Australia’s Education minister Simon Birmingham has said Australia may consider importing specialist teachers from overseas in the wake of declining student performance in Maths and science.
The recently released second international data shows Australian students are slipping behind in maths, science and reading.
The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) report found Australia was significantly outperformed by nine countries including Japan, Canada and Singapore.
Australia compared to OECD average sits equal 10th in science, equal 12th in reading and equal 20th in maths, according to analysis by the Australian Council for Educational Research.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham acknowledges Australia's performance in the three-yearly Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), released on Tuesday night, was slipping.
SPECIALIST VISA FOR MATHS AND SCIENCE TEACHERS
Program for International Student Assessment Report Source: Program for International Student Assessment
In the wake of declining student performance, Senator Birmingham said the government was willing to consider a special visa for specialist maths and science teachers.
“If we do need to get more specialist maths and science teachers into the classroom, that’s a discussion I am very open to having,” Senator Birmingham told .
“I hope that states and territory minister, who of course directly administer our schools systems, will actually engage in constructive conversations with me about how we can work cooperatively to address this very serious decline in Australia’s real performance across these key areas,” he said.
The PISA results are showing that we are getting worse at preparing our students for the everyday challenges of adult life in the 21st century," Sue Thomson of Australian Council for Educational Research told AAP.
Dr Thomson says there is an issue with the teaching of maths and science in Australia.
