PISA 2023: Global maths, reading and science exam reveals gap between best and worst students

NSW and the Northern Territory often have little in common, but when it comes to school results the gap between the top and bottom students is shared - and selective schools are copping the blame.

NSW’s best and worst-performing students are further apart in their academic results than in any other state or territory, one of the world’s largest standardised tests has revealed, with experts warning selective school “segregation” is driving the divide.

In the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) – an international study of 15-year-olds in reading, maths and science – NSW had the widest range of test scores between the top and bottom students in Australia.

In mathematical literacy, “the largest range of student performance was seen in NSW, with 269 points between the 10th and 90th percentiles”, the Australian Council for Educational Research’s PISA report found.

NSW’s proportion of “low performers” – students whose skills and knowledge are considered too low to allow them to be effective and productive in all aspects of life, has grown from 14 per cent in 2003 to more than one in four in the most recent study.

Report co-author Lisa De Bortoli said those 26 per cent of students were lacking the foundational maths skills they needed for “everyday things” like “work, shopping, following written instructions, and making decisions about money”.

(File image) One in four NSW 15-year-olds have maths skills so lacking that they will struggle in everyday life with money-making decisions. Picture: Liam Kidston.

“Every child deserves the right to develop strong literacy and numeracy skills, they need that to support their daily life and I think that every parent should expect that of our education system.”

In reading literacy, NSW and the Northern Territory had the equal widest range of scores with 299 points between the top and bottom, and in science NSW students’ scores varied by 294 points, eclipsed slightly by the NT at 295 points.

Education researcher and former high school principal Chris Bonnor said the gap in achievement should have authorities worried and should prompt a rethink of selective school “segregation”.

“It bears out what’s becoming a serious NSW problem, because we are segregating our school enrolments more so than in the rest of Australia,” he said.

There are nearly 50 public academically selective high schools in NSW, where Victoria has only a few.

“The problem is not private versus public … everybody’s chasing a school with advantaged kids in it, and that’s happening in the public system as well,” Mr Bonnor said.

The performance gap between NSW’s best and worst students is as big - and in the case of mathematics bigger - than the Northern Territory’s. Picture: Alex Coppel

“We have the greatest concentration of strugglers in disadvantaged schools of any state, and to find ourselves on level pegging in that regard with the Northern Territory is really concerning.”

Centre for Independent Studies education expert Glenn Fahey said the results demonstrate “a two-speed education system” and “a major catch-up problem” in the education system.

Education Minister and Deputy Premier Prue Car said the performance gap between kids from high and low socio-economic backgrounds has reached “an unacceptable level”, and her government came to power with “a focus on turning these results around”.

“This report shows that while there has been some recent stabilisation, student outcomes are lower than results achieved a decade ago,” she said.

“Shifting long-term educational outcomes cannot happen overnight, but we are making progress and taking steps to improve students’ results.”

NSW Deputy Premier Prue Car said her government was focused on turning the educational divide around. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Adam Yip

Overall, NSW students have gained more ground on their maths and reading results since the 2018 PISA test than their peers interstate, an early sign that decades of declining outcomes could finally be turning around.

Opposition education spokeswoman and former minister Sarah Mitchell said she was pleased to see the improvements, which were a “testament to the hard work of our students, teachers and school staff”.

“The previous Liberals and Nationals Government has set NSW students on a positive trajectory for international education rankings for the first time in years, and the Minns Labor Government cannot walk away from initiatives that are clearly leading to improved student results,” she said.

“This is particularly important to make sure we bridge the equity gap for students who need further support.”