Educator admin scores poorly in interim national progress report
A bracing assessment of the education system finds widening gaps in learning and little progress over the past decade, recommending relief to teachers’ admin burden to support focus on class teaching
READING LEVEL: RED
One third of Australia’s most struggling students have not improved despite increased education funding, a new report has found.
Total spending on schools nationally has been confirmed to reach $319 billion by 2029. But concerning new findings from the Productivity Commission* reveal that results have “not materially* increased in either the government, Catholic or Independent sector” over the past decade.
Nearly one in 10 Grade 9 students don’t meet standards in either numeracy or literacy, the Commission found.
The Commission’s harsh assessment of school standards was released Wednesday and suggests gaps in learning are widening and little progress has been made over the past decade, with some students up to five years behind their peers.
One fifth of all students are still not meeting international standards and one third of students aren’t regularly attending school, the report reveals.
The data shows only 71 per cent of students nationally went to school 90 per cent or more of the time in 2019 – before Covid hit.
The interim* report from the Commission puts governments on notice: funding will continue but standards need to improve.
The Commission’s highly critical 263-page report said governments and agencies should be held to “account for the outcomes they commit to achieve”.
Under the Productivity Commission’s plan to boost student performance, teachers will be freed from low-level administrative tasks to spend more time teaching and there will be more focus on wellbeing.
NAPLAN would also be changed to remove confusing learning bands in favour of clearly understood standards.
Commissioner Natalie Siegel-Brown said schools “must do more to prevent students from falling behind and help those who are struggling to catch up with their peers”.
“Unfortunately, we persistently fall short of the ideal of an equitable* education for all students,” she said.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the report “makes it clear there is more work to do to help kids who are falling behind”.
“I’ve said I don’t want us to be a country where your chances in life depend on your postcode, your parents or the colour of your skin. The fact is, we are at the moment,” he said.
National trends show 34 per cent of students in Year 3 in 2019 in the bottom achievement bands were still below the standard in 2021 in numeracy and 28 per cent of Year 7 students in 2019 were still below in 2021.
In 2021, five per cent of Year 3 students did not meet the national minimal standard, increasing to 9 per cent for Year 9 students.
Students with parents who didn’t finish high school are up to five years behind other students and students with Indigenous backgrounds are up to three years behind.
The findings are in contrast to recent analysis of NAPLAN results by the Victorian state government that suggests students in that state are performing well above average and continue to improve.
In December 2021, then Education Minister James Merlino praised Victoria’s “outstanding results”, declaring Victorian students “NAPLAN’s highest achievers”.
But the Review of the National School Agreement interim report paints a different picture nationally, concluding that “a significant number of students do not meet minimum standards — often year after year”.
In addition, 85 per cent of these students do not come from any recognised equity group, which led to the Commission calling for “a different approach”.
“Focusing on students who have fallen behind, and are at most risk of staying behind (particularly those in lower year levels), would be a good place to start,” it states.
The report wants states to commit to a unique student number to allow individuals to be identified, for states to report annually on progress and for more to be done to address teacher shortage, attrition* and performance standards.
“The community could reasonably expect to see an improvement in student outcomes over the course of the next five years,” the report says.
Education Minister Natalie Hutchins said she was “working through the findings of this interim report and welcomes opportunities to collaborate nationally on student outcomes, student wellbeing and supporting hardworking teachers”.
GLOSSARY
- Productivity Commission: Australian Government’s independent research and advisory body on a range of economic, social and environmental issues
- materially: meaningfully, measurably, to an important or considerable degree
- interim: provisional, temporary, in the course of something rather than its conclusion
- equitable: a fair, equal treatment of people
- attrition: decrease in the number of teachers caused by people leaving and not being replaced
EXTRA READING
Happy kids get higher NAPLAN grades
Gaming and sport could restore maths mojo
TikTok teaching set to trump tired English tasks
QUICK QUIZ
- Spending on calls has been confirmed to reach what figure by 2029?
- What proportion of Grade 9 students don’t reach standards in numeracy or literacy?
- What proportion of all students are not meeting international standards?
- Under the Productivity Commission plan, teachers would be freed of what?
- What proportion of Year 3 students in 2019 in the bottom achievement bands for numeracy in 2019 were still below standard in 2021?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Make a change
If you could make one change to schools to help kids to learn better, what would it be and why? Write a persuasive paragraph that answers this question.
Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity.
Curriculum Links: English; Health and Physical Education; Civics and Citizenship
2. Extension
Imagine that you have been asked to speak to the Productivity Commission. Your job is to represent kids your age. Your purpose is to help the Commission understand what you think about three of the problems that they have identified. Write the speech that you would give.
Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Personal and Social Capability
VCOP ACTIVITY
It takes a village to raise a child
Read through the article and take notes on some of the key issues that are being addressed, as well as any contributing factors. See if you can find any connections to help try and come up with a solution. But the best person to ask is you, the student!
Have a think about if you have been struggling with anything at school. What were you struggling with? Do you know why you found it difficult? What or who helps you to learn the information or skill?
Run a survey in your class, or with students outside of your classroom.
Come up with some key questions that you could ask them to help collect some data about how students learn best when they are struggling. See if you can narrow down some key reasons why some students struggle, then see if you can come up with a few solutions to suggest to your principal of ways to help students when they have difficulties with learning.