Bell tolls for classroom reform as primary students hit low in international reading tests

AUSTRALIAN primary students have scored the lowest of any English-speaking nation in an international test of reading, shocking education experts.

AUSTRALIAN primary school students have scored the lowest of any English-speaking nation in an international test of reading, shocking education experts who have questioned the standard of teacher training and quality of teaching in the classroom.

In the first international reading test of Australian primary schools, about 25 per cent of the nation's Year 4 students failed to meet the minimum standard in reading for their age, rising to more than 30 per cent in Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Of the 48 countries tested, Australia ranked 27th, comparable with Bulgaria, Slovenia and Lithuania, and significantly behind the leaders Hong Kong, Russia and Finland, as well as the US and England.

A test of maths and science among Year 4 and Year 8 students showed Australian students' skills had stagnated over the past 16 years, while some countries, notably in Asia, had greatly improved.

Between 29 per cent and 37 per cent of Year 4 and Year 8 students failed to meet the minimum standard for their grade in maths and science, rising to more than 50 per cent of Year 8 students in Tasmania and the Territory.

The results, released last night by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), prompted education experts to question the quality of primary schooling in Australia, and cast doubt over the nation's ability to reach Julia Gillard's target to be among the top five nations in the world by 2025.

School Education Minister Peter Garrett described the results as a "wake-up call", revealing

problems in student performance in every state and every school sector.

Australian Council for Educational Research chief executive Geoff Masters said the top-five target was always ambitious and the latest results made it an even bigger challenge.

"I don't know when I've seen an international table of results where Australia has been so far down the ranking order," Professor Masters said. "To say the results are disappointing is an understatement. It's surprising to see how many countries have outperformed us."

Professor Masters said to improve results and meet the Prime Minister's target, "you have to start looking at what's happening in classrooms".

"How well are we teaching reading? Are we not teaching reading as well as it has been taught in some other countries?

"How well are we preparing our teachers to teach reading?

"How well do we continue to develop their skills?"

Professor Masters said Australia needed to look at other countries that were improving "but we do know quite a lot about what they're doing . . . it's the obvious thing of making a difference on the ground by improving the quality of teaching in the classroom and trying to improve the quality of leadership in schools."

The director of school education at the Grattan Institute, Ben Jensen, said the reading results were much worse than expected and called for a fundamental shift in the nation's thinking about education, particularly the importance of primary schools, traditionally funded at a lower rate than high schools.

Dr Jensen said the results for high school students in maths and science were better, with Australia in the top 10 of 45 countries in Year 8 maths and science but still hovering about 20-25th in Year 4.

"There's a clear message about some of our attitudes towards primary schooling, which has always been considered a lower tier of education than secondary education," he said.

"We need to look at having specialist teachers in literacy, maths and science in primary schools, not just secondary school.

"We generally pay primary school teachers less, we don't expect them to have high content knowledge, and we don't give them the professional development they need."

The IEA has conducted four-yearly tests in maths and science - known as Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study - among Year 4 and Year 8 students since 1995.

Reading tests, known as Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, have been conducted among Year 4 students every five years since 2001.

The tests are run by the ACER in Australia, which has participated in the TIMSS since its inception, but last year was the first time Australian students sat the PIRLS.

The tests are based on the school curriculums of the participating countries, assessing common knowledge and skills, essentially testing how well students have learnt the curriculum.

The other major testing program, the Program for International Student Assessment run by the OECD, tests 15-year-olds on general skills and applying basic knowledge in reading, maths and science to solve problems.

The Australian report on the PIRLS and TIMSS says the nation's primary students have a "substantial problem" in reading, and the three tests reveal Australia has a "substantial 'tail' of underperformance".

"For such a highly developed country, this level of underperformance is not acceptable and its minimisation should become a priority," it says.

The best performing students in Australia across the three tests were in the ACT, followed by NSW and Victoria.

For full results, go to www.acer.edu.au/timss/