GarryP

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-1...levels/5270968

Over half of the population illiterate, and more than half of 15 year old below the baselines (illiterate and innumerate). General australia isn't much better on 42% being below the baseline.

That's a frightening level of failure that frankly shocked me. I'd kind of assumed it might be 5-10%.

With the unskilled jobs disappearing, and competition from SE Asia, how the hell could they have got into this scale of mess?

It does explain Seven, Nine, Foxtel, etc. though...

jad n rich

But its "world class" everything is world class, yeah..

Seriously my youngest teen in English in Grade 12 last year, was horrified how many kids could not get up and read from Shakespeare. They just couldn't read it. This was OP (kids going for a UNI score ) level English.

Mind you the school had a real thing about Sport, and the amount of kids that were pulled out of high school English and Maths to attend sporting events.

Then they get priority points to get into Courses ( Lift 2 rankings for UNI ) because the play sport. My son is fluent in Spanish, same with the kids who did Japanese, worked really hard at it and you get one extra rank for a second language.

BadgeIsBack

I don't hear constant references to world class but then I am not on the tabloid channels. I read the quality papers and commentaries and deficiencies are commented on - where things work well - that is also commented on. I am not sure which media some people consume! Australia is nowhere near the top of many OECD nations but then nor is the UK or US. I do occasionally hear pollies wanting 'world class' but getting there is somewhere else...

Educationthis is what I have noticed independently of BE or Australia - it is what grips me)
To be perfectly honest there are many '3rd world' countries I have experience of that don't have world class supermarkets (joke - I am sure the UK wins that one!), bags of choice, world-class infrastructure, et cetera that would put 1st world countries to shame when it comes to education. Their primary school children get a workload and syllabus and a rigour that we in the First World would have got several generations ago.

The thing is that in the Third World a smaller section get educated, education is not provided for all - but when it is done - it is done well.

GarryP

I've been trawling through their 'standards' trying to work out just what baseline is. Can't find it explicitly.

I think, at a rough guess, they are 2-3 years adrift of what we were doing at the same age *mumble* years ago, and they should be BETTER than we were - it's a hell of a lot easier to deliver high quality tuition.

If they aren't even hitting these woeful standards

brissybee

If it didn't affect the reputation (or hip pocket) of schools and teachers I doubt there would be too many of them who would care if students did well or not.

With respect to any good teachers there may be out there... there are many really bad ones in my opinion. My faith in the education system is right up there alongside the health system.

bcworld

Which are these?

BadgeIsBack

The ones that are not tabloid. Old definition: not used as an adjective! It might surprise the forum that these papers contain articles that criticise education, industry etc.

GarryP

Numbers for the UK are quoted as 16-17% functionally illiterate, and 20% functionally innumerate. Those are still bad, but ...

I hope to hell there are different definitions of 'functionally illiterate/innumerate' at play here, because if not, that's a big gap compared to what is still a poor performer.

JoeBloggs80

Yes this 'baseline' they refer to seems extremely vague. I think that is the crux here.

In the same article you posted they have stats for children of various ages not hitting 'minimum standard' which is clearly something different from 'baseline' as it is only 5-10% in that category.

Meanwhile, other sources have Aus education doing OK

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24433320

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._literacy_rate

So it seems this Grattan group have some kind of agenda, not that trying to raise education standards is a bad one.

GarryP

The stats seem to come from the ABS - so it's more official than that.

Functional illiteracy is defined as having language be a barrier to being part of the modern world - so they would have trouble with things like; an inability to sufficiently order from a menu, interpret medical labels, read maps and road signs, use the Internet adequately, read instruction booklets, etc.

It seems there are a series of problems:

• the oldies didn't get skooled write - the illiteracy rate is higher the older you go.
• there is a growing gap between those that don't finish school, or leave as soon as possible, and those that get enmeshed in the Oz university business.
• the actual standards they are expected to reach are woeful - I'd estimate about 2 years adrift of what you'd expect - or at least what I'd expect.
• most don't get to those already low standards.
• the world is progressively expecting more skilled, less unskilled - you need more knowledge to just survive.

That's not a question of putting more money in, or centralising schools - that kind of problem requires revolutionary levels of change. The system is broken, the approach is wrong - that's what those figures say.

Amazulu

Australia's education system is no better or worse than many other western countries - including the UK

There is too much socialst bullshit in education. Get the basics done well - backed up by strict discipline. Break the little f**kers in

Tasmania (and the rest of Australia) is spending plenty on education. Sort the teachers and system out. Get rid of the liberal bullshit. Hammer the parents if they don't do their bit

Sorted

bcworld

So can you name one? Preferably not one that is incredibly partisan and seems to act as the editorial wing of a political party...for that's what they all seem to be!

JoeBloggs80

On the other hand, I bet most kids are far better than using at using an iPad than their parents

brissybee

A good teacher doesn't need to "break in" students. A good teacher has the intelligence to structure education in a way that students want to learn.

There will always be a minority of kids who simply don't want to learn but I believe the main body of apathy sits bitching in the staff room.

chris955

Agreed, our boys have some really good teachers at the moment, there is no need to 'break' the vast majority. Keep them interested and they will learn.