Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Paterson for his question and his strong interest, like all on this side of the chamber, in quality outcomes for Australian schoolchildren. Unfortunately, though, we have some challenges in literacy levels in Australian schools. If you look at the data over recent years, the Australian PISA results, the international benchmark for assessment in these areas, have shown that reading standards between 2020 and 2012 have declined by some 16 points. Where once we were the fourth best performing country amongst those assessed, we are now coming 14th. That shows a decline in our relative performance, but that decline by some 16 points is also a decline in our real performance in outcomes for Australian students. Our NAPLAN results similarly showed that approximately 196,000 Australian school students are either at or below the bare minimum standard in their reading skills. Around 66,000 are in fact below. Of course reading skills are the foundation stone for so much other learning that occurs in a school. When we have these poor results in reading skills in the early stages that is a particular challenge for us.

That is why our government, over the last few years, has sought to implement the review of the Australian curriculum; strengthen the focus on literacy; increase the presence of phonics and phonetic awareness in the Australian curriculum; implement the report of TEMAG, the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group; and ensure that prospective teachers in future are equipped with a thorough understanding of the teaching of literacy and numeracy, including phonetic skills.

All of this seeks to make sure that our record investment in Australian schools is actually being used on quality outcomes, to address real problems in our school systems.