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Aust'n gov't to consider importing 'specialist' teachers to raise education standards

Xinhua, December 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

Australia's Education Minister has hinted at recruiting specialist science and maths teachers from overseas in a bid to improve student performance in the classroom, following studies which showed the overall performance of Australian children was in "absolute decline".

The results of the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) recently revealed that the performance of Australia's year 9 student in maths, science and reading was lagging behind those of other OECD nations.

Australia's Education Minister, Senator Simon Birmingham said that Australia lacks specialist science and maths teachers in particular, and flagged the possibility of looking overseas to fill the void and reverse the "serious decline" in education standards.

"The things we are doing are not working. More money in and of itself is not the answer," Birmingham told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday.

"Ultimately if we do need to get more specialist maths and science teachers into the classroom that's a discussion I'm very open to having.

"I hope that state and territory ministers who of course directly administer our school 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 benchmark areas.

"The single-biggest factor in the school environment is the teacher."

However the Labor opposition has cautioned the government about its possible 'knee-jerk reaction'; Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek said studies had yet to take into account the effect of recent education funding under the government-backed Gonski report's model.

"It's very problematic when the government says 'well, you put extra money in and it doesn't make any difference'," Plibersek told the ABC.

"We know the extra funding is making a difference in schools, I see it in every school I visit and it's important that people know that." Endit