A new report published by the Grattan Institute shows that one in three Australian school students fail to achieve proficiency in maths.
The report, The Maths Guarantee: How to boost students’ learning in primary schools, shows that students from disadvantaged backgrounds struggle the most with maths. But one in five students from well-off families struggle too.
In a 2023 international maths test, only 13 per cent of our Year 4 students excelled, compared to 22 per cent in England and 49 per cent in Singapore.
A Grattan Institute survey of 1,745 teachers and school leaders across the country, conducted for this report, found some teachers lack confidence to teach Year 6 maths, and many have concerns about their colleagues’ ability to teach maths.
When maths is taught well, children and the nation benefit. But taught poorly, students are robbed of a core life skill. Innumerate adults have worse job prospects and are more likely to struggle with routine tasks such as managing budgets and understanding health guidance.
“Maths has been deprioritised in Australia for decades,” said report lead author and Grattan Institute Education Program Director Jordana Hunter.
“Governments have also been too slow to rule out faddish but unproven maths teaching methods.
“To turn rhetoric into reality, governments need to take seriously the evidence base on how humans, including children, learn maths most effectively.”
The opportunity to lift maths achievement starts in primary schools. Maths is highly cumulative, so it is imperative that primary schools teach maths well and lay down strong foundations for future success.
The Grattan Institute said most primary teachers are expected to teach maths, but not all have the maths knowledge, confidence, and training to teach it well. “This isn’t fair for students. And it’s not fair for teachers either,” it said.
There are proven strategies to turn this around. Some schools have already put these in place. By implementing explicit and systematic teaching, effective catch-up support, and high-quality professional learning for teachers, students at these schools are making fast progress and teachers feel successful.
All primary students and teachers deserve to experience that success. To get there, governments, along with the Catholic and independent school sectors, should commit to a 10-year Maths Guarantee strategy.
“First, they should commit to a long-term aspiration of 90 per cent of students achieving proficiency in numeracy, as measured by NAPLAN.
“Second, they should ensure schools have clear guidance on how to teach maths well. Department staff should align on this guidance too.
“Third, governments should arm schools with quality-assured curriculum materials and rigorously evaluated assessments.
“Fourth, they should invest in high-quality professional development to support teachers and school leaders to implement best practice in their classrooms.
“Fifth, they should improve monitoring and oversight through stronger school reviews and the introduction of a mandatory, research-validated early years numeracy screening tool,” the Grattan Institute said.
Dr Hunter said this strategy will require ambition and commitment.
“But the costs of these reforms are modest – only about $67 per primary student per year – and affordable within existing budgets by giving maths the priority it deserves.”
Professor Joanna Barbousas, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Education, Impact and Innovation at La Trobe University, said the Grattan Institute’s latest report is yet more evidence that Australia needs to take action to halt its ongoing numeracy crisis.
“The lifetime impact for students who fall behind on these core skills is substantial, affecting long-term employment, health and social outcomes and perpetuating cycles of disadvantage,” she said.
“Teachers are telling us they feel unprepared for the classroom. When half of our 15-year-olds fail to achieve national standards in maths, it’s not the students who are failing, it’s our approach to education.
“SOME Lab will empower educators to understand how people learn mathematics, promoting low-variance, highly systematised instructional approaches to ensure all children develop sound and robust numeracy skills.”
