❓ Minister Ravlich responds to a question about university performance of students from government vs. non-government schools, citing research suggesting government school students outperform their private school counterparts in their first year.
AnsweredQoN 981Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS - PERFORMANCE
Will the minister report to the house on current research into the performance of students from non-government and government schools in their first year at university? Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH
Will the minister report to the house on current research into the performance of students from non-government and government schools in their first year at university? Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for this question. When I opened The West Australian this morning, which I do so eagerly every morning, it was very pleasing to read such a positive and good story. As members know, comparisons are always being made of government and non-government schools. There is a view held by the Howard government that everything private must be better, which is certainly not a view to which I subscribe. I am very proud of the government schools in Western Australia and I am very proud also of the students in those schools and their remarkable achievements. I must put on record my appreciation for the work of those teachers in those schools. There was an interesting article by Bethany Hiatt in The West Australian of 31 October, based on a report by Elisa Rose Birch and Paul W. Miller, both from the Business School of the University of Western Australia. The article in The West Australian quotes from the report as follows - Students from State schools might not get as high a TEE score as their private school counterparts, but new research shows they out-perform them in early university. The findings, in an unpublished report by University of WA . . . professor . . . show public school students do about three percentage points better in the first year of university than private school students. We all know, for example, that the rate of drop-out in the early years of university tends to be fairly high. A lot of students go off and get part-time jobs or travel or get full-time jobs. Some of those students do return to complete their university qualifications, but many do not. I guess it is a bit along the lines of losing opportunities by not having those students stay in university after they have qualified and gained entry into a tertiary institution. The real challenge is to make sure that we do get maximum retention from those students who do have successful entry into the university of their choice. Certainly the qualities attached to self-directed learning - the ability to be resourceful and to take control of and have confidence in one’s own abilities - are very important characteristics. I am pleased that the results of Professor Miller’s research show that students’ university entrance scores are only one indicator of their success at university and, indeed, retention or being able to succeed in the early stage of university is also a very critical factor. I am particularly pleased that students from government schools do so well in that regard. I will be doing everything I can to ensure that we get even better outcomes in terms of retention and this success at tertiary level.
Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH replied: I thank the member for this question. When I opened The West Australian this morning, which I do so eagerly every morning, it was very pleasing to read such a positive and good story. As members know, comparisons are always being made of government and non-government schools. There is a view held by the Howard government that everything private must be better, which is certainly not a view to which I subscribe. I am very proud of the government schools in Western Australia and I am very proud also of the students in those schools and their remarkable achievements. I must put on record my appreciation for the work of those teachers in those schools. There was an interesting article by Bethany Hiatt in The West Australian of 31 October, based on a report by Elisa Rose Birch and Paul W. Miller, both from the Business School of the University of Western Australia. The article in The West Australian quotes from the report as follows - Students from State schools might not get as high a TEE score as their private school counterparts, but new research shows they out-perform them in early university. The findings, in an unpublished report by University of WA . . . professor . . . show public school students do about three percentage points better in the first year of university than private school students. We all know, for example, that the rate of drop-out in the early years of university tends to be fairly high. A lot of students go off and get part-time jobs or travel or get full-time jobs. Some of those students do return to complete their university qualifications, but many do not. I guess it is a bit along the lines of losing opportunities by not having those students stay in university after they have qualified and gained entry into a tertiary institution. The real challenge is to make sure that we do get maximum retention from those students who do have successful entry into the university of their choice. Certainly the qualities attached to self-directed learning - the ability to be resourceful and to take control of and have confidence in one’s own abilities - are very important characteristics. I am pleased that the results of Professor Miller’s research show that students’ university entrance scores are only one indicator of their success at university and, indeed, retention or being able to succeed in the early stage of university is also a very critical factor. I am particularly pleased that students from government schools do so well in that regard. I will be doing everything I can to ensure that we get even better outcomes in terms of retention and this success at tertiary level.
I thank the member for this question. When I opened The West Australian this morning, which I do so eagerly every morning, it was very pleasing to read such a positive and good story. As members know, comparisons are always being made of government and non-government schools. There is a view held by the Howard government that everything private must be better, which is certainly not a view to which I subscribe. I am very proud of the government schools in Western Australia and I am very proud also of the students in those schools and their remarkable achievements. I must put on record my appreciation for the work of those teachers in those schools. There was an interesting article by Bethany Hiatt in The West Australian of 31 October, based on a report by Elisa Rose Birch and Paul W. Miller, both from the Business School of the University of Western Australia. The article in The West Australian quotes from the report as follows - Students from State schools might not get as high a TEE score as their private school counterparts, but new research shows they out-perform them in early university. The findings, in an unpublished report by University of WA . . . professor . . . show public school students do about three percentage points better in the first year of university than private school students. We all know, for example, that the rate of drop-out in the early years of university tends to be fairly high. A lot of students go off and get part-time jobs or travel or get full-time jobs. Some of those students do return to complete their university qualifications, but many do not. I guess it is a bit along the lines of losing opportunities by not having those students stay in university after they have qualified and gained entry into a tertiary institution. The real challenge is to make sure that we do get maximum retention from those students who do have successful entry into the university of their choice. Certainly the qualities attached to self-directed learning - the ability to be resourceful and to take control of and have confidence in one’s own abilities - are very important characteristics. I am pleased that the results of Professor Miller’s research show that students’ university entrance scores are only one indicator of their success at university and, indeed, retention or being able to succeed in the early stage of university is also a very critical factor. I am particularly pleased that students from government schools do so well in that regard. I will be doing everything I can to ensure that we get even better outcomes in terms of retention and this success at tertiary level.
The findings, in an unpublished report by University of WA . . . professor . . . show public school students do about three percentage points better in the first year of university than private school students.
Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH replied: I thank the member for this question. When I opened The West Australian this morning, which I do so eagerly every morning, it was very pleasing to read such a positive and good story. As members know, comparisons are always being made of government and non-government schools. There is a view held by the Howard government that everything private must be better, which is certainly not a view to which I subscribe. I am very proud of the government schools in Western Australia and I am very proud also of the students in those schools and their remarkable achievements. I must put on record my appreciation for the work of those teachers in those schools. There was an interesting article by Bethany Hiatt in The West Australian of 31 October, based on a report by Elisa Rose Birch and Paul W. Miller, both from the Business School of the University of Western Australia. The article in The West Australian quotes from the report as follows - Students from State schools might not get as high a TEE score as their private school counterparts, but new research shows they out-perform them in early university. The findings, in an unpublished report by University of WA . . . professor . . . show public school students do about three percentage points better in the first year of university than private school students. We all know, for example, that the rate of drop-out in the early years of university tends to be fairly high. A lot of students go off and get part-time jobs or travel or get full-time jobs. Some of those students do return to complete their university qualifications, but many do not. I guess it is a bit along the lines of losing opportunities by not having those students stay in university after they have qualified and gained entry into a tertiary institution. The real challenge is to make sure that we do get maximum retention from those students who do have successful entry into the university of their choice. Certainly the qualities attached to self-directed learning - the ability to be resourceful and to take control of and have confidence in one’s own abilities - are very important characteristics. I am pleased that the results of Professor Miller’s research show that students’ university entrance scores are only one indicator of their success at university and, indeed, retention or being able to succeed in the early stage of university is also a very critical factor. I am particularly pleased that students from government schools do so well in that regard. I will be doing everything I can to ensure that we get even better outcomes in terms of retention and this success at tertiary level.
I thank the member for this question. When I opened The West Australian this morning, which I do so eagerly every morning, it was very pleasing to read such a positive and good story. As members know, comparisons are always being made of government and non-government schools. There is a view held by the Howard government that everything private must be better, which is certainly not a view to which I subscribe. I am very proud of the government schools in Western Australia and I am very proud also of the students in those schools and their remarkable achievements. I must put on record my appreciation for the work of those teachers in those schools. There was an interesting article by Bethany Hiatt in The West Australian of 31 October, based on a report by Elisa Rose Birch and Paul W. Miller, both from the Business School of the University of Western Australia. The article in The West Australian quotes from the report as follows - Students from State schools might not get as high a TEE score as their private school counterparts, but new research shows they out-perform them in early university. The findings, in an unpublished report by University of WA . . . professor . . . show public school students do about three percentage points better in the first year of university than private school students. We all know, for example, that the rate of drop-out in the early years of university tends to be fairly high. A lot of students go off and get part-time jobs or travel or get full-time jobs. Some of those students do return to complete their university qualifications, but many do not. I guess it is a bit along the lines of losing opportunities by not having those students stay in university after they have qualified and gained entry into a tertiary institution. The real challenge is to make sure that we do get maximum retention from those students who do have successful entry into the university of their choice. Certainly the qualities attached to self-directed learning - the ability to be resourceful and to take control of and have confidence in one’s own abilities - are very important characteristics. I am pleased that the results of Professor Miller’s research show that students’ university entrance scores are only one indicator of their success at university and, indeed, retention or being able to succeed in the early stage of university is also a very critical factor. I am particularly pleased that students from government schools do so well in that regard. I will be doing everything I can to ensure that we get even better outcomes in terms of retention and this success at tertiary level.
The findings, in an unpublished report by University of WA . . . professor . . . show public school students do about three percentage points better in the first year of university than private school students.
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