Principal's Address

Dear Parents and Carers, 

I trust you are all well as we embrace the start of the autumn season. 

As I mentioned last week, there is ongoing discussion in the media and community around the ATAR, and how we can complement the ATAR with explicitly assessing students’ capabilities such as collaboration, communication, creative thinking and problem solving. 

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, universities had been looking at more than the ATAR when considering admissions to their courses. Since the pandemic universities have increasingly bypassed the ATAR by offering a record number of early offers. In fact, the escalating prominence of early offers over the last few years would indicate that the need for an ATAR is even less than what appears in the diagram below. 

Of course, state and territory educational jurisdictions offer more than the ranking reflected by one mark on one day. In New South Wales, each student receives a certificate upon completion of secondary school. The Higher School Certificate (HSC) comprises a compilation of marks and ‘bands’, reflecting the standard achieved within each course. Schools such as Chevalier often take the time to complement the HSC by offering awards, prizes and references which reflect the personal and holistic uniqueness of each individual student. 

However, we need to go further, much further. 

In 2022, Professor Sandra Milligan, Enterprise Professor & Director of the Australian Research Centre (ARC), Melbourne Graduate School of Education, stated,  

"We should be able to put in place a system that enables every kid to show where they’re strong, what they can do, and be able to use that to go where is best for them. And at the moment, we don’t have that system; we’ve got an examination and an ATAR system.” 

The changes required for a new, ‘fit for purpose’ education system will require great courage from educational system leaders. It will also require governments to trust those trained in education and action research – teachers and contemporary academics. More likely, the transformation of education will come from within, from innovative schools and individual change agents who collectively reveal new ways of learning. Such a reality will ensure each adolescent at Chevalier becomes a young adult who knows themselves and their skills well enough to find a meaningful place in their world. 

In their most recent report, Report 3: Framing success for all, Learning Creates Australia identifies changes required for senior secondary certificates to support the new definitions of success that learners, teachers and employers want and need. As a way forward we could take seriously the ‘Shergold Review’ – Looking to the Future – The Review of Senior Secondary Pathways. The Review made 20 recommendations to the Australian Government to facilitate important changes to the design and management of secondary school pathways. Most notably, recommendation 4 called for the creation of learner profiles in Australia by stating, 

“Students should leave school with a Learner Profile that incorporates not only their ATAR score (where relevant) together with their individual subject results, but that also captures the broader range of evidenced capabilities necessary for employment and active citizenship that they have acquired in senior secondary schooling.” 

Looking to the Future Shergold et al., 2020, p. 20. 

In a positive development, the New South Wales government appears to be taking seriously the need for a Learner Profile. Although labelled a Digital Wallet (the differences between a wallet and a profile need to be clearly understood when moving forward), the NSW Education Minister, Sarah Mitchell confirms, “Students, industry and universities have been sharing with us what they want included in the learner profile.”

In September 2022, along with other principals and key leaders in half a dozen NSW schools, I was fortunate to attend a ‘NSW Learner Profile Workshop Day’. The work done up to that point in time by Eric Land and his Education Wallet Team at the NSW Department of Education was extremely impressive. The wallet/profile will enable students to showcase the very best of who they are and what they can be by bringing together in one virtual place formal academic attainment, micro-credentials, VET certification, work-related courses, performing arts and sporting progress, formal examination results, and the list goes on. The information shared at any given point in time can flex up and flex down depending upon purpose and audience – think closed job application as compared to open public profile. 

South Australia is leading the way with its Capabilities & Learner Profile Project. The project is working with 30 pilot schools who include assessment of capabilities alongside academic achievement (grades) to provide a more holistic view of graduates’ achievements. The aspiration is for the SACE (South Australian Certificate of Education) Learner Profile to demonstrate a student’s capabilities "…showcasing their achievements following 13 years of schooling and to enable them to make better decisions about their post-school pathways that match with potential employers and further education providers.” 

Work on assessing and reporting on ‘evidenced capabilities’ continues to be the main focus of The New Metrics Project. For two years a coalition of First Mover Schools from across all Australian states and education sectors has engaged in rigorous collaborative research led by the University of Melbourne. The project continues to produce work which sees a movement away from the traditional ‘grammar of schooling’, most notably through the development of assessment tools for complex competencies. A recent development has been the generation of sample profiles that recognise a broader range of what a learner knows and can do. Some samples appear below. 

At the beginning of this year, Chevalier joined The New Metrics Project. The reason is because we know the expression of evidenced capabilities as part of a greater Learner Profile will offer an opportunity for better, more rounded educational outcomes for students at Chevalier. 

Looking ahead, I am positive that one day in the near 2-3 years one of our Chevalier students will leave with not only a Higher School Certificate and an ATAR (if they want one). However, they will all leave with a Learner Profile which showcases the very best of who a young adult is and what they can do, so they can find their place of meaning in this rapidly changing world.  

So, it is within this context that I invite you to attend a parent and carers forum to discuss the future of learning and schooling at Chevalier.  This will be held from 7.00pm - 8:30pm on Wednesday 15 March. Please click on this link to confirm your attendance. 

Yours faithfully  

Mr Greg Miller 

References and Hyperlinks 

 “Your ATAR isn’t the only thing universities are looking at.” 20 Mar. 2018, https://theconversation.com/your-atar-isnt-the-only-thing-universities-are-looking-at-93353. 

“HSC 2022: ATARs bypassed by universities; students receive early ….” 13 Sep. 2022, https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/universities-bypass-atars-as-record-number-of-students-receive-early-offers-20220906-p5bfvf.html.  

 “Is it time to rethink year 12 exams? – ABC News.” 5 Nov. 2022, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-06/atar-year-12-exams-time-for-rethink/101599868. 

“Framing success for all – Learning Creates Australia.” https://www.learningcreates.org.au/media/attachments/2022/04/01/learningcreates_framingsuccessreport_march2022.pdf.  

“Looking to the Future: Report of the Review of senior secondary ….” 23 Jul. 2020, https://www.education.gov.au/quality-schools-package/resources/looking-future-report-review-senior-secondary-pathways-work-further-education-and-training. 

“Capabilities & Learner Profile – SACE Board.” https://www.sace.sa.edu.au/innovating/capabilities-learner-profile. Accessed 5 Dec. 2022. 

“An equity perspective on the development of student learner profiles.” 5 Jul. 2021, https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/research-database/equity-perspective-student-learner-profiles/.