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Building an Education System for a Modern Australia

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Building an Education System for a Modern Australia THE McKell Institute Insti tute McKell THE MCKELLTHE INSTITUTE No Mind Left Behind Building an education system for a modern Australia OCTOBER 2016 t About the McKell Institute The1. McKellIntroduction Institute is an independent, not-for-profit, public policy institute dedicated to developing practical policy ideas and contributing to public debate. The McKell Institute takes its name from New South Wales’ wartime Premier and Governor-General of Australia, William McKell. William McKell made a powerful contribution to both New South Wales and Australian society through significant social, economic and environmental reforms. For more information phone (02) 9113 0944 or visit www.mckellinstitute.org.au About the Author Acknowledgments MARIEKE D’CRUZ The author would like to thank the following people for their valuable feedback and contributions Marieke is a during the construction of this report. member of the PROFESSOR ANTHONY WELCH: Anthony Welch is McKell Institute’s a Professor of Education at the University of Sydney policy team and specialising in national and international education policy. has contributed to a wide range of PROFESSOR ANNE DALY: Anne Daly is a Professor of research since 2014. Economics at the University of Canberra and a fellow at the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling She holds a (NATSEM). Bachelor of Arts DR GILLIAN CONSIDINE: Gillian Considine has over 15 with a double-major in International years experience as an education and social researcher Politics and Media and Communications within both universities and not-for-profits. from the University of Melbourne, and is BRIAN EASTAUGHFFE: Brian Eastaughffe is the Principal currently completing a Master of Public of Carmel College in Queensland and has three decades Policy at the University of Sydney. Marieke of experience as an educator. has also been a professional athlete, having represented Australia at the Olympics, SIMON POVOLO: Simon Povolo is the Sports Coordinator World Championships and Commonwealth and a technology and physical education teacher at Games in swimming; and is currently the Glenroy College in Victoria. President of the Australian Swimmers’ REBECCA HEWITT: Rebecca Hewitt is an English Association. teacher and debating coach with experience teaching in independent, Catholic and government schools in Marieke is a contributor to Channel 7’s Queensland. Sunrise program, the ABC, Channel 10 and a regular writer with The Huffington Post. Thank you also to Mary Jo Costache who assisted with research. THE Sponsorship McKell The McKell Institute’s research would not be possible without the generous support Institute of our members. We would like to thank Pearson Australia for their sponsorship of this report. THE Insti The opinions in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily tute McKell InstituteMcKell represent the views of the McKell Institute’s members, affiliates, individual board members or research committee members. THE Any remaining errors or omissions are the responsibility of the author. Insti tute McKell THE Insti tute McKell THE MCKELLTHE INSTITUTE No Mind Left Behind Building an education system for a modern Australia OCTOBER 2016 THE MCKELL INSTITUTE Contents Foreword 9 Executive Summary 10 Recommendations 12 Part One: The times, they are a changing 14 Part Two: What a good education system looks like 16 Why education is so important........................................................................................................................16 New work environments will require new skills ................................................................................................17 A large number of young people seem to be lacking in soft skills ....................................................................18 Australia has average soft skills test results .....................................................................................................18 Figure 2.1: Student performance in PISA financial literacy test 2012 ..........................................................19 Figure 2.2: Student performance in PISA problem solving test 2012 .........................................................19 Technical skills will also be in high demand .....................................................................................................20 Attainment levels have been rising; but achievement scores have been falling ................................................21 Figure 2.3: The number of months Australian, American and European 15 year olds are behind students in top performing education systems .........................................................................21 Figure 2.4: Australian student achievement in PISA mathematics test 2003-2012 .....................................22 Figure 2.5: Australian student achievement in PISA reading test 2000-2012 .............................................22 Figure 2.6: Year 9 NAPLAN results 2010 and 2015 ...................................................................................23 Box 2.1: A note on standardised testing....................................................................................................24 Fewer students are choosing to study STEM subjects and this is a serious problem .......................................25 Figure 2.7: The growth of the STEM vs non-STEM qualified population 2006-2011 ...................................25 A high quality education for the 21st century ..................................................................................................26 4 no mind left behind BUILDING AN EDUCATION SYSTEM FOR A MODERN AUSTRALIA THE McKell Institute Part Three: Inequality in Australia 28 Figure 3.1: Income inequality in the OECD ................................................................................................28 Education and inequality are inextricably linked ...............................................................................................29 Figure 3.2: The link between a parent’s educational success and their child’s success ..............................29 Figure 3.3: The performance of disadvantaged students on PISA 2012 .....................................................31 Inequality in education starts young and often persists ...................................................................................32 Australia requires a new approach to education ..............................................................................................32 Introducing The McKell Institute Index of Educational Opportunity ..................................................................33 Table 3.1: Variables used in The Index of Educational Opportunity .............................................................34 The Index of Educational Opportunity finds vast differences between states ...................................................36 Figure 3.4: The proportion of young people who live in educationally advantaged or disadvantaged electorates by state and territory .......................................................................................36 Figure 3.5: Proportion of young people educationally advantaged by quintile by state and territory ...........36 Table 3.2: The number of young people represented in each quintile of opportunity by state and territory in Australia ...............................................................................................................37 Table 3.3: Complete rankings for Index of Educational Opportunity ...........................................................38 Box 3.1: The Index of Outcomes for Young People validates the Opportunity Index ..................................39 State-by-State analysis ...................................................................................................................................39 New South Wales ...........................................................................................................................................40 Table 3.4: The proportion of parents with high skilled jobs in NSW and nationally ......................................42 Victoria ...........................................................................................................................................................44 Queensland ....................................................................................................................................................48 Table 3.5: The education level of QLD parents compared to the national average ......................................51 South Australia ...............................................................................................................................................52 Western Australia ...........................................................................................................................................56 Tasmania ........................................................................................................................................................60 We must do a better job for those electorates missing out ..............................................................................61 5 THE MCKELL INSTITUTE Contents CONTINUED Part Four: What we need to do 62 Table 4.1: Interventions throughout a young person’s development ...........................................................62 We need to have more children in an educational environment sooner............................................................64
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