Educationreview

A major story that emerged today appeared in The Age and is related to an earlier story we wrote on a maths teacher shortage in Australia. According to the article, far too many secondary school teachers who are unqualified to teach math, particularly in the senior years, are being forced to so.This trend has been witnessed by The Academy of Technology and Engineering, with the think tank warning that unqualified maths teachers are causing fewer VCE students to select maths in the senior years. Fewer than 10 per cent of VCE students took advanced maths in 2017, a 20-year low.Nationwide, the outlook isn’t much better – in 2017 there were only 9.4 per cent of Australian students enrolled in higher mathematics in Year 12 , the lowest recorded level in 20 years. Although recent data placed Australia above the OECD average in terms of mathematics, it was identified as one of 10 countries that experienced a steep decline in mathematical literacy between 2012 and 2015.Listen to the podcast for the full report.See om