Is UHS Prioritising EBSS over VCE?

An Investigative Journalism Piece by Oscar Welsh

Here at Uni High every part of the school is connected. Every part of the school is connected by indoor pathways to other parts of the school, ensuring students and teachers never have to go outside in bad weather. Every part of the school is connected that is, except for EBSS.  EBSS is isolated from the school with no indoor path connecting to it. It has more advanced facilities than any other part of the school and is always in pristine condition. It is a building that has been constructed to both ease the amount of overcrowding in the school and support students in their learning. It is an alternative to VCE that focuses exclusively on the fields of Science and Mathematics. It has only been in use for four years and because it is new it has facilities that are much better than any facilities in VCE. But is it fair that so many resources are devoted to a small number of topics a student might be learning? Shouldn’t the resources be spread more evenly among the other subjects in VCE?

The school’s decision to build EBSS is not as simple a decision as it may seem. The school was offered funding to build EBSS, a facility that focuses on teaching Maths and Science by the Melbourne University. For the school, it was a simple decision and it would have been foolish to not agree. While EBSS only caters to a portion of UHS students, the funding money effectively spills over and funds normal UHS programs; money that would have been previously spent on the Sciences is now freed up.

Not only could EBSS have been the right choice for UHS, it could be the right choice for Australia. According to the Australian Government’s Job Outlook website, positions for biologists, chemical and material engineers and mathematicians are severely lacking right now and have incredibly low numbers of employment. A boost to these low STEM employment numbers, assisted by more science orientated secondary schools, could help Australia bridge the technological gap.

I conducted an interview with a year 11 student in VCE. When asked is they thought that EBSS students were receiving a better education, they didn't think hard: 'Yes, of course they are. They have an amazing facility and great resources. EBSS only opened a few years ago, on the other hand, I don't even know how long these VCE rooms have been here... I don't have a problem with EBSS getting better resources right now, it only just happened. I would have a problem with EBSS getting most of or all of the resources in the future, because that would leave VCE to rot.’

At first glance it might seem like the school decided that the Sciences and Maths were more important than other subjects but upon further examination it seems that the school did the only sensible thing. They were offered money for a specific type of building and they accepted. They have not focused on a small number of subjects; they have catered to them while saving money for the other subjects. This funding only shows that the EBSS itself values Maths and Science more than other subjects, and for a science school, that is completely understandable.