The review of senior secondary pathways is reporting to the Education Council, which is made up of Australian state, territory and federal education ministers, in June.

The review looked at how to integrate Vocational Education and Training with academic pathways for school leavers.

Ahead of the report's submission, chair of the review and NSW Education Standards Authority chair Professor Peter Shergold outlined the idea of an "education passport that you then take with you through your life" to a webinar held by the Centre for Social Impact at the University of NSW, according to a recent report in the Sydney Morning Herald.

"In chairing that review, it has become increasingly obvious to me that the way ATAR is presently used in schools is distorting, profoundly distorting, the educational experience," he told the webinar.

"We are the only country I have found in the world which brings it down to a single number, and the difficulty is that is distorting what is happening in the final years of education at schools, and is distorting choices."

APC made a number of points in our submission to the review, including:

• Lack of parent knowledge and understanding of modern education pathways is a barrier to students accessing vocational education and training
• Increasingly students are self-seeking education so the education system needs to accommodate this
• A single numerical ranking does not speak to the holistic achievement of 13 years of schooling.

APC also proposed that ‘the use of a Unique Student Identifier or a Student portfolio where they could collect their qualification, course and achievements would be beneficial.’

Read the full APC submission. https://austparents.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2019-APC-Submission-Review-into-Senior-Secondary-Pathways.pdf