by Professor Mary Ryan
Some things in life are predictable. Like a media headline decrying the admission of students with a ‘low’ Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR) into teaching degrees.
Also predictable is the scant attention given to the fact that raw ATAR scores are routinely adjusted across the higher education sector to inform a students’ selection rank – for all courses.
Why is this done?
Because what’s not predictable is life and circumstance.
We live in an egalitarian society. Giving people a fair go is the Australian thing to do.
Limited adjustments are made to add points to a student’s selection ranking in consideration of important factors such as subjects studied, a students’ location, matters of equity, and elite athlete and performer achievements.
Doesn’t a student who didn’t do as well as expected in Year 12 due to factors outside their control such as mental health challenges, the death of a loved one, their postcode, the dire impact of natural disasters, or family breakdown deserve a chance?
ATAR should not define a person nor what they will achieve. Isn’t that what we tell our children during those stressful senior high school examination periods?
The number of students relying on adjustments to get into initial teacher education (ITE) programs across the country is well in the minority compared with those who automatically qualify.
In fact, in ACU’s most recent Brisbane cohort, for example, almost 60 per cent of students scored ATARs of 75 or above, including 40 per cent who achieved 90 or more.
Adjustments aren’t about filling places with students who we don’t believe will make the distance and become effective educators.
And as Australia’s largest provider of teachers, we have the national research data to show this.
We know the pinch points, the times where all students – just like any of us in life – need some extra attention, instruction, experience, and support to get through. And that’s exactly what we provide.
Our evidence-based teaching programs are complemented with wraparound supports, community connections, and a range of in-school learning opportunities for our education students, regardless of their ATAR at entry.
We know that an ATAR is not the only determining factor of what makes a high-quality teacher.
In fact, significant numbers of students including postgraduates are admitted into Australian ITE courses without an ATAR.
We also know that children fare better when the teacher in front of them represents the diversity of their community. As the saying goes, you can’t be what you can’t see.
Our ACU-designed Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment (GTPA), used widely by ITE providers, also guarantees that graduates have met the rigorous standards required to be the high-calibre 21st century teachers we need to lead our classrooms.
Not to mention the application of the Graduate Standards outlined by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership’s Professional Standards for Teachers, and the mandated Literacy and Numeracy Test for ITE students.
Teaching is a highly regulated profession, and rightly so. The stakes are too high for it not to be.
Teachers are many things to many children.
In addition to of course needing to be academically capable to understand and effectively teach the curriculum, they need to demonstrate empathy, kindness, creativity, agility, and have strong communication, collaboration, and relationship-building skills – characteristics that aren’t reflected by an ATAR score alone.
Each student accepted into our range of evidence-based teaching courses is an investment in the future of the profession.
They deserve an opportunity to prove themselves and to develop the skills, knowledge, practices, and techniques necessary to explicitly teach and inspire their future students and lift student outcomes.
Again, the vast majority of students accepted into our teaching courses automatically have the required ATAR or above it.
And for the minority with a raw ATAR that might just fall short of that threshold, we know that can be due to extenuating circumstances beyond a student’s control.
A few points shouldn’t lead to any student being labelled unfit or unworthy or preclude them without consideration from having the chance to study teaching, join a noble profession and excel as the educators of tomorrow.
Professor Mary Ryan is the ACU Executive Dean of Education and Arts