Students Are Dropping Arts Subjects to Get Better ATAR Results—Does This Work?

More students are swiping left on arts and humanities subjects.

Whether you love all things artsy or would rather tear your hair out than hold a paintbrush, it seems to be commonly acknowledged that if you want to achieve a high ATAR, you’d better trade in your easel for a Classpad.

It may feel like you're left with a difficult decision: pursue your long-harboured dreams of becoming a famous actor or spend fourth period in the labs instead of on the stage.

Data from the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) found there was a drop of more than 44 per cent in the number of students enrolled in arts subjects (music, visual art, drama, dance and film) since 2012.

And all six humanities subjects (philosophy, economics, geography, ancient and modern history, legal studies) had a drop of 20 per cent in Year 12 students.

Meanwhile, the number of enrolments in Year 12 engineering had more than doubled.

The scaling system has discouraged students from taking subjects in the arts or humanities.

Quick overview: subjects are scaled according to how well the students who take that subject perform across all their other subjects.

For example—subjects such as chemistry and physics tend to be scaled higher because, generally, students who do physics and chemistry tend to do well in all their subjects.

Because of this, parents, teachers, and advisors often encourage students to take these higher-scaled subjects. This has the effect of pushing students out of arts and humanities, even if they excel in those areas.

Rachel Dwyer, co-chair for Queensland Advocates for Arts Education, told the ABC “what we’re seeing is that the arts subjects are scaling the lowest as a learning area”. This is likely due to an influx of high-achieving students into STEM subjects.

Wider Australian society promotes science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

You might have noticed schools and the media pushing for studies and work in STEM.

It has become a more desirable field due to federal policies, such as Education Minister Dan Tehan announcing in 2020 that university degrees for jobs in engineering, science, health, I.T. and teaching were going to be made cheaper.

Meanwhile, degrees in humanities, social sciences, communications and law became more expensive.

Students are turning to Vocational Education and Training (VET).

The QCAA found that as the popularity of arts and humanities subjects has fallen in Queensland over the past decade, there’s been an increase in the number of students turning to applied and vocational subjects.

This may have become more popular as accessibility to and awareness of TAFE and VET institutions grow.

So, it’s not so much an issue of whether arts and humanities subjects will get you a higher ATAR. The emphasis on STEM and vocational subjects is like a self-fulfilling prophecy, where high-achieving students will take those subjects and cause their scaling to go up.

It’s not a perfect system, but artists and those interested in the humanities can and should persevere.