About 10 per cent of teaching students failed to meet required standards of literacy and numeracy, results from a trial exam show. About 5,000 students sat the test, which is designed to ensure teaching graduates are in the top 30 per cent of Australians when it comes to literacy and numeracy. Of the students who took part, 92 per cent passed the literacy test and 90 per cent passed the numeracy test. If the results from the pilot study were replicated nationally, potentially 1,800 teaching graduates last year would have failed to make the grade.
I expected the 10% figure to be much higher. I'd say that 98% of Australians have trouble with simple arithmetic, and 80% can't construct a grammatically correct sentence. I'm not sure that this can be blamed on a drop in teaching standards, though. It doesn't help that illiteracy has now become kewl. Even the oldies are starting to post the same SMS-ese crap as their affected grandchildren.
Desert Dweller said
06:26 PM Dec 1, 2015
There's been a slow decline in overall education standards at all levels over the past 40 years or so. That applies to students & educators alike.
deverall11 said
07:51 PM Dec 1, 2015
It's a combination of many things.
1) Having a four term year from 3 terms and so called pupil free days
2) Teachers compelled to be 'mates/friends' with their students
3) apathy from teachers. Once upon a time teachers were a passionate lot
4) removal of proper discipline
the list goes on.
When I went to school I learnt and went on to a successful career. Why was there a need to change the way we were taught to today's system. What ever happened to;if it aint broke dont fix it. Now it is broken and needs fixing
hako said
10:24 PM Dec 1, 2015
I think they are interpreting "illiteracy" incorrectly - it's 2015, not 1960 and no longer do you need to spell words correctly, do running writing or perform mathematical gymnastics using manual methods because now we have devices to do this for us faster and accurately than a human ever could. Kids now are learning to use technology = not the 3R's.
I remember Andy Hardy telling his old man "ya gotta get with it Dad"
Good Luck.
usedtobe said
12:49 AM Dec 2, 2015
The reason that teaching students have lower literacy competency is because our current crop going back 20 years even, is that they were under the university influence of 'whole of language learning' where phonetics was discarded for a print rich environment classroom, was what was taught, students were encouraged to just use words they knew, even if spelling was wrong, they were assumed to get it, just by exposure to the words over time.
Universities now have gone back to a phonics approach as they saw their earlier 'experiment' had not worked.
Technology of course helped make the acceptance of txt, sms, and lack of literacy competence almost universal.
dorian said
06:27 AM Dec 2, 2015
I'm not sure that declining education standards are solely to blame for the disappointing test results. In my day university lecturers were complaining that they had to waste time teaching material that should have been covered in high school, so standards were already declining. However ISTM that literacy and numeracy are different issues. For example, I can't imagine that literacy and numeracy tests would be assessing a person's knowledge of calculus, matrix theory, or English literature. To me it sounds more like a test of basic understanding, in which case the onus would fall on the student rather than the educator.
I recall that my English teacher would ask me how to convert a test result to a percentage, and he would do this for every test. He just couldn't get his brain to comprehend simple arithmetic, yet he went on to become the English master. In fact I think he rose to an administrative position in the Education Department. I'm sure he would have bombed the numeracy exam. BTW, he was a good teacher.
I'd be willing to bet that, if I randomly approached 100 people at a supermarket and asked them the following simple question, the vast majority would be unable to answer it, even with a calculator.
"What is 21 out of 25 expressed as a percentage?"
Brenda and Alan said
08:56 AM Dec 2, 2015
Maths is not my strong point, but I'm guessing 84% ?
Brenda.
Government operating expenditure on education refers mainly to money spent on schools and tertiary education.
Of the total operating expenditure on education in 2011-2012, 51% was spent on primary and secondary education and 36% on tertiary education (universities and TAFEs).
What percentage of the total operating expenditure on education in 2011-2012 was spent on the remaining aspects of the education budget?
-- Edited by dorian on Wednesday 2nd of December 2015 09:04:39 AM
dorian said
09:06 AM Dec 2, 2015
Brenda and Alan wrote:
Maths is not my strong point, but I'm guessing 84% ? Brenda.
I'd call it arithmetic rather than mathematics, but you did better than my English teacher.
villatranquilla said
10:21 AM Dec 2, 2015
I'm not defending teachers or the current education system but teachers are expected to teach much more that the 3 r's in less time than what was allocated 40 yrs ago. These include health, electronic technology, discipline and nutrition to name a few. All of these 'extras' were once the responsibility of parents. They must be social workers, sex and moral educators with the ability to do vast amounts of paperwork that is not directly connected to preparing lessons.
Most of these are parent/family responsibilities.
With family breakdown and single parenting, often parents struggle to provide a safe nurturing environment that ultimately leads to undisciplined behaviour and learning difficulties. Some pre-primary school children swear like seasoned troopers - where do they learn this language and that it's acceptable?
Parents then blame the school who have responsibility for only 7 hrs out of 24.
So it's time for parents to say "what can I do to make it easier for my child to learn". Less after school activities and electronic devices, learn to share by example, encourage reading, meals at the table where everyone has an opportunity to share something about their day and learn to listen to others and most important take responsibility for your child's behaviour.
-rant over.
dorian said
10:52 AM Dec 2, 2015
I suppose we should be grateful that anyone wants to be a teacher at all. I wouldn't want to put up with today's brats. It was bad enough in our day. Today must be a nightmare.
As for the literacy and numeracy tests, I would think that they would be pitched at a level that even the dumbest politician or lawyer or union hack would be able to handle. Imagine the embarrassment if Christopher Pyne were to fall short of the very standards that he rails against.
deverall11 said
01:04 PM Dec 2, 2015
hako wrote:
I think they are interpreting "illiteracy" incorrectly - it's 2015, not 1960 and no longer do you need to spell words correctly, do running writing or perform mathematical gymnastics using manual methods because now we have devices to do this for us faster and accurately than a human ever could. Kids now are learning to use technology = not the 3R's.
I remember Andy Hardy telling his old man "ya gotta get with it Dad"
Good Luck.
Yes maybe but two points
1) Learning in the 1960s taught you how to think logically and how to use your brain (sub-consciously)
2) How to you check that the result your calculator gave you is correct. By that I mean within ball park. How many times have entered a calculation in your calculator and doubted the result because you made a mistake entering the numbers.
Larry
dorian said
02:23 PM Dec 2, 2015
hako wrote:
I think they are interpreting "illiteracy" incorrectly - it's 2015, not 1960 and no longer do you need to spell words correctly, do running writing or perform mathematical gymnastics using manual methods because now we have devices to do this for us faster and accurately than a human ever could. Kids now are learning to use technology = not the 3R's.
I remember Andy Hardy telling his old man "ya gotta get with it Dad"
Good Luck.
Numeracy Sample Question 9
ONE HUNDRED BOXES
The weight of a box of stationery is 3.2 kilograms. What is the weight of 100 such boxes?
Calculator available. Pen and paper may be used.
A calculator/computer should be an extension of one's intellect, not a substitute for it.
-- Edited by dorian on Wednesday 2nd of December 2015 03:13:37 PM
usedtobe said
07:08 PM Dec 2, 2015
Spot on Jenny and Barry, teachers today are social workers and expected to cure social issues such as bullying, acceptance of all manner of anti social behaviours as well. All research without exception has shown that parents are the biggest influence on a child's education. My experience as a teacher has been frustrated by the unwillingness of parents to attend parent teacher interviews as well as the extra subjects expected to remedy societies ills. We as teachers find that expectations upon our time and expertise are a long way from what education has traditionally been seen as........not a rant but my experience over a couple of decades.
-- Edited by usedtobe on Wednesday 2nd of December 2015 07:09:12 PM
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-01/around-one-in-ten-teaching-students-fail-literacy-and-numeracy-/6988168
I expected the 10% figure to be much higher. I'd say that 98% of Australians have trouble with simple arithmetic, and 80% can't construct a grammatically correct sentence. I'm not sure that this can be blamed on a drop in teaching standards, though. It doesn't help that illiteracy has now become kewl. Even the oldies are starting to post the same SMS-ese crap as their affected grandchildren.
1) Having a four term year from 3 terms and so called pupil free days
2) Teachers compelled to be 'mates/friends' with their students
3) apathy from teachers. Once upon a time teachers were a passionate lot
4) removal of proper discipline
the list goes on.
When I went to school I learnt and went on to a successful career. Why was there a need to change the way we were taught to today's system. What ever happened to;if it aint broke dont fix it. Now it is broken and needs fixing
I remember Andy Hardy telling his old man "ya gotta get with it Dad"
Good Luck.
Universities now have gone back to a phonics approach as they saw their earlier 'experiment' had not worked.
Technology of course helped make the acceptance of txt, sms, and lack of literacy competence almost universal.
I recall that my English teacher would ask me how to convert a test result to a percentage, and he would do this for every test. He just couldn't get his brain to comprehend simple arithmetic, yet he went on to become the English master. In fact I think he rose to an administrative position in the Education Department. I'm sure he would have bombed the numeracy exam. BTW, he was a good teacher.
I'd be willing to bet that, if I randomly approached 100 people at a supermarket and asked them the following simple question, the vast majority would be unable to answer it, even with a calculator.
"What is 21 out of 25 expressed as a percentage?"
Brenda.
teacheredtest.acer.edu.au/files/Literacy_and_Numeracy_Test_for_Initial_Teacher_Education_students_-_Sample_Questions.pdf
-- Edited by dorian on Wednesday 2nd of December 2015 09:04:39 AM
I'd call it arithmetic rather than mathematics, but you did better than my English teacher.
Most of these are parent/family responsibilities.
With family breakdown and single parenting, often parents struggle to provide a safe nurturing environment that ultimately leads to undisciplined behaviour and learning difficulties. Some pre-primary school children swear like seasoned troopers - where do they learn this language and that it's acceptable?
Parents then blame the school who have responsibility for only 7 hrs out of 24.
So it's time for parents to say "what can I do to make it easier for my child to learn". Less after school activities and electronic devices, learn to share by example, encourage reading, meals at the table where everyone has an opportunity to share something about their day and learn to listen to others and most important take responsibility for your child's behaviour.
-rant over.
As for the literacy and numeracy tests, I would think that they would be pitched at a level that even the dumbest politician or lawyer or union hack would be able to handle. Imagine the embarrassment if Christopher Pyne were to fall short of the very standards that he rails against.
Yes maybe but two points
1) Learning in the 1960s taught you how to think logically and how to use your brain (sub-consciously)
2) How to you check that the result your calculator gave you is correct. By that I mean within ball park. How many times have entered a calculation in your calculator and doubted the result because you made a mistake entering the numbers.
Larry
A calculator/computer should be an extension of one's intellect, not a substitute for it.
-- Edited by dorian on Wednesday 2nd of December 2015 03:13:37 PM
Spot on Jenny and Barry, teachers today are social workers and expected to cure social issues such as bullying, acceptance of all manner of anti social behaviours as well. All research without exception has shown that parents are the biggest influence on a child's education. My experience as a teacher has been frustrated by the unwillingness of parents to attend parent teacher interviews as well as the extra subjects expected to remedy societies ills. We as teachers find that expectations upon our time and expertise are a long way from what education has traditionally been seen as........not a rant but my experience over a couple of decades.
-- Edited by usedtobe on Wednesday 2nd of December 2015 07:09:12 PM