Greg O’Connor: How technology can help solve Australia’s declining maths results

Poor numeracy and maths skills are some of the most significant barriers to employment, but one key thing can help Aussie students, writes Greg O’Connor.

As anxious students gear up for another stressful testing season, a national crisis impacting our young people is once again brought into sharp focus.

For once, I’m not talking about the coronavirus. But rather our declining academic results in maths and numeracy comprehension.

The last decade has seen a downward trend in mathematics achievement in Australian schools. Since 2003, Australia’s results in maths have declined further than any country bar Finland.

In the latest results, released in 2019, the average 15-year-old Australian student was 3 and a half years behind the average Chinese student who sat the Program for International Student Assessment, and more than a year behind where Australia was in 2003.

Poor numeracy and mathematical skills are some of the most significant barriers to employment and productivity growth generally. Many business groups have shown that STEM jobs (science, technology, engineering and maths) are growing twice as fast as any other sector and as such, these skills are vital for the livelihoods of our younger generations and our future prosperity as a nation, especially as the Government looks to recharge to economy post-pandemic with its latest budget.

So if we know just how important basic maths comprehension is, why is participation and attainment in these courses still so low?

The last decade has seen a downward trend in mathematics achievement in Australian schools. Picture: iStock

Some are taking aim at the curriculum. Just last month, leading maths and science groups penned a joint statement titled “why maths must change”, advocating for problem-solving to be central to how maths is taught ahead of public consultation on The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority’s draft new national curriculum. It is the first major review of the national curriculum since 2014.

And while I agree and am united with my peers in the belief that the curriculum and the way it is taught needs changing, we do also need to look at the problem through a more holistic lens. We need to look at influences beyond the curriculum content, such as the role parents play in building their children’s confidence, and also how we can use technology to our advantage, like we do in so many other sectors.

Children are incredibly impressionable and naturally model their behaviour off of their parents. So if we as parents had a dislike for maths at school, or openly belittle our proficiency in the subject in front of our kids, these negative affirmations can rub off on our children, and perpetuate the stigma attached to maths and science of them being ‘difficult’ subjects.

However, for all its negatives, the pandemic has offered us a glimpse into something that could help students, teachers and parents in addressing these issues. As the rapid shift to online learning saw kids across the nation engage with technology beyond streaming cat videos and TikToks, demand for EdTech or assistive technology tools increased by 300% in March 2020 alone, and this hasn’t subsided since students have returned to the classroom. Edtech has been integrated into the classroom and out of school learning because it is supporting students, teachers and even parents, in ways that many educators had never considered or rather perhaps chose to put in the “too hard” basket.

Teachers now have a better understanding of the important role technology can play in removing barriers to learning and improving learning outcomes. Picture: iStock

For teachers, they now have a better understanding of the important role technology can play in removing barriers to learning and improving learning outcomes, whereas before the pandemic, there was still a degree of scepticism from some of my peers. For instance, assistive technology tools like EquatIO helps to bring maths out of the pen and paper era and moves to digital maths instruction, which gives students the opportunity to show their mastery in maths, in a way that best suits them. They can speak, draw or type problems and equations directly onto their device.

For parents with low confidence in these subjects, it’s about not being defined by these barriers but instead finding ways to accommodate them, and understanding their role in determining their child’s maths mindset and being open to the benefits of these new edtech solutions.

There is no silver bullet to solving Australia’s current maths dilemma. It is a deeply entrenched and complex problem.

But failing to recognise the influence parents have on a child’s mindset, and the empowering role technology can play in boosting confidence and engaging students in more active mathematical practices such as experimenting, investigating and problem solving that bring depth to their learning and encourage them to ask questions rather than only looking for answers, can only worsen the problem.

Greg O’Connor is the Education & Technology Lead of Texthelp APAC.

Originally published as Greg O’Connor: How technology can help solve Australia’s declining maths results