Fears over Australian schools’ maths mediocrity as England streaks ahead: ‘We wouldn’t settle for that in cricket’
Would Australia stand for it if we were as far below England’s standards in cricket as we are in this key area of education?
Unskilled teachers, dumbed-down games and a lack of rigour has left Aussie kids unable to do maths – a crisis that threatens their job prospects and the nation’s productivity.
“Australia has accepted maths mediocrity for far too long now and the problem starts in primary school,” says Jordana Hunter, education program director at the Grattan Institute.
“We’ve significantly underestimated the rigour required to teach primary school maths well, and the importance of setting up young children for success early in mathematics.”
Having travelled to Singapore and England to examine their maths success, Hunter believes we need to apply the same competitiveness to maths as we do to sport.
“I don’t know why it’s OK that England is outperforming Australia by so much. We wouldn’t settle for it in cricket, we don’t like getting beaten in the Ashes, and yet we seem to be far too comfortable (accepting it) in mathematics. Where’s our self-respect?”
With one in three students failing to meet basic standards and just 13 per cent of year 4 students excelling compared to 22 per cent in England and 49 per cent in Singapore, experts say the impact of poor outcomes is “catastrophic”.
Even children of tertiary-educated parents are struggling, with one in five not meeting standards.
While federal Education Minister Jason Clare has announced “keyhole surgery” for the maths curriculum which will be rewritten over the school holidays, it’ll only apply to children in kindergarten to year 2.
“The minister is taking a first step and that’s great to see but he needs to show he can stay the course,” says Hunter.
“We should also be looking at the year 3-6 curriculum and we also need the right materials for teachers to bring the curriculum to life. Professional development is critical because teachers have to be confident to deliver the curriculum in a way that brings all students along.”
Students in year 3 and above will continue to suffer from a poor teaching framework, muddled concepts, spiralling confidence and too few hours devoted to the subject.
“Education has not been given the priority it deserves at the Commonwealth or the state and territory level,” says Hunter.
“It’s a major driver of economic outcomes and social mobility and a major driver of supporting our young people to reach their full potential.”
She says the quality of classroom-relevant training offered to Australian teachers is “embarrassingly inadequate”.
Experts want teachers back at the front of classroom and each child equipped with a mini whiteboard displaying their answers to key foundational maths skills. From there teachers can quickly scan the class to see which children are getting the correct answers and who might require more practice. This “explicit and systematic” method is more effective than the “workshop” model where a teacher gives a mini lesson then sends children to work independently in groups. “A teacher up the front can help scaffold the attention of all the students making sure they’re staying focused on the task,” says Hunter.
Research shows that children need 1400 hours of maths teaching between kindergarten and year six, or about 200 hours per year, however only 43 per cent of teachers say maths is timetabled into the day at their school with many spending far fewer hours than necessary on the core subject.
Likewise, many teachers say they lack confidence in teaching maths, a problem Hunter says can be solved by employing specialist maths teachers who instruct a whole grade as happens in Singapore. She’s also a fan of the English model where there’s a focus on a rigorous curriculum and investment in national professional qualifications so that some teachers become a pipeline of leaders who can coach other teachers in their schools.
Maths hubs in geographical areas also hold demonstration lessons so teachers can watch highly credentialed maths teachers at work and those same experts also go out to schools to give critical feedback and advice.
In June the Grattan Institute released a new guide for principals showing how their school could fix their maths deficiencies in the short term rather than waiting for others in the sector to act.
Meanwhile, as part of a 10-year “maths guarantee” strategy, the Institute is calling for the retraining of teachers and the creation of a scholarship fund. Teachers could apply to the fund to increase their professional qualifications, not through more release time from the classroom but in recognition of the additional effort and expertise they would bring to their maths lessons.
Hunter says it’s time for governments to accept our maths standards are woeful. “Are they prepared to draw a line in the sand and say it’s not good enough? We are a rich country, we value education and yet we have one in three children not meeting the proficiency benchmark and two in three regional, remote and Aboriginal children not meeting those benchmarks.
“There are hard problems to solve in education but getting great practice in maths teaching in most primary schools – that is something we can do if we put our mind to it.”
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Originally published as Fears over Australian schools’ maths mediocrity as England streaks ahead: ‘We wouldn’t settle for that in cricket’
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