'My ATAR felt irrelevant': What an enabling program can offer low-rank ATAR students

Abstract

Traditional academic enabling programs are designed as a semester-long or year-long pathway into undergraduate study for non-ATAR students. While there is significant literature exploring these programs and their students, limited research exists in relation to the potential benefit of an enabling program on a regular ATAR cohort. In 2020, a four-week accelerated enabling program (titled UniPrep Accelerate) was designed at Edith Cowan University to offer a unique cohort of COVID-disrupted low-rank ATAR students a rapid pathway into undergraduate study. A survey of three Accelerate intakes (2021, 2022 & 2023) examined the students' experiences within this course, perspectives on their previous studies, and their success within their subsequent undergraduate programs. The findings indicate that Accelerate students not only achieve higher success rates in their undergraduate studies compared with their peers, but also demonstrate significant gains in academic skills, confidence, institutional familiarity, and an ability to recontextualise their previous ATAR experiences. This study explores the outcomes of offering an enabling pathway to non-traditional enabling students, highlighting the potential for a broader application of this pedagogy within a variety of higher education frameworks.