By Holly Thompson
Changing how the ATAR system works could be the key to making education more accessible in the public school system, while reducing stress and mental health issues in students, parents and teachers.
Bill Louden, Post-School Success Expert Panel Report chairman, said a strong senior secondary education system was vital for students and for the state, community and economy.
Parents in public schools are contributing less while those in the private system are shelling out more.Credit: iStock
“We need to acknowledge that the world around us has changed faster than our senior secondary system, and as a result, there are some students whose needs are currently not being met,” he wrote in a draft report.
“We are proposing a suite of recommendations that will ensure senior secondary pathways are accessible and meaningful for all students.”
Some key recommendations of the panel include enabling as many VET qualifications as possible to contribute to ATAR in line with other Australian jurisdictions, expanding the information included in the WA Statement of Student Achievement to reflect a holistic picture of success, and to develop an additional level within the WACE to accommodate students with a recognised disability.
The report also listed six ‘key imperatives’ including increasing student retention.
The system must recognise the value the uniqueness of students, which they did not alway do.
The report also revealed there had been a 9 per cent decrease in students choosing ATAR courses since 2016, and an 11 per cent enrolment increase in general courses.
The Post-School Success Expert Panel Report: Consultation Draft was released on Thursday and is a blueprint to strengthening secondary school pathways.
Education Minister Tony Buti said the draft report made it clear changes were needed to ensure the system was equitable.
“We are committed to ... helping to prepare students for the range of further study, training and work options available to them,” he said.
The draft contains 35 recommendations on how to improve the system, particularly related to ATAR and WA certificate of education (WACE) attainment.
It noted concerns that “at least some students are not selecting pathways that are sufficiently challenging for them and may compromise their long-term educational interests.”
Dissolving the hard distinction between ATAR and general courses and expanding the number and type of courses and programs that can count toward an ATAR would enable the system to recognise a broader range of student achievement, the report found.
It could also have benefits for breaking down the perceived ‘ATAR-centric’ nature of the system, relieve timetabling pressures, and help students to make study choices that match with their individual learning goals.
Curtin University school of education senior lecturer Saul Karnovsky told Radio 6PR he agreed with “pretty much everything” the report recommended.
“Increasingly [the current system] is creating high mental health issues and stress, and that stress is put on teachers, that stress is put on parents,” he said.
“We really need to reform our schooling system, or young people will increasingly disengage and disconnect.”
Karnovsky said other issues in the schooling system, like the chronic teacher shortage and teacher wellbeing, also needed to be addressed for any of the recommendations were to be successful.
“We need to give the teachers creativity and flexibility, so they can modify programs to suit the needs of their communities,” he said.
“If we give teachers that sense of autonomy in schools ...then I think we’ll see a bright future.”
The draft report has been released for public consultation, with the final report to be provided to the state government on October 1.
“Senior secondary pathways have wide-ranging implications for a broad range of stakeholders, so it is important that this consultation draft be open for feedback from the public,” Buti said.
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