The maths, reading and science skills of average Australian students are barely on par with Singapore’s most disadvantaged teenagers and risk undermining Australia’s economic prosperity, warns the man responsible for the gold standard in international tests.
Andreas Schleicher, the co-ordinator of the respected Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), arrived in Australia and is sounding an alarm for the nation to halt its academic free fall.
Schleicher says, “The quarter of the most disadvantaged 15-year-olds in Singapore now show results similar to the average Australian student.’’
PISA is conducted every three years and measures the ability of 15-year-olds to use their science, mathematics and reading knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges. Students from Singapore, the world’s smartest 15-year-olds, are two years and four months ahead of Australian students in maths, 18 months ahead in science and 12 months in reading.
Former Business Council of Australia president and Audit Commission chairman Tony Shepherd lamented Australia’s lack of academic competitiveness on the world stage. “It is a disgrace given the substantial investment we already make and not to mention the projected substantial increases,’’ he said.
“We are condemning our children to a second-class future.’’
Last year, the results of the 2015 PISA round were released and revealed Australian students had slipped 12 months behind where they were in maths in 2003, seven months behind in science compared with 2006, and about 10 months behind in reading since 2000, when PISA began.
Mr Schleicher says leaders in high-performing countries have convinced their communities to make choices that value education. “Chinese parents and grandparents will invest their time, energy and money into the education of their children, their future.’’
WE NEED TO DO THE SAME
From an article in the Australian (Sep 27th 2017) by Stefanie Balogh entitled 'No competition with Singapore students'.
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