Non-ATAR pathways continue to underperform, threatening the goals of the Accord to boost under-represented cohorts, despite the latest domestic enrolment positivity.
Jason Clare is happy more young Australians “are getting a crack at university” and was pleased indeed last week that UG starts last year were 276,000, up 2% on pre-COVID 2019.
To continue the cracking, Mr Clare is creating needs-based funding university places for equity cohorts. “We need to break down that invisible barrier that stops a lot of people from disadvantaged backgrounds getting a crack at going to university and succeeding when they get there.”
Good-o, problem is many don’t start – thanks to what they get told to do at school.
Andrew Harvey (Griffith U) has long warned that Indigenous and low SES students are encouraged out of ATAR pathways, that lead to university.
“There are merits to diversifying curriculum, increasing VET provision in schools, and reducing reliance on ATARs. However, much of the current streaming appears to be reducing rather than increasing choice, particularly for students already under-represented in higher education,” he wrote in 2023.
And things are still what they used to be, Professor Harvey tells FC. The Queensland “next steps” survey of post-school destinations finds nearly 60% of respondents in low-SES Logan reported they had been in non-ATAR pathways. Alternative university admission programmes don’t appear to make a difference
“There is no doubt some mobility, but most people seem to stay in their lanes,” Harvey says. According to Jobs and Skills Australia, less than 10% of VET Certificate Two and Three completers transition to HE; numbers are lower for Indigenous, Disabled and regional, rural, remote students.
“Overall, an ATAR recipient is around eleven times more likely to transition directly to higher education than a non-ATAR completer in Queensland, “ he says.
This may be why Mr Clare always refers to 80% of the workforce having a tertiary qualification.