ACDE President on why ATAR cut-offs are a bad idea

ACDE President Tania Aspland says: ‘Politicians tinker with things like ATAR to grandstand and it really doesn’t make a good contribution to building the profession.’

‘It is only one measure of a student’s potential to become a great teacher. In fact there is no empirical evidence that shows a high ATAR makes a good teacher, there is none whatsoever.’

She says non-academic traits such as compassion and humour are equally as important.

‘What I want entering the teaching profession is people who connect with young Australians and take them forward in their learning. They can be very bright in mathematics and hopeless communicators.’

Professor Aspland also points to the fact that only around a third of teaching students are secondary school leavers.

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