[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-205460-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-205460-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","the-hidden-barrier-how-school-streaming-shapes-university-participation-in-australia","The Hidden Barrier - How School Streaming Shapes University Participation in Australia","","In 2023, a major review of Australian higher education called for sectoral equity and growth, including expanded participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other underserved students. This paper examines the less studied practice of school streaming or tracking, where senior secondary students are divided into vocational or higher education pathways. Using school and postsecondary data across Australian jurisdictions, it finds streaming is extensive, Indigenous students are over-represented in vocational streams, and very few vocational students transition directly to higher education, with implications for ATAR and future policy.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & 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under-researched?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It notes that visible streaming forms (such as school type) are more often captured, while the vocational-versus-higher-education pathway division is less formal and not well recorded in systems data.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},205460,1788579839,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,115,120,123,127],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & 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Harvey  \nLucy Campion  \nRebecca Wren  \nGriffith University  \nAbstract  \nIn 2023, a major review of Australian higher education (Australian Universities Accord) advocated sectoral equity and growth, including the expanded participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other underserved students. Central to increasing growth through equity is the secondary school pipeline, given the high proportion of commencing university students who transition directly from secondary schools. Within the school sector, an under-researched area is the practice of streaming, or tracking, whereby senior secondary students are typically divided into either vocational or higher education pathways. There are other more visible forms of streaming such as school type (e.g., public, Catholic, independent) but the division between vocational and higher education pathways is less formal and not captured well in systems data. This paper aims to examine the scale and equity implications of senior secondary streaming across multiple Australian jurisdictions, with particular attention to its relationship to higher education access. Drawing on available school and postsecondary data across multiple states and territories, we find that the practice of streaming is extensive, that groups such as Indigenous students are highly over-represented in vocational streams, and that very few students in vocational streams transition directly to higher education. The findings have implications for higher education but also for the school and vocational sectors and the future of the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR).  \nKeywords  \nHigher education; Student equity; Indigenous education; School streaming.  \nIntroduction  \nThe under-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, respectfully referred to hereafter as Indigenous, and other underserved groups in Australian higher education is well documented and has changed little since the introduction of the 1990 national higher education student equity framework (Australian Government Department of Education, 2024; Harvey et al., 2016; Koshy, 2020). Following the 2023 national review of higher education, the Australian Universities Accord, the Australian Government set ambitious targets to increase student equity (Australian Government Department of Education, 2024). Parity of participation was sought for groups such as Indigenous people and people from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds by 2050. There has been some growth in participation of Indigenous students in higher education, but this growth has largely mirrored community population growth. In 2023, Indigenous people still comprised only 2.2 per cent of the domestic higher education population despite representing 3.8 per cent of the Australian population (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2025) . The proportion of enrolled domestic onshore students from the lowest socioeconomic quartile has remained below 20 per cent since records began in the late 1980s and fell to 16 per cent in 2024 from 17.1 per cent in 2016 (Australian Government Department of Education, 2026) .  \nThe Australian Universities Accord report acknowledges the importance of secondary schools but provides only brief reference to the challenge of streaming, whereby students are divided into primarily vocational or higher education pathways (Australian Government Department of Education, 2024, p. 95 ; Harvey et al., 2025). The 2023 review of Australian schooling (referred to  \nas the Schooling Review) includes only two brief references to the practice of streaming or tracking (Australian Government Department of Education, 2023, pp. 91, 93), drawing only on a commissioned piece of research by consultants. Based on the consultants’ comparative international research, the Schooling Review argues that reducing the extent of streaming within schools wo","cbCaiqSZT3jbFZRq","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqSZT3jbFZRq","pdf",378749,"English","# Introduction\n## Student equity and participation targets\n## Streaming in senior secondary schools\n## Study focus and data approach","[{\"question\":\"What is the main focus of the paper?\",\"answer\":\"The paper examines the scale and equity implications of senior secondary streaming across multiple Australian jurisdictions, especially its relationship to higher education access.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the study find about streaming practices?\",\"answer\":\"Streaming is extensive, Indigenous students are highly over-represented in vocational streams, and very few students in vocational streams transition directly to higher education.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the paper say the streaming issue is under-researched?\",\"answer\":\"It notes that visible streaming forms (such as school type) are more often captured, while the vocational-versus-higher-education pathway division is less formal and not well recorded in systems data.\"}]","The Hidden Barrier - How School Streaming Shapes University Participation in Australia | PDF",45]