ACER+Conference

ACER conference – Brisbane 2008 – Keynote – Geoff Masters
What are the skills, knowledge and attributes that students require for life and work in the 21st century?

Low levels of literacy and numeracy at year 9 are correlated with • Non completion of secondary school • Not obtaining post school qualifications • Not engaging in the work force

There is a decline in scientific literacy and a decline in the percentage and absolute terms of the number of students studying sciences – anathema to a society where technological literacy is seen as an imperative- clever country

ACCI and BCI list employability skills as;


 * Communication
 * Problem solving
 * Technology
 * Team Work
 * Initiative and Enterprise
 * Planning and organising
 * Self management
 * Learning skills

Under the PISA assessments, students performing under the baseline are judged to be at serious risk of not achieving at levels sufficient to participate in the 21st century workforce.


 * Literacy-14% of Australians perform below baseline – OECD comparable to other similarly performing nations
 * Numeracy – 13% of Australians below – comparable to other OECD nations
 * Scientific literacy – 13% of Australians below- Comparable to similar OECD nations

However, indigenous and low SES perform most poorly

In maths; students who slip behind, fall further behind others. Best performing improve steadily. Attainment is only loosely related to age

Students could be given the opportunity to demonstrate that they have met minimum criteria when they are ready. Students who do not meet NAPLAN criteria should be given the opportunity to demonstrate success later in schooling. On line on demand testing- taken when ready?

Are teamwork, planning and organising assessed through ODE – or could they be?

Competencies are literacy based in PISA – improve basic skills to have spin-off in numeracy and science. Focus is on using knowledge.

Finland – one of the highest performing nations in PISA- has fewer at the bottom end and up to 30% of students are withdrawn for ‘remedial’ work.

Intersection of an adolescent’s interest and national needs – implications for educators- Jim Athanasou UTS 11/8
1/3 of employment is governed by international trends and demands

The right of people to study what interests them is a major factor in educational achievement. 66% of Australian students achieved the highest in the subject that was their first choice. 72% best at the subject that was consistent with vocational choice

Interest is 4 times more significant than teacher input in success in a subject. Teachers can be a catalyst to learning and stimulate interest.

Best indicator of career success at 24 is reading age at year 4.

Interests may be pursued outside of employment to achieve satisfaction. If a student must sacrifice something- interest is often the first thing to go. Eg art/music

www.myfuture.edu.au –career education looking at interest in a range of topics. Researched 300,000 Australian students and found that for the majority of students the primary areas of interest were in the creative, business and people contact areas- those with fewer employment opportunities available.


 * Julia Gillard** indicated desire to head toward a US model of accountability based on the New York model developed by Joel Klein. This has considerable implication for Australian schools. School report cards are available to read and there is considerable information available on the No Child Left Behind Program implemented in America. Follow this link to check out some of the NY facts; [|New York NCLB]

A review is also happening in the UK at the moment. A brief summary can be found on the [|BBC].