LANTITE test for trainee teachers had a record number of first-time fails in 2024 – would you pass it?
Aspiring teachers are struggling to show they are as smart as ninth graders, with 3000 failing to pass the benchmark LANTITE test last year. Take the quiz and see if you’d pass.
Almost 3000 teaching students failed to pass a vital literacy test on the first go, meaning they’re outperformed by a typical ninth grader, new figures reveal.
Results for 2024 show just 88.1 per cent of aspiring teachers passed the literacy component of the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education (LANTITE) the first time – down from a high of 93.3 per cent in 2016.
Australian Catholic University School of Education Associate Professor Colette Alexander said the increasing numbers of international students “have possibly had an impact on the deflation of the literacy scores and the inflation of the numeracy scores”.
It’s understood some students international students are sitting the test up to six times before passing, with some pupils taking up to eight goes to pass.
There were around 461,000 international students in higher education institutions in 2024, government data shows.
LANTITE is a mandatory test for student educators which clears them to work in classroom.
Sample questions are pegged at year nine level and ask graduates to spell words such as “exaggeration” and put basic punctuation in a sentence.
In 2024, 91.6 per cent of student teachers passed the literacy component of the test in their first year of study, which was the lowest rate since the test began in 2016, when 95.2 per cent passed first go.
Students in 2024 fared better on the numeracy test, with 94.5 passing on the first try – the highest since the start of the test in 2016.
The test, which aims to ensure teachers are in the top 30 per cent of the adult population, asks students to complete basic questions such as working out the weight of 100 3.2kg boxes and generate a percentage from a large number.
More than 1500 students sat the literacy test four or more times and more than 600 sat the numeracy test four or more times.
The LANTITE test was introduced in 2016 amid concerns about the low standard of beginner teachers. Such standards continue to be under scrutiny.
While the minimum ATAR for a teaching degree is 70, selection scores can be as low as 40 for diploma courses.
In 2023, the Quality Initial Teacher Education Review found course completion rates of just 34 per cent at some institutions, with low satisfaction rates from students saying their courses do not prepare them for working in schools.
New rules from 2024 state that students must take LANTITE before the end of their first year of studying teaching in a bid to weed out those who aren’t literate or numerate enough to teach earlier.
From 2023, students have also been able to sit the test before they started studying.
New rules for 2025 also removed the test limit, which means students can sit the test as many times as they need to in order to pass.
The latest figures show 24,456 candidates sat the literacy component compared to 13,083 in 2016 and 24,216 sat the numeracy test – up from 13,084 in 2016.
Opposition education spokesman Jonno Duniam said the results “aren’t good enough. There is something seriously wrong and the system is failing our kids.”
“We need to do everything we can to give Aussie kids the best start in life. These results show that we are continually going backwards - and this is unacceptable. Something has to change and the Coalition is committed to working with the government to get this right.”
Associate Professor Alexander, ACU’s national co-ordinator of LANTITE, said the fact that students had to take it in their first year meant it was “more a test of literacy coming out of school rather than their progress in their course”.
“I think 88 per cent passing first time is pretty good given that they are forcing students to sit it in their first year,” Associate Professor Alexander said. “We’d usually advise a number to wait until their second year.”
She said the $200 fee to sit the test was a significant barrier stopping some equity students resitting the test.
Despite this, Associate Professor Alexander said the “vast majority of students passed in the first two attempts”.
Correna Haythorpe, federal president of the Australian Education Union, said the test was a “one-dimensional literacy and numeracy test which is not the most appropriate measure of graduate teacher preparedness for the classroom”.
“We believe that minimum entry requirements upon entry to Initial Teacher Education are critically important to recruit the top 30 per cent of students into the profession, with equivalent measures for mid career pathways for those entering from points other than completion of schooling,” she said.
“Using LANTITE to determine failure or success is far too late. Without rigorous entry requirements, students may have to spend too much time in remedial programs rather than developing a strong academic, pedagogical understanding of what it takes to be a successful teacher upon graduation.”
Are you smarter than a ninth grader? Take the full sample test here – and leave a comment below or send us an email at education@news.com.au
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Originally published as LANTITE test for trainee teachers had a record number of first-time fails in 2024 – would you pass it?
