Tasmanian literacy levels alarm school education experts, who call for 'significant change'

Updated

One of Australia's leading experts in school education says the literacy crisis in Tasmania could become unmanageable within the next 10 years.

At least half of Tasmania's population cannot read or write properly, and test results from school-aged children are showing a growing gap between Tasmanian teenagers and those on the mainland.

The latest global report card on 15-year-olds found a disturbing "dumbing down" of Tasmanian teenagers.

More than half of the state's students fell below the national baseline for maths, compared to 42 per cent nationally.

Forty-seven per cent failed the minimum standard of English, compared to 36 per cent nationally.

You need huge political will or we are going to get the situation in 10 or 20 years whereby Tasmania becomes a state of high unemployment, high poverty and high inter-generational inequality. Dr Ben Jensen

Dr Ben Jensen, the director of the school education program at the Grattan Institute, says something must be done.

"We need a significant change in the expectations around Tasmanian schools and what the education system can produce," he told Lateline.

"That will require some significant reforms that will not be easy and will be opposed by some.

"So you need huge political will or we are going to get the situation in 10 or 20 years whereby Tasmania becomes a state of high unemployment, high poverty and high inter-generational inequality."

Cultural issues need to be addressed

Money is not the issue. This financial year, the Tasmanian Government has committed $1.3 billion to education spending and Tasmanian Government figures show half of all Tasmanians over the age of 15 are innumerate and illiterate.

They cannot read and comprehend a newspaper.

According to economist Saul Eslake, who grew up in Tasmania, there are deep, entrenched cultural issues that need to be discussed.

"Many parents in Tasmania [think] 'if my child goes on to year 12, they will probably go to university, he or she will probably have to go to the mainland and he or she will marry someone on the mainland and I will never see my grandchildren'," he said.

"I am a textbook example of precisely what so many Tasmanian parents fear."

He says the state is also burdened by its history as a dispersed rural economy - there are just too many small schools.

"The average Tasmanian school in the government sector has about 290 pupils in it, the average school on the mainland has over 350 students in it," he said.

"Tasmania's teacher-to-student ratios are 9 per cent higher than those on the mainland.

"That's not a big difference - the big difference comes with the number of non-teaching staff per student, which is 22 per cent higher in Tasmania."

Locals opposed to school amalgamation

In 2011, a plan by the Labor-Green coalition to amalgamate 20 schools was cancelled after fierce opposition.

But Dr Jensen says appeasing local communities is no longer viable.

A literacy deficit

Half of all adults in Tasmania cannot read or write properly, and many of their children are following in their footsteps as badly needed school reforms are frustrated. Sarah Dingle Half of all adults in Tasmania cannot read or write properly, and many of their children are following in their footsteps as badly needed school reforms are frustrated. Sarah Dingle investigated the issue for Radio National's Background Briefing.

"What I fear will occur, is that if significant reform doesn't occur in Tasmania, you will get the situation where the Federal Government is faced with a situation where it sees a lot of money going into the system with little results, and a lot of money going into the welfare system in Tasmania," he said.

"And because of that, they could be forced into some drastic measures regarding ... implementing specific, federal-based policies within Tasmania."

State Education Minister Brian Wightman says the Government has not "shied away from difficult discussions".

"You can't impose or bring systems from the mainland and impose them on Tasmanian schools," he said.

Opposition education spokesman Michael Ferguson agrees.

"With respect, we in Tasmania are a terrific community which is a blend of city and country, and I think that that needs to be preserved and protected," he said.

Topics: schools, education, public-schools, primary-schools, secondary-schools, government-and-politics, federal---state-issues, tas, australia

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