Tasmania was the only state or territory to score significantly below the OECD average in maths in the latest international student testing, a report released this week shows.
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), run in Australia by the Australian Council for Educational Research, tests 15-year-olds every three to four years.
The report puts Tasmania’s mean maths score at 448, against an OECD average of 463 and a national average of 478.
It shows 36% of Tasmanian students met the national proficient standard in maths, compared with 49% nationally.
The report shows the share of Tasmanian students meeting that standard has also fallen from 61% in maths since 2003, 65% in reading since 2000 and 59% in science since 2006.
In science and reading, the report shows Tasmania was not significantly different from the OECD average and below every other state and the ACT.
Tasmania ranked seventh of eight jurisdictions in all three subjects, though the report found no significant difference between it and the Northern Territory.
Nationally, ACER said Australian students continued to perform above the OECD average in all four assessment areas.
The results were raised in state parliament on Wednesday, where Labor leader Josh Willie linked them to $228 million in education savings in the May budget.
“Minister, how can cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from education possibly help students catch up?” he said.
Education Minister Jo Palmer said the figures needed context, pointing to Tasmania’s later school starting age.
“Unlike other jurisdictions, in Tasmania the majority of students for us are actually assessed in Year 9,” she said.
The report shows 34% of the 916 Tasmanian students tested were in Year 9, with 66% in Year 10.
Tasmania had the highest share of Year 9 students of any jurisdiction, compared with 11% nationally.
“I find it extraordinary the education minister is questioning the quality of PISA data, which is an internationally respected test,” Willie said.
Palmer said the budget delivered record investment inclusive of the savings, citing more than $9 billion over four years and a 76% funding increase since 2014.
She said structured literacy teaching was starting to show results and that primary schools would teach an hour of structured numeracy a day from 2027.
“You look at the data at a classroom level, it takes a long time to turn a big ship, but it is absolutely happening,” she said.
Willie also asked about the Professional Learning Institute, saying teachers had told him its closure would leave early career staff without support.
The department says the institute’s Glenorchy site is proposed to close on December 31, with training options for 2027 still being worked through.
Palmer did not commit to reversing the decision, saying she backed her secretary’s review.
