Privileges and Disadvantages that Affect Student's Success in the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (Research Paper Sample)

AUSTRALIAN TERTIARY ADMISSION RANK (ATAR)
By Student's Name
Course Code and Name
Professor’s Name
University Name
City, State
Date of Submission
There is a general assumption that students who do well in high school will excel in the university while those who perform poorly in high school will have continue with such performance even at tertiary level. The Australian system uses the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) criteria in admission centres when students apply for tertiary institutions. The ATAR performance depends on student’s past performance at the high school level. Since university students come from different backgrounds and enter college from different paths, there are factors that will affect a student’s ATAR. The paper will analyse the privileges and disadvantages that will affect student’s success in the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank.
The performance in the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank is based on year 12 results, and this system is used in all States in Australia except Queensland. The rank places students from a high of 99.96, decreasing by 0.05 to reflect a student’s year 12 achievement about their year seven cohort. There is a complex scaling system to ensure consistency across schools and particular students. A student rank of 80 means that they are in their 20 percent of age cohort. The ATAR serves as a basis to compare admission cut-off points across the different Australian Universities. The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank also serves as an indicator of the demand for courses annually.
However, student’s performance in the Australian Tertiary is affected by various privileges and disadvantages of students. The students come from different cultural and economic backgrounds which play a role in the performance of the test. The type of schools attended by the students also plays a role in their overall performance, since different kinds of schools have various facilities and resources to support student’s welfare.
The social-economic status of a student affects the students’ performance in the ATAR and even in the university performance. Students from educated and professional families with social class are more likely to rank higher in the tertiary admission test than students in the not-well-to-do families. Gary Marks, an educational researcher at Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, notes that HSC students from the metro schools were 2.7 times more likely to succeed in ATAR than the students in the county schools CITATION Ing14 \l 1033 (Inga, 2014). Students from the county schools have a large number of students from the lower class unlike those in the metro schools.
The socio-economic levels of students may also depend on support facilities available to students. Students from a lower class have fewer resources to support their education. They have to struggle hard to succeed and in most cases, they make it to the honours roll. Students whose parents are educated and live a decent life receive moral and financial support from the parents. Such students are more likely to perform well in the ATAR and in another university test since they have their parents as role models.
The nature of high schools attended affect a student’s Australian Tertiary Admission Rank. Students from private schools are more advantaged than those in the state-owned institutions. Private schools are awash with money and exclusivity, and students get access to the best facilities. Also, the private schools pick and choose the best teachers to impart knowledge to the students. According to the Glance 2014 report, Australia’s private school students aged 15 years have 7.5 hours of homework per week. The weekly rate exceeds the state schools by 2 hours CITATION The151 \l 1033 (The Knox School, 2015). Therefore, elite schools achieve higher results by expecting more from students.
There is a steady growth of the independent education sector, and the federal and state governments are continuously shovelling large amounts of money into elite private schools. The trend has subsidised the cost of attending private schools while the public-sector schools continue struggling financially. There is also a trend where parents who attended non-traditional schools are choosing the private option for their children. The trend has made it possible for students to attend the private schools as a way of building a strong foundation before joining universities. The students from private schools are therefore better placed to rank higher in the ATAR and also perform better in other school tests. According to Gemici et al. (2013), students from independent schools are more likely to rank better than students from other schools in the transition to university tests.
The student’s Australian Tertiary Admission Rank is also affected by the geographical location of students. The parent’s occupation and the location is a significant factor in determining where the family lives, whom they interact with and how they bring up the children. Stephen Lamb, Victoria University policy researcher, notes that the social context plays a role in student’s cognitive ability and academic excellence CITATION Ing14 \l 1033 (Inga, 2014). Parents in the middle and upper class invest considerable resources to help...