Newhaven College students have their say on ATAR’s future

THE recent debate on whether to abandon the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) since it only considers a student’s academic skills has sprung the attention of VCE students at Newhaven College. 

Year 12 students Oscar Healey, Brinn Hamley, Niamh Moore, and Gabe Pascoe together with Principal Tony Corr, discussed the pros and cons of the current VCE scaling system, while suggesting alternative eligibility criteria. 

The question rose on whether the ATAR that currently stands is actually serving what its intended to do. 

Mr Tony Corr stated that at the moment it’s a system that is largely based around exams, SAC scores and ranking, and that then determines your overall ranking and therefore your university. 

“We as a school, also really value what we call a holistic education, so we’re encouraging students to have community projects in volunteerism, co-curricular activities, leadership opportunities, outdoor education, as well as offering music and drama programs, and we see these as a very important part of education and in theory, none of that goes into their ATAR score,” said Mr Corr. 

Year 12 student Gabe is working towards being accepted into a Bachelor of Science at Melbourne University and he addressed the issue by stating that: 

“In terms of academics, I believe it is really fair in how it scales the academic subjects, but where it falls in my opinion is when a university gets your name and your score, they know nothing about what you’ve done – it really is just the subjects that do you that matter.” 

“I believe scholarships in Australian universities could be a good way of encouraging a broader range of people to undergo tertiary education. I know a lot of people that are heavily involved in sport that want to go onto university, but these aren’t necessarily the subjects that scale up to give them the score they need,” said Gabe. 

Universities are currently accepting those that achieve a certain ATAR score despite the subjects, as someone can succeed no matter what subjects they undergo. 

However, it is certainly harder for some students than it is for others and Gabe continues in saying that ‘the current ATAR result doesn’t give a university an insight into who the student is.’

Another issue raised was the current downscaling of folio subjects and all art subjects in general. Year 12 student Niamh has a vision of studying a Bachelor of Arts, focusing on humanities and design but states that universities don’t take into consideration the level of preparation that goes into a student’s portfolio. 

“In order to start a career in arts or design, businesses are looking at your portfolio and early entries – things that besides the ATAR that do define a student. Mature aged students are accepted without an ATAR but the work we’ve completed throughout our schooling isn’t considered,” said Niamh. 

“I’m not dismissing that language and sciences are naturally harder and do require more work, in which case they should be scaled up; however, folio subjects do require just as much work and a lot more preparation.” 

Year 12 student Brinn Hamley goes onto to speak about her goal in getting into a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and how already in term one of her final year, she is already feeling the stress of SACs and exams. 

“We are all feeling the overwhelming pressure to isolate ourselves to study, to put a hold on our social lives, but this isn’t good for our mental health, and this stress could also then affect our work when we’re doing exams and therefore alter our end result,” said Brinn. 

The pressure of exams is a major factor in many students overall result, and Principal Tony Corr stated that “from a principal’s perspective, it disappoints me very much at the end of year 12 when a student who’s contributed in so many ways during their 13 years of school, for whatever reason, their ATAR isn’t at the level they expected, and that’s their last moment.”

“They leave the school feeling a little bit down and despondent and I don’t think that’s how we want a young person to enter the world, especially when they’ve done so much for so long, and too many of them are in that category.”