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2. Equity and Opportunity in Senior Secondary Assessment & Certification

Australia’s certification system is fragmented  and  inequitable. It does not provide the value for young people that it should. Only 26% of students access tertiary pathways via the ATAR, an increasingly irrelevant ranking mechanism that is often unfair to those starting from a position of educational disadvantage. Our senior secondary curriculum primarily celebrates achievement in traditional academic domains and schooling structures. However, is this enough to prepare our young people with the digital literacies, life skills  and other metacognitive competencies that research tells us they will need? Though there are emerging efforts in some states and territories, national leadership is required for all young Australians to thrive into the future.

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Summit Responses

Several common threads emerge from the responses of summit attendees regarding "Equity and Opportunity in Senior Secondary Assessment and Certification" :

  • Consistency in guidelines and implementation across Australia

  • Acknowledging and supporting different pathways for students

  • Ensuring equity in access to education and opportunities

  • Reviewing the purpose and relevance of current assessment systems (e.g., ATAR)

  • Addressing the disconnect between educational goals and measurement frameworks

  • Improving career education and industry involvement

Summit attendees proposed 'Best Next Steps':

  1. Establish a fair and transparent process for university entry, consistent across Australia

  2. Develop a national framework for senior secondary education (e.g., HSC/QCE/WACE)

  3. Encourage high-quality VET delivery and consistency in implementation

  4. Support meaningful employment and further learning as alternative pathways to Year 12

  5. Ensure cultural validity of assessments, particularly for First Nations students

  6. Review the purpose of senior education, considering the needs of students not pursuing university

  7. Explore alternative assessment methods, such as capability-based assessments and student profiles

  8. Accommodate senior students' adult learning needs and skill development

  9. Review the purpose of education and consider alternative measures of success beyond ATAR

  10. Increase the value placed on skills and general capabilities

  11. Center careers education and harness alumni networks, with support from departments and directorates

  12. Move towards a nationally consistent approach to VET resourcing and training

  13. Consider alternative university admission processes, such as matching instead of ranking

  14. Recognize the difference between "schooling" and education, and the role of micro-credentials in meeting local needs

  15. Increase funding for tertiary education to remove access barriers

  16. Involve industry in the conversation about work-integrated learning and secondary education reform

  17. Ensure a guaranteed minimum curriculum standard for every child while allowing for local flexibility and contextualization

ASPA's Best Next Steps

1. Develop a national senior secondary unification framework that includes measures for capabilities, learner profiles, equal standing and integration for VET, recognition for out of school experience and learning. 

2. Increase the number of vocational education and training (VET) courses available to students and remove the requirement for tertiary qualified VET teachers to have Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.

3. Scale up careers education resources for secondary schools beginning in year 8 

4. Nationally licensed flexibility for principals and schools to determine their local ‘guaranteed and viable curriculum’ and remove the requirement for compulsory languages in year 7 & 8

5. Commission research and invest in alternate models for secondary education that provide options and pathways for students for whom mainstream schooling does not work.

Guest Articles

Related Links and Resources

Australian Learning Lecture

Beyond ATAR 2018

Center for Curriculum Re-design

4 Competencies Framework

Professor Peter Dawkins

National Press Club Address 2023

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