lee wrote on Apr 14
th, 2025 at 12:21pm:
"Australian schools require an investment of one and a half billion dollars over the next decade and an overhaul of "faddish" teaching practice to reverse the nation's chronic maths failure, according to new research.
The Grattan Institute's Maths Guarantee report, released on Monday,
builds on the last two years of NAPLAN results, which showed one third of Australian students have been failing to reach maths proficiency."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-14/maths-results-teacher-training-grattan-re...Maths failure leads to all types of failures. Medical, engineering and many more.
But I guess we don't need maths in our new curriculum. All you have to do is put across on the right box.
Divorce, disability and poverty have been used by one in three university applicants to gain bonus entry points, as equity enrolments reach record highs.
Academic standards have been watered down for applicants who can demonstrate disadvantage – including Indigenous or poor students, as well as migrants struggling to speak English, and students who suffered from bullying, rumours or verbal abuse at home, work or school.
Postcode poverty is the biggest driver of equity admissions, as universities award bonus entry points to students who come from suburbs or schools that are designated as disadvantaged.Record requests for equity access have been revealed by the University Admissions Centre in NSW, which processed 25,499 claims through its Educational Access Scheme, from a total of 74,593 applications to start university this year.
They include 19,902 automatically generated applications based on postcode, through a “socio-economic index’’ category introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
However, applications have surged 42 per cent on the grounds of disability and long-term medical conditions, severe family disruption including death, domestic violence or divorce, out-of-home care and financial woes.
UAC managing director Kim Paino said Australia’s largest tertiary admissions centre had seen a “steady rise in students applying for EAS under the personal illness and disability category’’.
“This reflects a combination of factors – increased awareness of the scheme, more accurate diagnosis of neurodivergent conditions like ADHD and ASD, and the lingering effects of the pandemic,’’ she said.
A UAC spokeswoman said 92 per cent of equity applications were approved.
Deakin University offers up to 15 bonus entry points for students who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, and five points for students from a non-English speaking background.
Queensland University of Technology gives up to six bonus entry points to migrant students who struggle with English.
“You can apply for the English language difficulty category if you have been in Australia for less than 10 years and your most recent study was negatively impacted by difficulty communicating in English,’’ its website states.
NB. Claims of Aboriginality or "disadvantage" are not verified.