The trans-Tasman rivalry is reaching its lowest point since Trevor Chappell’s underarm call. Lower even than when Australian begged NZ to please, for the love of mercy, take Russell Crowe back and spare us another 30 Odd Foot of Grunts album... oh, God, anything but that…
Now we’re trying to outdo each other in the race to dumb down our kids.
As Christopher Luxon recently told a National Party conference, New Zealand kids aren’t being taught the basics: “leading to falling educational achievement, and a shocking decline relative to previous generations and kids in other countries”.
Today we can tell you about shocking new data on student achievement in maths last year.
Looking at kids who are about to go to high school, this data shows that just 22 per cent of students are at the expected standard for maths at year 8. That means 4 out of 5 are falling behind.
The results are deeply concerning, but I suspect not a surprise for many parents who I know are frustrated and despondent about the progress of their own children in school.
If it’s any consolation, Kiwis, our own kids aren’t doing much better. Australia currently ranks eighth on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings and New Zealand, 10th. On maths and science, Australia leads NZ by eight and three points, respectively, while trailing by three points on reading.
One in three students failed to meet the minimum standards for reading, writing and mathematics in the 2024 National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy.
The testing of 1.3 million students from years 3, 5, 7 and 9 identified one in 10 requiring extra support to catch up at school.
No surprises that the teachers’ unions are demanding more money to keep on doing what’s failing. Yet, we’ve been throwing more and more money into public schools, while results get steadily worse. Tasmania spends more than any other state per capita, yet results are near the bottom.
Clearly, it’s not the money.
Yet again, despite the hostility of teachers unions and many in the education establishment, the value of testing all students’ literacy and numeracy in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 through NAPLAN has been demonstrated in this year’s results. The most striking and concerning point is that in every jurisdiction – with the sole exception of Western Australia – students are going backwards during their school lives.
So, public schools are actually doing the reverse of education. Especially for boys.
Boys are nearly twice as likely as girls to be starting high school functionally illiterate, the NAPLAN tests reveal, a gap that deserves serious research.
Which is hardly surprising, in a thoroughly feminised education system. Federal Department of Education bureaucrats are 60 per cent female. Seventy-two per cent of teachers are female. In primary school, less than 15 per cent of teachers are male. Male teachers are “an endangered species”, according to researcher Kevin McGrath.
His studies have found schools are set to run out of male principals in the next 20 years and the male teacher will be extinct in the next 40 years.
“In some schools, there are already no male teachers, there is no male principal, the only male in the school is the janitor or the maintenance man,” Dr McGrath said.
“Schools are a microcosm of society, they tell students a lot about the role of men in society.
“That’s part of what schools are teaching children, and teaching them what they can expect of men and what [young males] can aim for.”
McGrath says he was “shocked” by the backlash against his research. I’m only shocked that he was even surprised: the matriarchy is a jealous goddess.
Oddly, the screeching harpies claimed that men were too ‘dangerous’ to be allowed around children. Perhaps they might want to read the news, some time.
Meanwhile, one of the few standouts in Australia’s otherwise dire results was WA. What are they doing?
It is also clear that WA’s inclusion of a minimum standard of literacy and numeracy in the year 12 Western Australian Certificate of Education, recognised by universities, industry and post-school training providers, is making a difference in school performance in earlier years.
In Tasmania and NSW, the state government are promising to implement the sort of back-to-basics reforms Luxon is promoting for NZ.
“By 2026, all students across all school years will be taught to read in a structured, systematic, and explicit way, within a framework that ensures every student gets appropriate additional literacy support when they need it,” [Education Minister Jo Palmer] said.
After decades of being subjected to one education theory fad after another, it’s clearly time to get back to what worked so well for previous generations. It’s a shame on both our nations that we’re raising generations successively less literate and numerate than their parents and grandparents.
But hey, at least they can change genders and recite a Welcome to Country in te reo.
