20 FEBRUARY 2020
Commentary in “Teaching students struggling to finish their degrees, report says” (The Age, 20 Feb 2020) is not true in Victoria.
The article, which suggests the number of students accepted into education courses with ATARs lower than 50 has grown fivefold over the past decade, is based on 2016 data aggregated across all Australian institutions.
The Victorian Government introduced the Excellence in Teacher Education reforms which included introducing a minimum ATAR score of 65 for entrants into Victorian initial teacher education (ITE) programs. The minimum ATAR requirement increased to 70 for 2019 student intakes.
The Victorian Selection Framework (VSF) was introduced in 2018 as part of the reforms, and requires applicants to ITE programs to be assessed consistently based on their personal attributes and academic capabilities, and that selection mechanisms are evidence-based and continually monitored for effectiveness.
The VSF focuses on raising entry requirements for Victorian ITE programs in three ways
- selecting students who have demonstrated levels of academic achievement equivalent to the top 30 per cent of academic performers
- teacher education students commencing in 2018 were required to have an ATAR of 65
- teacher education students commencing in 2019 and beyond are required to have an ATAR of 70 - considering a student’s personal attributes – and hence suitability for teaching – as part of the selection process
- sharing data to build an evidence base on the effective selection of students into Victorian ITE programs to support continuous improvement.
The research referred to in the article was conducted by a Sydney University academic who may not have been aware of the Victorian context and the requirements for accreditation that relate directly to entry standards. Data reported was from 2016, and did not account for national and State-based reforms introduced after 2016.
In relation to commentary on transparency, it is important to note that Australian higher education providers, tertiary admission centres and other related bodies have committed to the following common admission-related terms and definitions to ensure consistency in the presentation of admission requirements across courses and institutions.
The article states that “transparency is a serious problem”, with regard to the fact that some education providers do not use ATARs to determine entry into programs.
It is accepted that there are a number of pathways into teaching that are also relevant to entry into other programs, such as law and medicine. These pathways take into account that applicants may have previously studied at a higher education institution or may have undertaken vocational education or may not have recent secondary education.
Only about one quarter of Victorian pre-service teachers come directly from secondary education where ATAR score is used to assess entry into an ITE program. Therefore, the assumption that this is not transparent is not reasonable.
Evidence shows that the quality of teaching has one of the largest impacts on student learning. The VSF acknowledges that building teaching excellence through pre-service training is paramount to improving teacher quality.
We want Victorian children and young people to have the best teachers, and the VSF raises entry standards and attracts high quality candidates from diverse backgrounds into the teaching profession.
