Less than four in ten Year 10 students have a proper understanding of the political system and how democracy works in Australia.
During a Senate inquiry on May 23, members of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters explored the decline in understanding of civics education among students across the country.
Every three years, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) conducts an assessment of Year Six and 10 students about civics and citizenship (NAP–CC).
The NAP–CC assessment covers many areas, including Australia’s political and legal systems, federal system of government, liberal democratic values, and the nature of citizenship.
A representative sample of students from public, catholic and independent schools in metropolitan, rural and remote regions is randomly selected for assessment each time.
The NAP–CC assessment was interrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic as ACARA did not collect data then.
According to the 2019 NAP–CC results, 53 percent of Year Six students achieved the proficient standard, down from 55 percent in 2016. However, the figure was similar to the results between 2007 and 2013.
Meanwhile, only 38 percent of Year 10 students were at, or above, the proficient standard in 2019.
Senate Inquiry’s Concerns
Senator Linda Reynolds, a member of the inquiry, questioned representatives of the Education Department about the effectiveness of the current civics curriculum.“What that’s telling us is that somewhere around 60 percent of Year 10 students that go on to graduate really are not proficient in it (civics education),” she said.
“A lot of material is available through the national curriculum and elsewhere, but 62 percent of the Year 10 [students] are not getting enough of that so that that information actually sticks.”
While Julie Birmingham, a first assistant secretary at the Department of Education, acknowledged that there was room for improvement in the NAP–CC results, she said the assessment did not reflect the full picture.
“The NAP–CC assessment is only a sample and it’s every three years. It’s a point-in-time assessment, and it’s not the full story,” she said.
The assistant secretary also noted that the results depended on different groups of participants and how the questions were asked.
“There would be limits to how we can interpret the outcome of that assessment. So I wouldn’t want to say that that assessment every three years on a small group of students gives you a nationwide picture,” she said.
At the same time, Ms. Birmingham said the education department got a good basis for improving the way civics education was taught in schools with the rollout of a revised national curriculum.
States Implementing Education Differently
Ms. Birmingham said there were challenges in introducing reforms with the current model.“In primary school, children start to learn about civics and citizenship in Year Three, and that carries through all of their schooling until they get to Year Six, and it’s interwoven into the broad curriculum approach that goes on in primary school,” she said.
However, the assistant secretary stated the difference played out in high school, where different states and territories implemented their own teaching programs.
While some states and territories did not have a specific focus on their civics education, others implemented specific learnings at different year levels that were detailed and prescriptive, she explained.
Due to the different teaching approaches, it will take time for states and territories to adapt new civics curriculums into practice and figure out the impact on student learning.
“It’s a long story to know how it’s playing out,” she said.
