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Western Australia’s school system will receive an overhaul as dramatically declining numbers are staying in school to obtain their West Australian Certificate of Education.
On Monday at the Education Awards breakfast, state Education Minister Tony Buti announced the final recommendations from a review into senior secondary pathways, the Post-School Success report.
It found that “while assessment is critical to understanding what a student has learned, it should not determine what that student should learn. Unfortunately, the Western Australian system has evolved in such a way that this is occurring in some cases”.
“I’ve been hearing of schools coaching students out of taking challenging ATAR courses because they feel the student is not performing as well as they should be and that may impact the schools’ overall performance,” Buti told the audience.
“I want our system to coach students into courses that would challenge them and allow them to reach for the stars, not coach them out.”
Despite a decline in the number of students sitting ATAR courses, the number heading to university from school has not slowed as much, thanks to an increasing number of university-developed enabling programs.
The report found the number of students choosing these programs jumped from 344 five years ago to 1700 by 2023 – another issue Buti said he found troubling.
“I know that ATAR is not the answer to everything, but I do believe ATAR courses best challenge our students, which is important preparation for those wanting to go to university,” he said
“I believe that in most cases, if a student is capable of doing ATAR, they should do it.”
Key recommendations from the report to help include enabling as many VET subjects as possible to contribute towards an ATAR, expanding the information included in the Western Australian Statement of Student Achievement to reflect a holistic picture of achievement beyond grades, and to make WASSAs available to students who leave school before year 12.
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