Policy Issues for Australia’s Education Systems - Evidence from International and Australian Research

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dawugda

The article addresses education policy issues in Australia through empirical evidence, challenging widely held beliefs about student performance, participation, socioeconomic influences, gender differences in mathematics and science, and the labor-market situation of early school leavers. It argues that these claims are not supported by research and outlines implications for government policy, including scrutiny of current directions to raise Year 12 participation, expand vocational pathways, and reduce class sizes. The discussion is intended to stimulate evidence-based debate on Australian education.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages27

Reading Time1 h 8 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

School Education

Student Performance

International Assessments (TIMSS, PISA)

A peer-reviewed scholarly journal Editor: Gene V Glass College of Education Arizona State University Copyright is retained by the first or sole author, who grants right of first publication to the EDUCATION POLICY ANALYSIS ARCHIVES . EPAAis a project of the Education Policy Studies Laboratory. Articles appearing in EPAA are abstracted in the Current Index to Journals in Education by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation and are permanently archived in Resources in Education. PDF file of this article available: This article has been retrieved times since April 20, 2004 Volume 12 Number 17 April 20, 2004 ISSN 1068-2341 Policy Issues for Australia ’s Education Systems: Evidence from International and Australian Research Gary Marks Julie McMillan John Ainley Australian Council for Educational Research and Melbourne Institute for Economic and Social Research Citation: Marks, G. , McMillan, J. , Ainley, J. ,(2004, April 20) . Policy issues for Australia’s education systems: Evidence from international and Australian research. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 12(17) . Retrieved [Date] from [http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v12n17/](http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v12n17/) . Abstract Our purpose here is to discuss education policy issues in the context of empirical evidence. We note that many commonly held beliefs about Australian education such as, the relative performance and participation levels of Australian students; the importance of socioeconomic background on educational outcomes both relative to other countries and changes over-time; gender differences in mathematics and science; and the labour market situation of early school leavers; are not supported by empirical research. Such findings have implications for government policies. We also question current policy directions toward increasing Year 12 participation, expanding both secondary and post-secondary vocational education and reducing class sizes. It is hoped that the discussion will provide stimulus to evidence-based debates about Australian education. School Education Student Performance A fundamental point about Australian education is that the performance of Australian secondary school students is high by international standards. The 1994 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) found that Australian performance in mathematics in the junior secondary years was lower than only eight (out of 45) countries. The performance of Australian students was significantly better than comparable countries such as New Zealand, England and the United States. The performance of Australian students was similar to the performance of students in Canada, Ireland, Sweden and France. In science, only four countries outperformed Australia: Singapore, Korea, Japan and the Czech Republic. Australia recorded science achievement levels similar to that for England and the United States, as well as most of the countries that were similar to it in mathematics (Lokan et al. , 1996:15-16) . In the 1999 TIMSS study Australian students performance in mathematics was again well above the international average by substantial 0.4 of a standard deviation. Australian performance was significantly lower than six countries: Singapore, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Japan and Flemish Belgium. It was not different from a second group of countries that included the Netherlands, Canada and Finland and the Czech Republic. It performed significantly better than the United States, England and New Zealand (Mullis et al. , 2000:32) . In science, Australia also performed above the international average by about 0.5 of a standard deviation. Only Chinese Taipei scored significantly higher than Australia. Australia was not different from Singapore, Japan, Korea, the Czech Republic, England, Canada and Hong Kong. Its students outperformed those in the United States, New Zealand and Italy (Martin et al. , 2000:32) . In the recent 2000 PISA study of 15 year olds i

FAQs

What is the article’s main purpose regarding Australian education policy?

It discusses education policy issues based on empirical evidence and evaluates commonly held beliefs about Australian education.

Which major claims does the article say are not supported by empirical research?

Claims regarding relative student performance and participation, the role of socioeconomic background, gender differences in mathematics and science, and outcomes related to early school leavers are presented as unsupported.

What do the article’s international assessment results suggest about Australian student performance?

The article reports consistent evidence that Australian secondary students perform at very good levels across subjects, based on studies such as TIMSS and PISA.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dawugda