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.

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.

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?"

teacheredtest.acer.edu.au/files/Literacy_and_Numeracy_Test_for_Initial_Teacher_Education_students_-_Sample_Questions.pdf

Numeracy Sample Question 1

EDUCATION EXPENDITURE

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

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.

hako wrote:

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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.

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 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