Gumleaf
February 10th, 2008, 06:19 PM
Monday Feb 11 06:48 AEDT
Teenagers' reading and maths skills have declined during the past four decades despite education spending per student more than doubling, a new study has found.
The study by Australian National University economists suggests today's 14-year-olds are, in learning terms, about three months behind their counterparts from the 1960s.
The researchers from ANU's Research School of Social Sciences suggest the piling of resources into creating smaller classes, at the expense of paying more for better teachers, could be to blame.
Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard said the government's national action plan for numeracy and literacy would address the shortfall.
"The Rudd government understands that literacy and numeracy skills are the building blocks of a good education," Ms Gillard told The Australian.
Opposition education spokesman Tony Smith said the report, released on Sunday, highlighted why "a real education revolution needs to be more than delivering computers in boxes to schools".
Report researcher Andrew Leigh said the findings suggested the boost to school funding over the past 40 years had been misdirected.
"There's a whole lot more money put into Australian schools and we don't seem to be getting more out of them in terms of literacy and numeracy," Dr Leigh told The Australian.
©AAP 2008
Teenagers' reading and maths skills have declined during the past four decades despite education spending per student more than doubling, a new study has found.
The study by Australian National University economists suggests today's 14-year-olds are, in learning terms, about three months behind their counterparts from the 1960s.
The researchers from ANU's Research School of Social Sciences suggest the piling of resources into creating smaller classes, at the expense of paying more for better teachers, could be to blame.
Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard said the government's national action plan for numeracy and literacy would address the shortfall.
"The Rudd government understands that literacy and numeracy skills are the building blocks of a good education," Ms Gillard told The Australian.
Opposition education spokesman Tony Smith said the report, released on Sunday, highlighted why "a real education revolution needs to be more than delivering computers in boxes to schools".
Report researcher Andrew Leigh said the findings suggested the boost to school funding over the past 40 years had been misdirected.
"There's a whole lot more money put into Australian schools and we don't seem to be getting more out of them in terms of literacy and numeracy," Dr Leigh told The Australian.
©AAP 2008