Stephanie G. Mathis In NSW, more than half of students who were in year 10 dropped music by the time they entered year 12. Teachers said that this was done so that they could select subjects that would help them achieve a higher ATAR.
This is the result of my PhD research, where I collected data from NSW schools and interviewed music teachers.
Between 2008 and 2016, 56% of students who had taken music in the 10th grade dropped out of their 12th year. It is estimated that around 7,200 students have dropped out of music courses between years 10 and 12.
According to interviews with 50 teachers from 23 NSW schools, including independent, comprehensive, and Catholic schools, many of the best music students choose subjects that will improve their ATAR.
Read more: Before you let your child quit music lessons, try these five things.
Number of music students lost.
I took the figures from all NSW schools that offer music at the Higher School Certificate level (HSC).
In 2014, there were 13,005 students studying music at the year 10 level. In 2015, there were 7,001 students in year 11. In 2016, the year 12 cohort consisted of only 5,294 students.
This is an average loss for music students of 58.6%.
Every graduating class of Year 12 from 2007 to 2015 has similar numbers.
Music is often scaled down.
The students who are starting their 11th year must decide what subjects they will study in the following two years. The choices made can be for a variety of reasons, including what the student is good at or interested in and what might help them in their future.
A student might also want to enter a certain university with a specific ATAR cut-off. It is reasonable and even responsible for the student to take into account both their strengths and what has historically scaled very well to maximize their chances of getting the ATAR that they are hoping for.
The process of scaling adjusts all HSC marks to “the marks that students would have received had all courses been given the same candidate and mark distribution.”
Read more: What actually is an ATAR? First of all, it’s a rank, not a score
This means a mark in one subject, such as music, can be scaled lower than the same mark in another subject, such as physics. For instance, in 2018 in NSW, a total mark of 93 in Music 1 ( one of the two senior music courses available ) was scaled down to 72.2. While a real mark of 89 in physics was scaled to 84.4.
According to the Universities Admission Centre report about scaling in HSC, students should not “choose their courses based on what you think is likely to be the effect of scaling.”
Students can also access online ATAR Calculators to find out where their ATAR is most likely to be and see what scales those marks were in previous years.
The student can then use this information to determine which subjects to pursue in their HSC.
Read more: Does the Suzuki method work for kids learning an instrument? Parental involvement is good, but other aspects less so
What teachers said
Many of the music teachers I spoke to acknowledged that the ATAR had an impact on the number of students who chose to study music.
One person said that music had a negative impact on ATAR. Music 1 will “only lower your ATAR,” said another. One teacher told me that music “wasn’t rated highly in the ATAR”.
A teacher reported that a student had been advised to stop music by her curriculum coordinator so she could achieve the ATAR and become a doctor. Another teacher lost music students to his school due to the perception that scaling was a problem.
The teacher said
It’s been a real loss to me when I lose very talented musicians because they drop science and maths.
Teachers may want to allow their students who excel in music to finish their HSC course earlier, in Year 11. Acceleration is the term used to describe this.
One teacher said that accelerating students who are high achievers allows them to earn their band 6 for music (meaning they have received a score between 90-100), so they can concentrate on other subjects during year 12. In NSW, a student’s ATAR is calculated based on their best ten units including English. Two units completed in year 12 can reduce study time and increase confidence.
Some NSW schools already offer the option of accelerated learning for students in music. This allows musically gifted students the opportunity to keep music in their HSC curriculum and maintain a healthy senior music cohort at their school.
According to my research, 20% of NSW schools offer accelerated HSC courses, including modern history, religion, economics, physics and most commonly mathematics.
Teachers and schools, given the prevalence of acceleration in particular at HSC, should think about this as a feasible and reasonable strategy for accommodating their musically gifted children.
