The Nature of Classroom Teaching Must Urgently Change, Say Academics

Two boys leaving school at home time in Albany, Western Australia, on Aug. 28, 2023. (Susan Mortimer/The Epoch Times)

Australian teachers aren’t doing enough to sufficiently engage students in classroom learning, according to university researchers.

A research paper conducted by the University of South Australia in conjunction with Flinders University and the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education revealed that less than a third of teachers are engaging students in complex learning, hindering problem solving and critical thinking abilities.

The researchers, who assessed the content taught in schools across Victoria and South Australia, found that just under 70 percent of tasks involve superficial learning, that is, simple questions and answers as opposed to comprehensive pedagogy.

Helen Stephenson, an academic specialising in educational outcomes at the University of South Australia, weighed in on the research, claiming that a greater emphasis ought to be placed on engagement in the classroom.

“When we look at learning, the greater the engagement, the deeper the learning. But too often students are doing low-engagement, passive work,” Ms. Stephenson said.

“Deep learning requires the organisation of knowledge into conceptual structures, which we know improves the retention of information and therefore improves learning outcomes. Deep learning also supports knowledge that’s needed for innovations.”

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Ms. Stephenson is adamant more of an interactive approach to teaching will better equip students with reasoning ability.

“Interactive engagement in classrooms is where students are involved in activities with other students that stimulate them to develop deeper understanding. They’re making judgements, proposing and critiquing arguments and opinions, and working out solutions to problems,” she said.

“These activities can also help them to develop critical thinking and reasoning skills ... all of which are predictors of improved learning.”

Education Standards are Slipping in Australia

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Better Life Index explores the performance of nations based on factors conducive to overall wellbeing, one of which is education.

It found that although Australia’s education system is good in terms of attainment, rates of attendance and graduation on their own aren’t reflective of the quality of the education received.

According to the index, Australia currently ranks 17 out of 41 countries based on the average performance of students, behind developmental contemporaries like New Zealand, Poland, Estonia, and Canada. This is despite the fact that 84 percent of Australian adults have completed upper secondary education, higher than the OECD average of 79 percent.

The trend in NAPLAN results reflects a similar outlook. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Authority (ACARA) in August revealed that after introducing a new, higher minimum standard, around 23 percent of students are working towards meeting NAPLAN expectations, a stark increase from the 7 percent that failed to meet minimum standards in 2022.

Increased Funding of Australian Education

In 2020-21, public expenditure on schools at both a state and federal level totalled just under $60 billion, an increase from the $51.5 billion in 2017-18 as part of the Gonski 2.0 reforms that will hike total funding to an additional $33 billion in 2029.

Yet, a Productivity Commission probe (pdf) into the reforms in late last year concluded that there is little to no chance that Australia’s rates of educational attainment will increase in line with increased injections of government spending.

“The measure of success of any reform is its effect on outcomes. Reflecting their early stages of development, the National Policy Initiatives are unlikely to have done much to advance agreed National School Reform Agreement outcomes,” the commission report reads (pdf).

“Educational attainment rates are below the 2031 agreed targets, average outcomes in national literacy and numeracy testing have improved little, and differences in outcomes across students remain.”

The report also believes governmental arms need to adopt more quantifiable and tangible goals when it comes to educational outcomes.

“A successor agreement should include new targets for academic achievement for all students, and students from priority equity cohorts, with clear benchmarks and timelines. The new targets would help drive reform by drawing attention to key performance measures for which governments are willing to be held to account,” it said.

There is also the reality that subpar education standards at a primary or secondary education level translate into low levels of competency throughout adulthood.

Australia’s most prominent business representative bodies like the Business Council of Australia (BCA) and Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) have become increasingly vocal about workers’ poor abilities related to literacy and numeracy.

In a submission to the federal government in November 2022, the BCA suggested the implementation of a foundational skills guarantee consistent nationwide that ensures Australians have sufficient reading and writing skills upon entering the workforce.

Last year, an Ai Group report found that 74 percent of Australian businesses revealed that they are adversely affected by insufficiently low levels of numeracy and literacy, constituting part of a widespread skills shortage across the nation.