Aussie students show sub-standard writing skills: authority

Australia's national curriculum authority has released the latest testing results for school-aged children, which indicate students have not shown any major improvement since 2008.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority ( ACARA) released its latest summary of results for its National Assessment Program, Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) on Wednesday, which showed results were not as positive as first expected.

Critically, the writing skills of high school students had " significantly" decreased from 2011, prompting ACARA's CEO, Robert Randall, to release a statement saying the latest results were a " cause for reflection".

In an effort to assist parents and teachers in identifying causes for concern in each particular student, individual student NAPLAN reports are being released two weeks earlier this year, but education experts have warned the nation that teaching methods need to change in order to see tangible, positive results, which have stagnated since the NAPLAN test's introduction.

Prof. Patrick Griffin from the University of Melbourne said he was not surprised that results were below expectations.

"If you want to change student performance you actually have to change teaching," he told Fairfax Media on Wednesday.

"Unless NAPLAN, or any other testing strategy, looks to give teachers advice on how to make the change, then that change doesn' t happen. And NAPLAN doesn't provide teachers with that." Endi