And He Wonders Why He's Not Taken at His Word. (December 15, 2004)

    A study released yesterday by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement details the performance of year 4 and year 8 students in mathematics and science. Below we quote excerpts from the Minister for Education, Science and Training Brendan Nelson's media release followed by a write-up in today's Age. 

From Dr Nelson's Media Release:

INTERNATIONAL STUDY REVEALS EXCELLENCE IN MATHS AND SCIENCE – WITH NO ROOM FOR COMPLACENCY

    I welcome the results of a new international study today that show Australian primary and secondary school students are generally performing above the international average in mathematics and science at Years 4 and 8.
    The results of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2002/03) were released in Boston by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (the IEA) – see tables attached.
    The results are a good outcome overall, but we still need to make concerted efforts to match it with other top performing countries, especially in Year 4 maths.
    Australia’s Year 8 students scored significantly above the international averages in both subjects. Our Year 4 students performed significantly above the international average in science, but only at the international average in mathematics.
    Our Year 4 students scored above the international averages in Measurement, Geometry and Data. They were at the international average in Patterns and Relationships, but performed below average in Number. This component made up 40% of the Year 4 assessment and covered whole numbers, fractions and decimals, and ratios and proportions.
    This is different from the OECD’s PISA study results released last week, which assessed 15 year old students in four areas, including mathematical and scientific literacy. In PISA results, Australia was outperformed by only four countries in mathematical literacy, and by only three in science.

 

From The Age:

Australians lag in maths and science

By Chee Chee Leung
Education reporter

School students overseas are leapfrogging Australians in the major subjects.   

    More countries are outdoing Australia in mathematics and science than a decade ago, according to an international survey of years 4 and 8 students.

    Countries that have jumped ahead of Australia in some categories since 1994-95 include England, the US, Hong Kong, Cyprus, Hungary, Singapore, Latvia and the Netherlands.

    New Zealand, Lithuania and Scotland are among those that were behind Australia but have caught up.

    The Australian Council for Educational Research, which released the findings of the 2002-03 study, said other countries had made substantial gains while Australia remained relatively unchanged.

    "Ten years ago there was only one country in year 4 science that was ahead of us," the council's chief executive, Professor Geoff Masters, said. "Now half the countries that participated 10 years ago are ahead of us, so we've been standing still while the rest of the world is moving forward."

The Age also informs its readers that 30% of year 8 maths teachers in Australia did not have mathematics as their major area of study.

Meanwhile Australia's private sector, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the biosciences are among those who bemoan the lack of qualified "number crunchers" while university maths faculties continue to shrink in both numbers and quality (See December 11, 2004 N&V).