Literacy and Numeracy from Primary School to University

The Herald Sun, Peter Rolfe, 5 August 2007; The Australian, Justine Ferrari, 6 August 2007; The Age, Bridie Smith, 9 August 2007

 

Melbourne academics say that education standards in Victoria are so poor that university students are struggling with English and maths levels that are usually taught in primary school.

Teachers say this is the lowest education level reached in 20 years. Students are enrolling in teaching degrees without a grasp of grammar, punctuation and numeracy, prompting concern about the quality of teacher training.

RMIT education expert Kerry Hempenstall says that ’even at the elite level the better kids are failing formal grammar and spelling…it's not just the disadvantaged students.’ Dr Hempenstall also said as many as 30 percent of students struggle with university curriculum.

A possible reason behind this drop in literacy and numeracy levels could be the language used to present maths problems to primary and high school students.

Queensland University of Technology researcher, Dr Beryl Exley, says that grade two maths problems have high linguistic demands, and contain grammatical structures not taught in their year level. Dr Exley adds that the design of maths problems is ‘tripping up students.’

Education lecturer Robyn Zevenbergen from Griffith University says that maths problems should be presented in language structures that help prepare students to recognise when to use maths in the real world.

Furthermore, Victorian Premier John Brumby will aim to lift Victoria’s low ranking in national reading results by implementing new reading and writing tests from prep through to grade two.

The 2005 National Report on Schooling in Australia shows that Victorian grade three students fall just below the national standard. Victoria is ranked sixth out of the eight states and territories.

Shadow Education Minister Philip Davis said that Victoria was ‘not making the grade’, and that these issues ‘need to be addressed in the early years.’

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development is developing a new testing model which will be trialled in selected schools later this year. Students will be tested on their reading accuracy, comprehension, vocabulary, word recognition and oral reading fluency.

 

 

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