Beyond ATAR Gathers Momentum

Support for a learner profile and ways to improve education pathways for 15-19 year olds in Australia has been gathering since ALL launched its revolutionary plan Beyond ATAR in October 2019.

Support for a learner profile and ways to improve education pathways for 15-19 year olds in Australia has been gathering since ALL launched its revolutionary plan Beyond ATAR in October 2019.

ALL’s founder Ellen Koshland and one of the report’s authors Dr Sandra Milligan (Director and Enterprise Professor, Assessment Research Centre, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne) have met with many people and institutions including Peter Shergold, who is chairing the Senior Secondary Pathways Review which will report to the COAG Education Council in mid – 2020, the Committee of Melbourne and the Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals.

An RMIT Expert Stakeholder Forum was convened in February this year to progress discussion about how to support alternative pathways from school to post-school life. A range of policy papers, including the ALL paper, was put forward, each of which articulated the need for change and, in particular, the imperative to value a wider set of metrics at the end of thirteen years of schooling. Broad agreement emerged on the desirability of a learner profile – a one-page document that includes academic learning and capabilities.

The proposal has enjoyed strong media coverage, most recently in The Conversation. The Learner Profile has also been promoted in by the South Australia Certificate of Education board’s Chief Executive Professor Martin Westwell.