Australian Students Slipping Behind

[icyfroth]

A new report comparing Australian high school students with 65 other countries shows the nation is slipping further behind in maths and reading skills.

The 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) measures the mathematics, reading and science skills of half a million 15-year-olds from around the world.

It found Australian teens placed equal 17th in maths, equal 10th in reading and equal 8th in science.

Asian countries like China, Singapore, Korea and Japan are pulling ahead of Australian students in maths and reading.

The results show Australian students are slipping in maths performance by about a half a year of schooling compared to 10 years ago.

ACER's director of educational monitoring and research, Dr Sue Thomson, says gender, Indigenous status and socio-economic status still divide student outcomes.

"Australia has slipped backwards to the type of gender disparity that was seen decades ago, and the performance scores of girls coupled with a number of particularly negative motivational attitudes puts Australia further away from providing all students with the same educational opportunities," Dr Thomson said.

Results back Government's plan to focus on teachers, says Pyne

Education Minister Christopher Pyne says Labor's education policies have been in place for most of the decade and they have now been shown as a spectacular failure.

"Today's report card shows that for all the billions spent on laptops and school halls, there is still no evidence of a lift in outcomes for students."

"Despite spending 44 per cent more on education funding over the past decade, results are still in decline.

"This clearly shows that more funding does not equate to better outcomes."

The Federal Government will go ahead with Labor's Gonski plan from next year but will only commit to four years of funding.

Mr Shorten says it needs to get on board for the full six years.

"It's time to implement Gonski in full. It's time to stop the political games and bandaid solutions and get on board giving the next generation of Australians the best start in life."

However:

Kevin Donnelly from the Education Standards Institute says he is not surprised by the results.

"We have in fact been in trouble, if you like, for many, many years.

"We have trouble with disruptive classrooms...[and] we don't allow our teachers to mentor one another and to help one another. In places like Singapore, they actually respect teachers, children respect teachers, they are well-resourced.

"They have a lot more time to learn from one another and to improve classroom practice."

He says the debate is not only about funding.

"Money is important, but it gets back to a rigorous curriculum, effective teaching practice, good teacher training - so there are a few things we can look at there."

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Good Old Labor, think if they throw enough (of the taxpayers) money at a problem, it will go away.

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[fourandsixpants]

keyboard flying.....why are u the appointed grammar correctur-er spellchequar?! izab????

[izabsmiling]

I was always told that it never hurt to ask a teacher a question.

what kind of great results did you have in mind ?

[izabsmiling]

never mind...I'll leave the two of you to your discussion 

[fourandsixpants]

ref my fav "

I just want to add one thing - we can teach them how to be independent learners though. That skill is priceless. Because then they can learn skills on their own, at their pace and interest/ability level, and not be dependent on someone "feeding them" the information. This allows them to work at their "just right" level, rather than being restricted to the curriculum schedule and would also relieve tremendous pressure on the teachers. Because, when shown how, and given appropriate framework, a child can learn skills on their own.

meant to add - love your approach. are you still teaching?"

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forgot to mention that I did a lot of reinforcing of learnt skills through 'hands on' across all other subjects. I was despised by the cleaners at schools!! I was hated......I conducted clay work outside for writing skills and painting in 'wet areas' for science or literacy, plasticine board work for spelling was a fav!! (had to pick out all the bits of plasticine from carpet ....or I copped it*yeeks* Teaching children how to be independent learners is always encouraged:) I disagree that children can learn 'skills' on their own. Being shown and told how to in many different ways then being instructed to repeat on their own with supervision......this is what tutoring/.teaching is all about. I always believe that ALL children are gifted:) It is the jib of an educator to find out what motivates each child, what are their passions then use these passions to inspire them and make them thirsty for 'more' knowledge. A good educator can and will do this. At the moment I see pressure on the students, the teachers, the principles and the schools to perform in the pursuit of results.Kids HATE school now! School should be FUN..... Forget about the results for a bit! Cut out all the 'fuzzy' stuff, the fillers the froth. Give teachers 'TIME-ROOM' to actually teach. Ask the teachers to teach the basics to an EXCELLENT standard. Give the bulk of the paperwork (which is thrown on teachers by the Educ Depts anyway) to teacher admin assistants(as I hav elready suggstd in this thread)........*breathe*......................it's all just got too wretched .....TOO complicated.......stress and misery pervails!!!

But I get your general gist......

Am I teaching any more?. No sadly, for several reasons that I would prefer not to discuss openly on here, no offence. I love teaching and one day hope to return to it:)

[fourandsixpants]

sorry for being so rude izab.......really wanted to use the plural of curriculum and I failed to see if curriculi was the plural......

after checking I see that I have failed miserably:)

curricula.

Yes your suggested sentence structure is probably much better anyway, thank you

[izabsmiling]

Hi Paints, it's OK.I was curious about the word .

There are still children around who love school 

[polksaladallie]

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@my*favourite*poster wrote:

The only report card that matters is the grade 9 and 10 ones, as these determine what subjects you are allowed to take in grades 10. and then from grade 10 into senior.

as long as your kid can do the work, it is irrelevant what the report card says they can do.

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Not true.  Words are very powerful.  Words on a report card can crush a child's (not a kid's) aspirations or inspire them to greatness.  They can cause animus between pupil and teacher, or can bring warmth and affability.

The teacher in my family spends hours doing report cards, and each one is tailored to the individual.  Past pupils and their parents approach this teacher 10 or more years later with thanks because of this attention.

[***super_nova***]

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@lind9650 wrote:

Our children started failing when teachers started to be pals to their students about 40 years ago.

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Rubbish, I recall when some 45 years ago I had working for me 18 - 20 years old girls, some who actually finished high school, and none could spell some very basic words.  And their grasp of math was also lacking, not to mention basic physics; I recall one of them was talking about going to buy this huge caravan to be towed by her tiny Honda.

Respect has nothing to do with the persons title.  Unfortunately, parents are to blame for teaching their kids not to respect teachers. 

[***super_nova***]

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@cherples wrote:

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@daydream**believer wrote:

She will be graduating primary school next week and heading to high school next year.

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How would you have liked it if these kids were kept back and you found your daughter had 3 or 4 13 year olds in her class?

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That can create problems especially later when there are 18 years olds in class with 15-16 years olds.  My daughter had couple of them, who were driving to school and she, being the very youngest (born in June and started school when she was 4) , was not even able to get her learners when everybody else did.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@polksaladallie wrote:

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@my*favourite*poster wrote:

The only report card that matters is the grade 9 and 10 ones, as these determine what subjects you are allowed to take in grades 10. and then from grade 10 into senior.

as long as your kid can do the work, it is irrelevant what the report card says they can do.

---

Not true.  Words are very powerful.  Words on a report card can crush a child's (not a kid's) aspirations or inspire them to greatness.  They can cause animus between pupil and teacher, or can bring warmth and affability.

The teacher in my family spends hours doing report cards, and each one is tailored to the individual.  Past pupils and their parents approach this teacher 10 or more years later with thanks because of this attention.

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the teachers who teach my children tend to talk to them all through the school year and beyond, both in and outside the classroom.

 A kid knows how they are doing, a kid knows with what regard a teacher, their peers, school and their community holds them. IMO, there is something going on if a kid needs the self validation of a few platitudes on a piece of paper. And again, IMO, if a parent or a child needs a report card to know how the child is doing in school ot to tell them what a good boy they are, then I say that they're not involved with their child and his education enough. A report card, just like a teacher interview should contain no surprises, you should already know what's going on in your child's life.

Regardless, I was clearly referring to what grades they were allotted, and the weight and importance placed on these by the Education System.