Learner profiles vs ATAR – how the latest debate fails the test
If you’re someone with an interest in Australia’s education system you may have noticed in recent weeks a war of words between schools, principals, academics and politicians.
What they’re debating is the state of reporting in Australia, most notably ATAR (the Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank - a percentile score that positions a student's academic performance on the completion of the final year of school in relation to their peers) and whether it is ‘fit for purpose’.
The case against ATAR
In one corner you have a group of more than a dozen leaders from a group of independent and public schools who argue that a “system of study scores and competitive rankings is an inadequate measure of each student’s achievements and capabilities.”
These leaders believe Year 12 students should graduate with a “learner profile” that doesn’t just provide grades (or scores) in specific subjects, but also includes information about their interests, values and skills like ‘communication, caring and creativity’.
The case for ATAR
This prompted a response from interest groups and leaders of an equally diverse range of schools arguing that “scrapping the ATAR would make competition for a university place less fair and give affluent students an even greater head start against their less advantaged peers.”
领英推荐
Some commentators argued that such a learner profile would create an ‘arms race’ of students to simply do as many extra-curricular activities as possible and this would unfairly advantage those from advantaged backgrounds.
A better solution
While I can see both sides of these arguments, I think they both have flaws. For example, a learner profile could be so much more than simply a list of a students’ activities. If we’re serious about preparing students for a rapidly changing future, any learner profile worth its salt must also show how students are ready to face that challenge.
And ATAR is hardly a holistic measurement of a student’s schooling. How does a student’s ATAR show how good a friend they are, or how creative they are, or whether they can think like an entrepreneur?
What if there was a learner profile that not only showed a students’ academic performance, but could also measure and report on their creative thinking, such as showing their capacity to deal with ambiguity, their capacity to collaborate, manage failure or have empathy?
Last year I conducted a survey of 194 employers from the corporate sector asking what skills and dispositions were the most sought after when hiring a new employee.?The data showed that employers are not as interested in a person’s qualifications as they are in their character and the skills and dispositions they possess. The most highly valued creativity dispositions included: flexible, adaptive and agile thinking, collaborative and empathetic, openness to experience, question posing, question responding, and engaging and persisting.
The good news is that there is a solution to this great conundrum. I invite you to watch this space for more information but, in the meantime, if this resonates with you or if you have questions, please get in touch. I’d love to hear your thoughts and chat about it further with you.
Leadership and management, vocational Chinese language and culture trainer
2 年'It is not generally understood that the ATAR alone is not the basis on which most students gain access to university. Indeed, only 31 per cent of students gaining entry to university in 2014 were selected on this basis'. https://cica.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Looking-to-the-Future-Report-June-2020.pdf What is the proportion of students who used ATAR in 2022? This report, largely ignored it seems, also recommends the introduction of Learner Profiles.
Principal at Croydon Community School FACEL Vic FACEL Aust
2 年Check out the International Big Picture Learner Credentials,it already does both
Business Development & Community Engagement Specialist | Expert in Operational Excellence
2 年ATAR just provide us a general idea on the average student capability in particular area, but not a good indication considering the curriculum are not really well fit for all. What is the purpose of high school education and how we want to shape our future generations should be the focus on the high school curriculum and ATAR should cover all around skill rather than a score to represent the particular unit. Does ATAR 99.9 means u r genius or what? Education itself shouldn’t be restricted by an ATAR score system, and should be much more than that.
Executive Director and Enterprise Professor, Melbourne Metrics, University of Melbourne
2 年I’m with you Paul!
Education (STEM) Lecturer at Central Queensland University
2 年This discussion needs to go wider. The case for exams and against exams, in the wake of AI and Google/smart phones. How do we measure potential? Some say it is a combination of factors from a person’s background to their commitment to success. Whatever the case, there seems a very real need to shift away from examinations to a more collaborative and individualised model for assessment that allows such potential to be measured. Is this seen in a learner profile? One would think it has a greater chance of success in terms of measuring all round potential than a system that perpetuates the myth that performance on a test can measure ability or potential in an area relevant to a future economy. To this end, a lot can be said for the IB learner profile could be seen as a starting point for how this might look in schools. They still use exams, but it is just one aspect of their profile and one that may need a re-think as well.