Western Australian education authorities have changed the grading rules for the state’s high school leaving certificate, allowing Year 12 students who achieve a D grade in ATAR subjects to still meet the requirements for a WA Certificate of Education. The reform, introduced by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority, has divided opinion between education officials who see it as a sensible fix and some students and commentators who worry it risks watering down academic standards.
Under the previous system, students needed 14 C grades across their Year 11 and 12 subject units to graduate with a WACE. The new arrangement introduces a C grade equivalent for ATAR courses, meaning a D grade paired with a moderated school mark or examination mark at or above approximately 40 will now count toward meeting that 14-grade requirement, effectively lowering the bar for students studying the more academically demanding ATAR pathway.
Why the Change Was Made
The reform follows a broader review of WA secondary education pathways, which found a significant decline in the proportion of Year 12 students leaving school with an ATAR, down from 53 per cent in 2017 to just 42 per cent in 2022. Education authorities and school leaders had grown concerned that students were increasingly choosing easier general courses specifically to guarantee they would graduate with a WACE, rather than attempting more challenging ATAR subjects that carried a higher risk of falling short of the previous C grade threshold.
The School Curriculum and Standards Authority says the change was supported by extensive analysis comparing ATAR and general course content and standards, which found that a D grade in an ATAR course is academically equivalent to at least a C grade in a comparable general course, meaning the change reflects a more accurate like-for-like comparison rather than a genuine lowering of standards.
Principals Back the Reform
The WA Secondary School Executives Association has voiced support for the change, with the association’s president arguing the reform could encourage more students to attempt challenging ATAR subjects rather than opting for an easier path purely to safeguard their graduation prospects. School leaders have long observed students steering away from harder subjects specifically to protect their WACE eligibility, a pattern educators say runs counter to the goal of encouraging academic ambition and preparing students for demanding university coursework.
Authorities have been careful to emphasise that the overall 14 C-grade-equivalent requirement to graduate remains unchanged, framing the reform as a recalibration of how ATAR and general course performance are compared, rather than an outright reduction in what students need to achieve overall to receive their certificate.
Student and Public Reaction
Not everyone has welcomed the change. Some current Year 12 students have raised fairness concerns, arguing the shift changes the rules partway through their schooling and could be seen as devaluing the achievement of students who met the previous, stricter C grade standard. Public reaction on talkback radio and social media has been similarly split, with some describing the change as a reasonable, evidence-based adjustment and others dismissing it more bluntly as a lowering of standards dressed up in technical justification.
Part of a Broader Review
The grading change sits within a wider set of recommendations from the state government’s Pathways for Post-School Success review, which also examined whether vocational education and training subjects should count toward a student’s ATAR, a practice already common in most other Australian states and territories but not currently permitted in WA. The review additionally recommended removing so-called shadow courses from the curriculum and broadening the information included in the Western Australian Statement of Student Achievement issued to every Year 12 student.
What It Means for Students and Families
For current and future WA Year 12 students, the immediate practical effect is a somewhat lower academic risk associated with attempting ATAR subjects, potentially opening the door for more students to pursue university pathways they might previously have avoided out of concern for their WACE eligibility. Whether the change succeeds in its stated goal of encouraging more students back into challenging ATAR coursework, or is remembered mainly as a controversial lowering of the bar, will likely become clearer only once several cohorts of students have moved through the new system and outcomes can be properly assessed.
Wider Curriculum Debate Continues
The grading change also arrives amid a broader, ongoing conversation in WA about how well the state’s senior secondary system prepares students for life after school, whether that pathway leads to university, TAFE, apprenticeship or direct employment. Advocates for further reform have pointed to WA’s current inability to count VET subjects toward a student’s ATAR, a restriction not shared by most other states, as an area still ripe for change if the government wants to genuinely broaden the range of pathways students can pursue without being penalised academically for choosing a vocational route.
Education Minister’s office has indicated a willingness to consider further changes flowing from the broader Pathways for Post-School Success review, suggesting the D grade reform may prove to be just the first in a series of adjustments to WA’s senior secondary system over the coming years, rather than a standalone, one-off change.
