Victoria.

“We certainly should not emulate NSW with more selective schools,” Cobbold said.

“Academic research shows no significant benefits for students attending selective schools after adjusting for socioeconomic background.

“More selective schools would exacerbate social segregation in the public system and increase the already high concentration of low-income and other disadvantaged students in some schools which lowers student results.”

Australia already has one of the most segregated school systems in the OECD because of generous government funding that provides private schools with a major resource advantage over public schools.

“Let’s not make it worse by creating more selective schools,” Cobbold said.

Deakin University associate professor Emma Rowe said increasing select-entry schools would be a policy mistake, citing a wealth of research finding the existing system did little or nothing to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged children.

“Select-entry schools typically only enrol high SES [socioeconomic status] students, the vast majority represent advantaged backgrounds and families,” Rowe said.

“The process disadvantages students from low SES backgrounds – and they do not enrol any Indigenous students.

“They should have a quota, they should have to enrol a certain proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

Researcher David McCloskey, from the Australian Population Research Institute, published the report last Monday, which showed NSW was bucking a national trend of under-representation of children from government schools at university and in highly skilled professions, such as medicine.

In response, he urged governments around the country to expand their numbers of select-entry schools.

The disparity in the number of select-entry schools between Victoria and NSW can be traced back to their 19th century colonial past, according to Sydney University professor Helen Proctor, an expert on the historical roots of the modern education system.

“NSW really led the way in setting up a [select-entry] school system which included primary and secondary schools,” she said.

“In Victoria, there were proposals and plans to do the same thing, but a coalition of private, church and corporate schools blocked it because at that time, private schools had a bit of a monopoly on post-elementary education.”

Proctor said that select-entry schools set up in NSW, such as Fort Street High (established in 1849), Sydney Boys High and Sydney Girls High, grew in prestige and influence over the decades, laying the foundations for widespread select-entry schools in the state. The system has endured, with support at various times from both sides of politics.

Victoria’s first select-entry school, Melbourne High, opened in 1906, with Mac.Robertson splitting off in the 1930s. It was 80 years before more government-run select-entry high schools, Nossal High and Suzanne Corry, opened in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

The Victorian government allocated money in its budget this year to the planning of a new maths and science school in Melbourne’s north-west, which will be select-entry, but there is no other indication that it intends to expand select-entry education.

Melbourne High School student William Ao started this year and was excited about the opportunity to join the range of activities available at the school.

He’s already involved in robotics, Air Force cadets, debating and the railway interest group.

“Everybody is trying their best to do well,” the 15-year-old explained.

“It’s like a friendly competition that you won’t really find at other schools, and it’s really something that you can only get with like-minded individuals in the same environment.”

Since he was in primary school, he wanted to attend Melbourne High and knew, for his family, a private school wasn’t in the budget.

He wanted to see more selective schools opened in the state, so people of all backgrounds could benefit.

“Melbourne is growing and Victoria is growing and there’s more than just 1200 talented students in the state who deserve to go to one of these schools,” the teenager said.

NSW moved in 2022 to tackle inequity in their select-entry schools by introducing a quota of 20 per cent of places for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Victorian government said up to 10 per cent of places in its selective schools are open to “equity-entry” students, whose families hold a healthcare or pension concession, qualify for income support or are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

But only 3 per cent of students enrolled in the four select-entry government schools last year were from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

A spokesperson said provisions outside select-entry were in place to support high-ability students in the government school system.

“Our priority is – and has always been – that every child, no matter their postcode, has access to a world-class education in a Victorian government school,” the spokesperson said.

“Our Student Excellence Program ensures high-ability students are supported in every school, with better learning environments and support for teachers to deliver stronger educational outcomes.”

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