Our college dumped the ATAR – because it doesn’t measure anything useful

By the end of this week, year 12 students from Victoria and NSW will have received their official examination results. As they begin to make decisions about their futures, whether that involves university, vocational pathways or entering the workforce, the conversation too often narrows to a single number; the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, or ATAR.

Yet education, opportunity and potential are far more complex than that. As our landscape shifts and young people explore increasingly diverse routes into meaningful careers, it’s worth asking whether the systems we rely on to measure success still serve them.

For many families, this period is a reminder of how dramatically the post-school environment has changed in the past decade, with new industries, new modes of learning, and new expectations emerging at a rapid pace.

Year 12 students receive an ATAR score. An ATAR of 80 means you performed better than 80 per cent of your cohort. Australia stands alone as the only country among 251 countries and territories that use percentile rankings to compare students against one another.

While the Australian government continues to insist that graduating high school with an ATAR is the best preparation for university, students and their parents are turning their back on that system. The shift reflects a growing recognition that the world of education and employment is evolving, and that rigid systems no longer match the flexibility required in modern learning pathways.

Last year, at the Australian College of the Arts (Collarts), we removed the ATAR barrier to entry for all students. We then compared the performance of students who enrolled with and without an ATAR. Students with no or low ATARs performed just as well as their counterparts.

In 2025, around 22,800 NSW secondary students enrolled in HSC VET (Vocational Education and Training) courses, up from 20,400 in 2024. The NSW VET Review, published in June last year, was commissioned by the NSW government in recognition of these increasing numbers of the state’s students enrolling in VET in the schools program. It recommended an increasingly industry-focused curriculum and a review of HSC exam requirements which consistently “integrate VET competency into the ATAR calculation”.

In Victoria, more than 26,600 year 11 and 12 students were enrolled in the VCE Vocational Major in 2024 – a 19.3 per cent increase on the previous year. Last year, for the first time, more than 30 per cent of year 11 and 12 students in Victorian government schools chose vocational education. This continued growth signals strong demand for practical learning models that recognise skills beyond academic exam performance.

At Collarts, we removed the ATAR barrier for reasons of equity. However, by not relying on that score we ensure we don’t miss out on recruiting dozens of brilliant, creative minds who may not be good at STEM subjects or have access to tutors or additional academic help.

Our decision was also based on four years of data showing that there is no correlation between a new student’s ATAR and their pass rate at our college. We compared students with low, medium and high ATAR scores, and found they were progressing through their college courses at the same rate.

In Victoria, the current VCE/ATAR system rewards those who perform well in exams but undervalues creative disciplines – the very skills that will define the future of work. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Survey 2025, creative thinking and resilience rank among the four most in-demand skills projected for 2030, alongside expertise in technology and AI. As industries continue to transform, the ability to adapt, ideate and collaborate will only become more critical.

Creativity can’t be measured with an ATAR score. And creativity isn’t just about art; it’s the capacity to generate new ideas, designs, performances and solutions. And these skills are transferable across a wide range of disciplines, which are often outside the traditional creative sphere.

At Collarts, students are assessed for admission by teacher recommendations, their community involvement and leadership roles, volunteering, sports and performing arts achievements, as well as interviews and reviews of portfolios. We look beyond grades. We use portfolios of creative work and interviews to understand a student’s potential.

Surely those other 250 countries can’t all be wrong and Australia, right. It’s time to rethink the ATAR system because it’s outdated and exclusionary. We are losing too many bright minds.

The ATAR is merely a snapshot, not a life sentence. It’s time we stop defining young people by a number.

Sam Jacob is chief executive of the Australian College of the Arts.

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