Tough new numeracy and literacy tests to be given to Australia’s graduating teachers from 2016

WOULD-BE teachers will be forced to pass rigorous new numeracy and literacy tests before they can enter classrooms. Could you pass the tests?

Teacher Standing By Blackboard In Chinese School Classroom

WOULD-BE teachers will be forced to pass rigorous new numeracy and literacy tests before they can get their degree and enter classrooms.

News Corp Australia understands the federal government is planning to make all new graduate primary and secondary teachers prove they are capable of teaching maths and English by undertaking a mandatory new competency test from 2016.

New strategy ... the tests will be mandatory from 2016. Picture: Supplied

The move is expected to be a central part of the Coalition government’s shake up of teaching qualifications, designed to arrest Australia’s slide down international rankings in maths, and reading skills.

The initiative would see Australia follow the lead of the United Kingdom, where all graduate teachers are quizzed on their spelling, grammar, and ability to understand and explain punctuation before they can obtain their teaching qualifications.

The exams ... are designed to address Australia’s slide down international rankings. Picture: Supplied

Teaching students in the UK are also required to prove they can complete difficult equations without the assistance of a calculator, and it is understood the new Australian exam will test similar competencies.

In February last year, Education Minister Christopher Pyne commissioned a review into teaching qualifications, amid concerns university degrees were letting down graduate teachers by focusing too heavily on theory and not on necessary classroom skills.

The literacy and numeracy test will be a part of the Coalition’s back to basics approach to teaching, and will be made available to universities as early as this year.

Fixing gaps ... many graduate teachers self-report that they are not confident teaching maths. Picture: Supplied

By next year all students obtaining teaching qualifications will be required to pass the text before they graduate.

The initiative is understood to be a key recommendation of the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group, which is set to be released by Mr Pyne this month.

The Advisory Group is also expected to recommend that primary school teachers become subject specialists, addressing concerns that general primary teaching degrees are not equipping teachers with the confidence to teach maths and science.

Australian schoolchildren have slipped to 19th in the world in maths, down from 15th on international rankings five years ago.

The slide is just as bad in literacy, where Australian schoolchildren are now ranked 14th, down from 9th in 2009.

A sample of some of the numeracy and literacy questions are below.

Could you do them? What do you think? Tell us below.

Originally published as Tough new numeracy and literacy tests to be given to Australia’s graduating teachers from 2016