3 months ago
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Record numbers of Victorian students are turning their backs on getting a university admission score, even as year 12 completion rates soar.
Figures from the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre reveal a major shift in student priorities, as just over three-quarters of the state’s final-year students received an ATAR last year.
Year 11 student Elliott Smith is completing the VCE Vocational Major.
It’s a dramatic change from 2020, when nine in 10 students received the score to get into university.
That is a 15 percentage point drop in just over four years, according to VTAC.
But there has also been a boom in students completing year 12, with nearly 98 per cent of students graduating with their high school certificate in 2024. That’s up from 91.7 per cent in 2021, according to state government figures.
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The years 10-12 retention rate also reached a six-year high of 84 per cent.
Elliott Smith at Wurun Senior Campus in Fitzroy is one of thousands who completing the VCE Vocational Major, a program credited with the increase in students graduating from year 12.
Introduced in 2023, the VCE VM offers a practical, alternative pathway for students to secure their high school certificate, replacing the former Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning.
Crucially, students undertaking the VCE VM focus on applied learning, completing different subjects over two years. They sit only one final exam and do not receive a study score or an ATAR.
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Smith said he was considering leaving in year 10 to focus on his ambition of becoming a chef, but realised the vocational major would help him get certifications to help him with his goals.
“I was thinking of dropping out, but I saw there was a pathway that would better suit my needs,” the 16-year-old said.
It also meant he would be able to complete year 12.
Currently in year 11, he is completing a school-based apprenticeship and also working on getting a certification at TAFE.
“I am really passionate about cooking, and I realised with this [course], I could focus on that instead of doing a normal VCE pathway,” he said.
Smith’s goal is to become a chef and open his own restaurant. But first he intends to travel after he completes his apprenticeship and graduates.
“I want to find out my favourite cuisine and open up my own restaurant,” he said.
Smith was heartened to hear that the program was credited with improving the number of young people completing year 12.
“I feel like it’s a great thing. People may look down on it, but they don’t understand how it benefits you.
“I’m now getting a year 12 education plus skills that I’ll be using in the workforce.”
The program has expanded rapidly, with 11,000 students eligible to complete it this year, a nearly twofold increase from the 6500 students who finished the VCE VM when it was introduced.
The Labor government invested more than $747 million into reforming senior secondary education, focusing on vocational and alternative pathways to help students learn in-demand skills in health, construction and agriculture.
Figures also show there were 8340 students who achieved an ATAR above 90 in 2020, which increased to 8400 in 2024.
Academic Rod Yager, who sits chair of the committee responsible for calculating the scores in NSW, said students choosing to take a course that led to an ATAR was more likely for those of higher academic ability.
“Most of that fall in the participation rate is attributable to the lower end of the ATAR spectrum, and so the average ATAR rises as the participation rate falls,” he said.
According to education researcher Katie Roberts-Hull, it is a great achievement that more students are completing the final year of high school.
“This means students have more options and choices as they leave school,” she said.
Roberts-Hull said the goal of getting more students ready for university remained a good one, and the focus on educational equity had been on getting more kids on the path to university.
However, she pointed out there was some evidence the financial importance of a university degree was falling.
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“Though there is still a premium for top-paid jobs, this means it is a great time for education systems to invest in developing better pathways for secondary students who will not attend university,” she said.
For those heading to university, standardised admissions were the best options rather than an approach like that in the United States which included an application essay, recommendation letters, sporting ability and extracurricular activities, the researcher said.
“All of these criteria skew admissions to kids from more privileged backgrounds,” Roberts-Hull said.
She said the ATAR system wasn’t perfect, but it was standardised and transparent.
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