Queensland primary schools results poor

Queensland is struggling to improve literacy and numeracy in the middle years of primary school.

Figures show that almost one in five of the state’s 10-year-olds fails to achieve minimum standards in reading. A report into literacy and numeracy stated that these children were falling short of Australian benchmarks and would find it “difficult to progress satisfactorily at school”.

The figures are revealed in the latest Australian results of literacy and numeracy tests given each year to Australian children in Years 3, 5 and 7.

While Queensland Year 5 students recorded improved results from the previous year, only 81.2 per cent of them achieved the national benchmark for reading, while 85.4 per cent achieved the numeracy benchmark.

By contrast, 90 per cent of New South Wales’ Year 5 students and 89.9 per cent of Victorian students reached the Australian reading benchmark. Only the Northern Territory recorded a worse result than Queensland.

For Year 5 numeracy, 92.6 per cent of New South Wales’ students and 94.9 per cent of Victorian students achieved the benchmark.

The results – from tests taken in 2006 – also show that numeracy standards among Year 7 students were also slipping but reading and writing results for Year 3 students were close to Australia’s best.

Education Minister Rod Welford said the Queensland results were consistent with previous years and that “our state figures tend to be lower in Year 5, OK in Year 3 and recovering in Year 7″.

The results showed that up to 90 per cent of students and, in some areas, more than 90 per cent, achieved the benchmarks, he said.

However, only 79.8 per cent of Queensland Year 7 students achieved the numeracy benchmark, down from 83.2 per cent in 2005.

Mr Welford said he would be concerned if the slide was the start of a trend. “I would urge teachers that if they see a student struggling in maths they make sure they get the attention they need,” he said.

Mr Welford defended Queensland’s poor showing in some of the test results compared with other states. “I would say to people who are obsessed with interstate comparisons that Queensland has a much larger proportion of schools in remote and disadvantaged areas,” he said.