Off the wire
• Players behind Mourinho: Willian  • Market exchange rates in China -- Nov. 17  • Chinese yuan advances to 6.374 against USD Tuesday  • Singapore's external trade down 0.5 pct in October  • Dollar in lower 123 yen zone in early deals in Tokyo  • Attack on Paris is attack on us: Australian Justice Minister  • Tokyo stocks advance in early trading following Wall Street's gains  • Argentinian club player attacked by violent fans for salary demand  • Group standings of ATP World Tour Finals  • France has not done enough to "fully" include Muslims: ambassador to Australia  
You are here: 　 Home

Australia's "digital age" children show declining computer literacy: study 

Xinhua, November 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Australia's children may not be as proficient with their generation's tool of choice, the computer, as first thought, new research has shown.

A national report by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) revealed 45 percent of Year 6 students and 48 percent of Year 10 students had substandard computer skills.

ACARA tested 10,500 students from public, Catholic and independent schools around the nation at the end of 2014, with the results released on Tuesday.

The assessment has been conducted every three years since 2005, and last year's students were the first to show poorer results than the group that preceded them.

Computer literacy fell from 62 percent in 2011 to 55 percent in 2014 amongst Year 6 students, while Year 10 pupils fared no better, dropping from 64 percent to 52 percent.

Robert Randall, CEO of the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), said the sharp decline was a major disappointment.

"We'd like to work with the school authorities around the country to see if we can turn this around because this is an important area," Randall told the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC) on Tuesday.

Students were asked to complete "challenging but reasonable" computer tasks like using the internet as an information resource, cropping images, producing a slideshow and creating an online survey.

Those who struggled most with the required tasks were boys (9 percent less proficient than girls), indigenous students (35 percent worse than non-indigenous students) and regional based pupils (10 percent worse than inner-city children in Year 6).

The report suggested Australian children were only proficient in certain areas of computer use.

"It is tempting to assume that students who use computing devices and smartphones for social interactions (texting, for example) understand all aspects of ICT technology and its applications," chairman of ACARA, Emeritus Professor Steven Schwartz, told Fairfax Media on Tuesday.

"It appears that we cannot expect students to become proficient on important employability and life skills, just by using computing devices for games and social interaction. They also need to be taught the relevant knowledge, understanding and skills," he added. Endit