One in ten future Australian teachers fail simple literacy, numeracy exam

Almost one in ten of Australia's future teachers have failed a nationwide literacy and numeracy trial exam designed to weed out those unfit to educate the next generation of Australians.

About 5,000 teaching trainees -- who at the time had not graduated -- were tested in every state capital earlier this year with the results published on Tuesday.

Of the volunteers who took part, it was discovered that 8 percent failed to show bare minimum requirements for literacy (reading and writing) skills, while a further 10 percent failed to exhibit adequate numeracy (simple maths) skills.

Following the poor pilot results, the Australian government announced that it would roll out a fully-fledged version of the test from 2016 onwards, with all graduating students required to pass in order to take control of a classroom.

Australia's Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham said the exam wasn't aimed at shaming trainees, but instead ensuring they were ready to mould the information-ready brains of Australia's youth.

"We know an essential part of achieving good education outcomes is having skilled teachers working with children in school classrooms," Birmingham said in a statement released on Tuesday.

"We need to ensure those students graduating from teaching courses can cope with the demands of teaching and have strong literacy and numeracy skills."

Birmingham outlined his hope that, soon enough, every single teacher in the country would place in the top 30 percent of Australians for literacy and numeracy.

"It is great to see the overwhelming majority of students passed the literacy and numeracy test," Birmingham said.

"Quality education relies on quality teachers, which is why the government is investing in measures like this to put students first and raise teaching standards and the status of the teaching profession in Australia." Enditem