How a science teacher’s belief in skill-based assessments helped set the career path for Australian University of Oxford immunology star

Sydney teacher Julie Carrington has long been an advocate of the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) for its novel approach to measuring academic strengths and its ability to uncover potential and untapped talent within the classroom.

In her experience, an independent tournament which involves students from hundreds of other schools can also be a motivator for young people to dig deeper. “I was part of our school’s gifted and talented staff team for many years, and I’ve always sought outside competitions for students to participate in so that they may extend themselves,” says the science leader of 40+ years at Sydney Technical High School.

Sydney Technical High School is a selective school, known for academic excellence. That said, like in all manner of schools across the country, there are many bright students who don’t necessarily shine within the more conventional school testing methodologies. It’s why over the years Julie has been particularly passionate about securing other opportunities and forums in which classroom talent can emerge. “We’re always acknowledging the students who do well academically, however I find ICAS is important for identifying gifted and talented underachievers,” she says.

“That’s how I found Adam.”

A gifted underachiever who shunned conventional rote learning

Former Sydneysider Adam Ritchie is an expert in immunology at the University of Oxford and whose unique experience makes him a leading expert in taking new vaccines from the lab to the beside. He is a key member of the team who helped bring Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine to the world in 2020, via manufacturer AstraZeneca. After completing a doctorate in the field of host pathogen interactions, Adam pursued post-doctorates in various diseases including mad cow disease, malaria and HIV, consequently spending six years advising international policymakers and ambassadors on preparing for a pandemic.

A move to another area of the University saw him working on a platform for manufacturing vaccines cheaply at volume, particularly within impoverished parts of the world. It was from here that, in 2020, he was called upon to work on the programme for rapid production of the Oxford COVID vaccine, starting before COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic.

Long before that, Adam was one of Julie’s students. She defines gifted and talented underachievers as those with an innate intelligence, but are perhaps not able to apply themselves to learning the work “and therefore in the exams, they might not shine.” At the time that he was in Julie’s Year 10 science class in the 1990s at Sydney Technical High, Adam fitted this profile.

As well as it not being uncommon for him to land himself in school detention for his behaviour, academically Adam was impatient with the pace and logic of rote learning, often preferring not to revise for school examinations. Julie had an inkling that he would thrive within an academic scenario which leans more towards student who have a strong predilection for high-order thinking and problem-solving.

She arranged for the science class to have the opportunity to sit ICAS Science, and encouraged Adam, then in Year 10, to sign up. “At our selective high school, the students are often very willing to go into a number of different competitions and it’s encouraged. We’re in an ideal situation,” she says.

Her instinct turned out to be right. Weeks later Adam, who until then was better known for being summoned to the principal’s office to receive an admonishment than a congratulations, achieved a rare perfect score in his ICAS Science paper: 100%. This achievement turned out to be one of the pivotal turning points in his exploration of his interest in palaeontology, which grew into a mentorship program at University of NSW and eventually brought him to Oxford.