Education Standards in Australia – Harsh Words From Government

It is unusual to find a government minister willing to attack education standards in her own country, but that’s what Australia’s Education Minister, Julie Bishop, did today.

Outlining concerns similar to those often heard in the UK, the minister described how:

• Employers in Australia complain of young people lacking basic literacy and numeracy skills.
• Australian universities are offering remedial classes in English and mathematics, to bring first-year students up to an acceptable level.
• The Australian Defence Force Academy says that many Year 12 school leavers are not ready for university mathematics despite achieving good results in Year 12 maths and finishing in the nation’s top 15%.
• 30 percent of Australian students failed to achieve a reading ability necessary to meet the demands for further learning. 12 percent did not meet the lowest benchmark.
• 36 percent of Year 4 students and 35 percent of Year 8 students achieved only the lowest benchmark or did not even reach the lowest benchmark. We are talking very basic maths here.

The Minister did not accept responsibility for the problems, however, saying:

“I am constantly reminded by state Labor education ministers and education unions that the Australian government does not own or operate any schools or employ any teachers. They expect to receive increased Commonwealth funding, but they don’t expect to be accountable for it, and I am told, not so politely, to butt out. Education is a national priority and it is too important to be left at the mercy of state parochialism and union self-interest.”

Ms Bishop said that in order to receive federal funding, Australian states could in future be forced to publish league tables, comparing students’ marks, suspensions and expulsions, and parent/teacher satisfaction levels. She also threatened to withhold funding to states that don’t introduce performance-based pay and allow school principals to hire and fire teachers.

In a further attack on parochialism and rivalry between Australia’s states, the Minister also questioned why, in a nation of only 20 million people, each of Australia’s states operates its own education curriculum.