New publications

PISA 2006: Science Competencies for Tomorrow’s World presents the results from the most recent PISA survey, which focused on science and also assessed mathematics and reading. Volume 1 examines how well students perform, as well as their interests in science, their awareness of the opportunities that scientific competencies bring, and the environment that schools offer for science learning. It links the performance of students, schools and countries to students’ social background and identifies educational policies and practices that are associated with educational success. Volume 2 presents the PISA 2006 full data set underlying Volume 1. Together with the PISA 2000 and PISA 2003 surveys, PISA 2006 completes the first cycle of assessment in the three key subject areas. PISA is now conducting a second cycle of surveys, beginning in 2009, with reading as the major subject and continuing in 2012 (mathematics) and 2015 (science). Finland was the highest-performing country on the PISA 2006 science scale. Other high-scoring countries are Canada, Japan and New Zealand, Hong Kong-China, Chinese Taipei and Estonia. Australia scored above the OECD average. On average across OECD countries, 1.3 per cent of 15-year-olds reached Level 6 of the PISA 2006 science scale, the highest proficiency level. These students could consistently identify, explain and apply scientific knowledge, and knowledge about science, in a variety of complex life situations. In New Zealand and Finland this figure was at least 3.9 per cent, three times the OECD average. Adapted from publisher's description. The international results from PISA 2006 were released by the OECD with an Australian national report released simultaneously by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). See the ACER's media releases on the PISA study December 2007, and article in The Age by Sue Thomson, co-author of the PISA Australian national report.

The report described the results of an online survey of over 1,000 secondary principals and deputy and assistant principals conducted in August 2007 across Australia. The survey covered issues related to the subjects' psychological and physical health and was commissioned by the Australian Secondary Principals’ Association (ASPA), the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA) and the Catholic Secondary Principals Australia (CaSPA). The results paint a very positive picture of the respondents' degree of commitment to their role. However, areas of concern include a lack of balance in their lives, the impact of the job on their families, feelings of guilt about what they do not achieve in their work, and a tendency by respondents to feel overwhelmed by the workload. In terms of physical health 32 per cent of respondents indicated they had a medically diagnosed illness which they attributed to or felt was exacerbated by their work. Over half indicated they had felt stressed within the last month. Feelings of depression were a concern for almost one in six respondents.  Adapted from Executive Summary. See also article in The Age 4 February 2008.

The 2006 Reading, Writing and Numeracy Benchmark results for years 3, 5 and 7 students were released by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) on Friday 1 February 2008. This report is part of the commitment of State, Territory and Australian Government Education Ministers to informing the public of progress made towards achieving the National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-first Century. MCEETYA has been publishing Reading data since 1999 and Writing and Numeracy data since 2000. During this time there has been continuous development of the data reported and improvement in the comparability of data between the States and Territories. Currently, individual State and Territory tests are equated to provide comparable reporting of student achievement data. MCEETYA has now developed its own national tests and from 2008 all students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 will sit the same tests. Adapted from MCEETYA media release. See commentary in The Age 1 February 2008.

The Report examines the performance of all Australian governments providing education, justice, emergency management, health, community services and housing services. Chapter Four covers school education, with a focus on government-funded primary and secondary school education. Some performance indicators are reported for government schools, non-government schools and school education as a whole. This year, the chapter has been enhanced by the inclusion of nationally comparable learning outcomes data for 15-year-old students achieving at or above Level 3 on the international assessments for reading literacy and mathematical literacy, 2006; students in vocational education and training in schools for 2005; and Indigenous learning outcomes for 2005. (Adapted from media release and fact sheet on school education January 2008.)

The data in this release relate to government and non-government schools, students and school staff, and were collected through the non-finance National Schools Statistics Collection (NSSC), which was established through the work of the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). A final publication, containing a more extensive range of statistics on schools, students and staff will be published in Schools, Australia, 2007 (Cat.no.4221.0) on 28 February 2008. (Adapted from ABS summary) See commentary in The Age 5 February 2007.

This paper outlines a project to develop quality statistics in early childhood learning, focusing on children aged 0 to 8 years. The paper proposes a suite of early childhood learning measures and data development activities which would be needed in order to provide relevant and quality data for comparable analysis across States and Territories. Descriptions and evaluations of currently reported indicators and data collections are included. The paper provides an opportunity for input and further discussion among researchers and the community. From publisher's description.