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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i find your overly simplistic and innacurate reading of this data amusing. in order to achieve thise results students would need to go to a cram session until 11 pm at night after school each day, because thats what they do in shanghai and south korea 
and taking away money would make it better ? the only person silly enough to say such a thing is chrissy fit.
@lakeland27 wrote:i find your overly simplistic and innacurate reading of this data amusing. in order to achieve thise results students would need to go to a cram session until 11 pm at night after school each day, because thats what they do in shanghai and south korea
Frankly, I find the way Lab Lubbies here are shredding themselves scouring for political headlines negative to our Prime Minister so they can console themselves over the abject failure of BOTH, not just one, BOTH their candidates for the Prime Ministership, quite amusing too, Lakey
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction". Albert Einstein
