Summary
Australia has a maths problem: one in three Australian school students fail to achieve proficiency in maths.
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. 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.
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.
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.
Implementing 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.
Photo credit: Wattle Grove Primary School and FotoWorks