Weeding out would-be teachers who fail test

Many parents of schoolchildren will be alarmed and cross, but not surprised, to learn almost one in 10 trainee teachers falls short of acceptable literacy and numeracy standards. The problem is not new. It reflects fundamental weaknesses in our education system that have worried parents and employers for many years. Australia’s slide in international testing bears out the trend. When poor literacy and numeracy skills of trainee teachers were identified a few years ago, the Coalition introduced LANTITE (Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students) in 2016. It is a good check, requiring students to reach a certain level of numeracy and literacy before being allowed to graduate. But what is disconcerting, as Richard Ferguson reports on Monday, is that the situation has deteriorated further in four years. Last year, 9.3 per cent of students failed to meet the numeracy benchmark and 8.3 per cent failed in literacy; worse than in 2016-17.

Some states introduced tougher minimum ATAR scores for teaching courses. These will help. Students’ literacy and numeracy issues also need to be identified much earlier, as MultiLit senior research fellow Jennifer Buckingham says. Universities have a choice when students sit literacy and numeracy tests; most schedule them in the final year of degrees. That is too late. There is a case, as Blaise Joseph, an education research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies, suggests, for making LANTITE an entrance exam for teaching courses. Universities also need to take responsibility for taking students’ money for four years and passing their coursework. Surely, over that time, difficulties with reading and numeracy are apparent? It also remains problematic that too many universities lowered the bar for entry to teaching degrees. More “bottoms on seats’’ in lecture halls mean more government funding. Quantity not quality. These and other deep-seated problems are all pertinent to reading standards.

The Australian has covered these issues for decades. We have exposed the lack of phonics in classrooms (teaching children to read by sounding out syllables); we have highlighted indifferent NAPLAN (National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy) results, and reported on postmodern senior English courses more about pop culture and sociology than literature. Too often, at all stages of education, reading comes a poor last. So does numeracy, as exasperated parents know as they cast around, at great expense, for a maths tutor to get teenagers through Years 11 and 12. Calls to emphasise “the basics’’ in classrooms have not been heeded, although some schools, across all education systems, regions and socio-economic groups, are doing brilliantly. In general, students from homes with few books and parents who do not encourage them are the most disadvantaged.

LANTITE is doing its job: weeding out would-be teachers who should not be in classrooms. Education Minister Dan Tehan wants to see more students in teaching, English and maths courses at university, through cuts to fees. Quality must be the priority.