There’s a narcissist in the room.
Each student leaves school,
Their soul sparkling with life.
Time to celebrate.
I’ve been on a journey with the New Metrics for Success research program with Melbourne University for 18 months.
When we started I explained the project as “working with a bunch of schools and Melbourne Uni to develop a replacement ATAR”. Off I powered! Replace we must! Replace we can! Replace we will!
Yeah. Nah.
I woke up. I began to think that we will never be able to replace the ATAR. I realised that the ATAR is a Narcissist. It thinks it’s the most important person in the room. It gaslights you into thinking you’re the problem. It steals your spark and demands subservience. It sucks your ideas and spits them out. It makes you think there is no other way than theirs. That hope is futile.
In fact, you can’t stop a narcissist. Not me. Not 80 educators with the best intentions and a lightbulb factory full of inspiration probably can’t either. Not 36 schools with thousands of young adults hoping to escape the clutches of tool that is needed for so few.
Took me a while to work that out.
So then I fell into the usual way that I deal with narcissists, I became submissive. I start to think there is nothing that can be done. That argument is futile. That the problem is too big. That I’ll just have to accept it.
I began to think that this New Metrics thing is a waste of time. That as fun as it is to dream, it’s just that. A dream. That …. Sigh … I’ll just step back …
But then. Yeah. Nah. Stepping back is not an option.
A room full of room educators caught me off guard. They empowered me. Dammit.
How do you get around a narcissist? You ignore them. You get rid of your need for them. You write them out of the dialogue.
So, my brow beaten and submissive colleagues… what if we took the power away from the big bad ATAR and let it wilt in the corner?
We know that the likelihood of students actually needing an ATAR is diminishing as quickly as the numbers of students entering Uni through alternate pathways rise. Right? We know that each year we are strengthening the dialogue around portfolios, early entry and open foundation entry.
So, what if we created a learner profile that celebrated the young adult that was about to leave school? What if that learner profile helped them to be agents in their own world? What if we gave our graduates a recognition of who they are as a whole? What their strengths are? What capabilities and competencies they have tucked in their little samsonite port? What if this was given to them whenever it was that they decided to leave formal schooling? What if this was trusted by the community more than the narcissist?
What if we made the ATAR so small it didn’t matter? What if we made a learner profile that was the most important thing and the ATAR was something students got if they actually needed it.
What if we gave students, parents and community permission to ignore it. To go through the motions but don’t let the motions judge you?
Sure we’d need a bit of cultural shift, but hey, it would be worth it right? The ATAR is still there. It’s still in the room, but tit just doesn’t hold the power anymore.
We could even show our young adults what makes them awesome! Yep. Imagine that. Letting them see where their strengths are… Helping them show where their passions sit. It brings a smile to my face to think we might have such a plan.
Perhaps this lack of balance is why we’ve let the narcissist (inappropriately) rule the house for so long? We haven’t had an offering to help others ignore the toxic environment that it created. That was then. This is now.
So yeah, let’s celebrate the whole student and let the narcissist sulk in the corner…. Let’s build out a learner profile that shines a light, front and centre.
I’m back on my journey. Let’s do this, yeah? Yeah…… thanks New Metrics Crew, you ready to do this?
