Their comments come after Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek called at the weekend for universities to draw upon the ‘best and brightest Australians’ – the top 30 per cent of high school graduates – to study education.

Both Bendigo primary school teacher Emily Holmes and La Trobe University early childhood and primary education student Evie Jennings achieved ATAR scores over 80.

RELATED: 2018 ATARs, VCE results released to Bendigo school students

Common to both was a passion about pursuing teaching, though there were a range of courses available to them.

Yet, both Miss Holmes and Miss Jennings said people would assume they were studying teaching because they didn’t know what else to do, or because they had a limited selection of options.

“It has been so low for such a long time,” Miss Jennings, who started her course in 2017, said of the ATAR score for teaching.

That has since changed, with a suite of teacher education reforms announced in Victoria in 2016.

A minimum ATAR score of 65 was required of high school graduates seeking to study undergraduate teaching courses in Victoria last year. It is expected to rise again this year.

“There really should be that high ATAR because it’s a profession that starts other professions,” Miss Holmes said.

While she said academic results didn’t determine whether or not someone would make a good teacher, a more selective admissions process might help attract highly motivated applicants.

“People should really be thinking teaching is one of the best professions to get into because teaching inspires kids,” Miss Holmes said.

Both Miss Holmes and Miss Jennings highlighted the importance of placements in helping prospective teachers determine whether they enjoyed and were suited to the work.

An applicant’s ‘personal attributes suitable for teaching’ factor into the Victorian reforms.

Ms Plibersek told The Sunday Age and The Sun-Herald a federal Labor government would make Australian universities toughen their admission standards for teaching degrees if they ‘don’t do the right thing and fix this themselves’ by capping places.

The Australian Council of Deans of Education rejected the proposal.