{"id":212643455,"date":"2026-09-06T01:27:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T15:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/muchmorethanascore.com\/index.php\/substack-post\/one-small-shift\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T14:09:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T04:09:01","slug":"one-small-shift","status":"publish","type":"sstack-posts","link":"https:\/\/muchmorethanascore.com\/index.php\/substack-post\/one-small-shift\/","title":{"rendered":"One Small Shift"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you have a teenager, you already feel the pressure of the single number they are funnelled towards.<\/p>\n<p>Here is something worth knowing: the people who design the education system have spent nearly a decade quietly agreeing that the number was never the whole story. <\/p>\n<p>As these agreements have occurred, two changes have emerged that are important to know.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The review that named the ATAR problem<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In 2020, a national review led by Professor Peter Shergold looked at the final years of school and reached a blunt conclusion. <\/p>\n<p>We had built a system that funnels almost everything toward one rank, the ATAR, even though most students won&#8217;t take a purely academic path. <\/p>\n<p>Worse, it hands young people a false choice: academic <em>or<\/em> vocational, as if picking one makes you less serious than the other.<\/p>\n<p>His central recommendation was a <strong>Learner Profile<\/strong>: a young person should leave school with evidence of the <em>whole<\/em> of what they can do, not just a rank. <\/p>\n<p>The number can stay. It just shouldn&#8217;t be the only thing that speaks for your child.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The people already building it<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That idea is no longer theory. Professor Sandra Milligan&#8217;s team at the University of Melbourne is building the Learner Profile and running it in real schools <strong>right now<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<p>Their line is simple: <em>measure what&#8217;s valued, so that what&#8217;s valued can be learned.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the difference it makes. The old focus was one line: <strong>ATAR 74.3<\/strong>. A rank, and nothing about the person. The Learner Profile is a portrait: a strong collaborator, a developing critical thinker, highly self-directed, still growing in confidence. Each with evidence behind it telling more than a score. <\/p>\n<p>An ATAR tells you where your child sits in a queue. The other shines a light on who they are.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"button-wrapper\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/morethanascore.substack.com\/p\/one-small-shift?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=share&amp;action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}\" data-component-name=\"ButtonCreateButton\"><a class=\"button primary\" href=\"https:\/\/morethanascore.substack.com\/p\/one-small-shift?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=share&amp;action=share\"><span>Share<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>What this means at your kitchen table<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Most students will still graduate on the ATAR for now, and the Learner Profile is being using with early adopter, pilot schools, not everywhere. But the direction is clear. <\/p>\n<p>The certificate is changing, the measurement is being rebuilt, and the reformers are saying out loud what you&#8217;ve felt all along.<\/p>\n<p>The gap is that the structure is moving faster than the culture. The system is quietly widening its definition of success while the November scoreboard, and the dinner-table question, haven&#8217;t caught up. <\/p>\n<p>You don&#8217;t have to wait for them. <\/p>\n<p>You can talk to your child today as though they are more than a score because the evidence, and the people building the system, already say they are.<\/p>\n<p><strong>One idea like this, every fortnight. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>One Small Shift <\/strong>is our free fortnightly newsletter for parents where we share one practical ideas, action or step to help you have better conversations and redefine success with those around you.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"button-wrapper\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.muchmorethanascore.com\/subscribe?utm_source=email&amp;r=&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}\" data-component-name=\"ButtonCreateButton\"><a class=\"button primary\" href=\"https:\/\/www.muchmorethanascore.com\/subscribe?utm_source=email&amp;r=\"><span>Subscribe<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Till the next one,<\/p>\n<p>Dan Steele<\/p>\n<p>More Than a Score<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"muchmorethanascore.com\">Muchmorethanascore.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What two big changes in education mean for your kid, in plain language<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":212643476,"template":"","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":""},"class_list":["post-212643455","sstack-posts","type-sstack-posts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.6 (Yoast SEO v28.5) - 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