Helping students to identify and follow appropriate career pathways is an integral aspect of our students’ transition from senior schooling to tertiary education and employment. We encourage students to see their career as a journey and not as a destination. St Andrews is able to assist students in this adventure to explore their pathways to future education or employment as well as support them through a wide variety of alternative study options in Years 11 and 12. 

Here is a link to the College careers website. www.careerssalc.com where much valuable information for parents and students can be found about learning pathways and career options during and post school.

St Andrews senior students are able to gain assistance with the following: career counselling, VET pathway advice and support, subject selection for Year 10 and for Years 11 and 12, resume writing, job search, interview preparation, tertiary pathways and course information, QTAC and interstate/overseas applications, work experience, careers expos and Gap Year opportunities.

In Year 10 students participate in Destinations, our designated careers program, aimed at helping students identify their career interest areas and appreciate factors that may affect their career decision making processes. By the end of Year 10, Students set up their Career Plan which helps them to establish goals and pathways suited their identified career interest areas. The Career Plan process informs their choice of subjects to take in senior school.

For more information about the subjects on offer in Year 10, please see the Subject Selection guide for Year 10.

Year 10 Course Information and Subject Choices Brochure

During Years 11 and 12, there are various pathways open to students for entry to tertiary education of the workplace. All students have the opportunity to attain the Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE). This is internationally recognised and provides evidence of senior schooling achievements. The flexibility of the QCE means that our students can choose from a wide range of learning options to suit their interests and career goals. Year 10 is the start of the senior phase of learning. In Year 10, students make important decisions about their senior secondary schooling and education, training and career goals. The College works with students and their parents/carers to develop a senior education and training Career Plan. This process supports students to reflect on and make important decisions about how best to structuring their learning in Years 11 and 12 around their abilities, interests and ambitions and mapping out their pathway to the QCE

What is the QCE? To receive the QCE, students must achieve the set amount of learning, at the set standard, in a set pattern, while meeting literacy and numeracy requirements. The QCE is issued to eligible students when they meet all of the requirements, either at the completion of Year 12, or after they have left school.

Tertiary Entrance – the ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank)

Under ATAR system, responsibility for generating a common Year 12 tertiary entrance rank is carried out by QTAC (Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre). QTAC will administer this process on behalf of Queensland tertiary institutions.

As of 2020, eligible students completing Year 12 will receive an ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank). An ATAR ranks students from 99.5 in steps of 0.5. (ATARs of below 30 will not be reported.) The ATAR provides a fine grained rank, which will help to differentiate students who seek entry to high-demand tertiary courses. The use of an ATAR simplifies administrative processes for Queensland students who wish to apply for interstate courses, as well as interstate students who wish to apply for Queensland courses. 

Calculating Student ATARS

QTAC will generate student ATARs through a statistical process known as ‘inter-subject scaling’.

Under this process, patterns of student results across different subjects are mathematically compared and adjusted to enable students with different combinations of results to be compared

in a single rank order. A similar process is used to support ATAR calculations in most other Australian states.

ATARs will be based on five subjects which can be generated by use of one of the following patterns of study:

• Five GENERAL subjects or
• Four GENERAL subjects, plus on APPLIED Subject (e.g., Hospitality, Sport and Recreation)
• Four GENERAL subjects, plus one vocational education and training qualification at Certificate III, IV or Diploma 

Students will have to satisfactorily complete an English subject to be eligible for an ATAR, but their English result will not be a mandatory inclusion in the calculation of their ATAR.

Please note that at St Andrews Lutheran College, students are required to take six subjects with the ATAR being calculated from the five best subjects from the six. At St Andrews Lutheran College every student must study an English and a Mathematics subject.

For further information about subjects on offer in Year 10 and Years 11 and 12, please see the Subject Selection guide.

Year 10 Course Information and Subject Choice Brochure

Year 11 and 12 Course Information and Subject Choices Brochure

Students are able to apply to university in Queensland as long as they satisfy the eligibility and merit requirements for the program they are applying for. Visit www.qtac.edu.au for more detailed information.

For more information about the QCAA, Year 11 and 12 senior syllabuses and the QCE, visit www.qcaa.qld.edu.au

For More information about Queensland tertiary institutions and courses and the calculation of the ATAR, visit  www.qtac.edu.au.