Testing

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has today published new analyses of questionnaire data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019, examining the home, school and classroom contexts in which learning and achievement occur, and student attitudes.

What should Australian schools and teachers focus on in order to improve students’ general understanding of mathematics and science? In her final Teacher column of the year, Dr Sue Thomson explores newly released TIMSS 2019 data to highlight some of the strengths and weaknesses of Australian students at the national level.

Australian students have performed significantly better in the latest cycle of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study in Year 8 mathematics and Year 4 and Year 8 science – but not in Year 4 mathematics – than they did in 2015. Here, we take a closer look at the results.

In his final Teacher column of the year Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, shares his key takeaways from this month’s Forum for World Education in Paris.

The PISA 2018 results show Australian students’ reading, mathematics and science skills are declining, to the point where for the first time in the assessment’s history, Australia’s performance has fallen to meet an OECD average – in mathematics.

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) measures Year 4 students’ reading literacy achievement. When the last study cycle was conducted in 2016, students in the Russian Federation outperformed their peers in all 50 participating countries and 11 benchmarking regions.

Teachers are often encouraged to take up opportunities to mark external exams or tests. There is extra money to be earned, but they are also often told that it is good professional development. But what do people mean when they say that, and what parts of your professional practice does marking help to develop?

Findings from an evaluation of upper primary and middle school students’ science inquiry skills suggest there is room for improvement in implementing an inquiry-based teaching approach, at least in terms of students’ abilities to undertake scientific inquiry.

The latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) results have been released today. Here, we take a closer look at PIRLS 2016: Reporting Australia’s results, which describes the reading literacy achievement of a nationally representative sample of Year 4 students in the international context.

In today’s video Teacher magazine sits down with Australian Council for Educational Research CEO Professor Geoff Masters AO to discuss why it is important that students are involved in the process of setting goals for their own learning and can monitor the progress that they’re making.