A skills test to weed out student teachers who can’t multiply two numbers or read a simple graph is failing to stop them graduating as universities side step the system.
The Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education (LANTITE) is a compulsory test that was brought in to remove incompetent student teachers from the system before they graduate and enter classrooms.
It is supposed to guarantee that student teachers have a literacy and numeracy level equivalent to the top 30 percent of the adult population in Australia.
Sample question to help students prepare for the literacy and numeracy test. One in ten students fail the 130-question test on their first attempt. The answer to this question is: 320kg.
Sample questions to prepare students for the test include problems as simple as multiplying 3.2 by 100.
‘The weight of a box of stationery is 3.2 kilograms. What is the weight of 100 such boxes?’ reads one sample question.
Another question asks students to look at a table of gym memberships and compare the monthly fee to the yearly upfront fee and work out the difference.
The test is meant to guarantee that student teachers have literacy and numeracy levels equivalent to the top 30 percent of the adult population in Australia. The answer is 19.
Student teachers have three chances to sit the test but are reportedly getting up to five attempts with university support making the test less of a barrier to poor academic achievers. The answer to this graph-reading question is: true, true, false (in that order).
One in ten students fail the 130-question test the first time.
Student teachers have three chances to sit the LANTITE test administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).
If they fail on the third attempt, ACER says on its website that it will not allow them to try again without a formal recommendation from the university.
Students are instead trying up to five times after receiving study support and coaching from their universities who back them, the Daily Telegraph reports.
In a separate issue, universities are admitting below-average students directly into teaching degrees using a gap in the rules, according to the report.
Rules encourage those who fail three times to leave teaching but students are getting study support from their universities and trying up to five times
After a scandal in 2015 where it was revealed that students with Australia Tertiary Admission Rank (ATARs) as low as 30 were becoming teachers, the NSW Government changed the rules to require students to have a minimum of at least 80 per cent in three HSC subjects, at least one of which had to be English.
The rule was intended to keep poor academic performers out of teaching degrees.
A provision was made to allow students who don’t make the grade capable of entry after enrolling in an accredited degree and passing one year of studies in the subjects they will teach.
The University of Newcastle, University of New England and the Australian Catholic University are using this provision to allow students who otherwise would not qualify directly into teaching degrees on the basis that completing the first full year of the teaching degree meets these requirements, the Daily Telegraph reported.
While the universities are correctly following the rules, the original intent has been bypassed.
Children need teachers who have basic literacy and numeracy skills
Daily Mail Australia contacted the three universities.
Australian Catholic University Executive Dean of Education Professor Elizabeth Labone said all entry pathways for enrolling in their initial teacher education course had been approved and were monitored by the NSW Educational Standards Authority (NESA).
‘ACU continues to ensure we meet the relevant accreditation requirements,’ she said via an emailed statement.
A University of Newcastle spokesperson who declined to be named said ATAR was ‘but one narrow indicator’ for entry to university.
‘It is in no way a predictor of whether a person will go on to successfully complete their degree or be a great teacher,’ the spokesperson said via email.
The University of New England was unable to respond by time of publication.
Federal opposition education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek told Daily Mail Australia that in 2005, about a third of teaching entrants had an ATAR above 80 but by 2015 it had dropped to only one in five.
‘It is also a waste of students’ time and money to allow them to complete a teaching degree if they are unsuitable to teach,’ she said via email.
Ms Plibersek said if elected she would cap places in teaching degrees and pay cash bonuses of up to $40,000 to encourage ‘top achievers’ into teaching by way of 1000 bursaries per year.
Daily Mail Australia contacted the NSW Educational Standards Authority, Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan and the NSW Teachers Federation but they were unable to respond by time of publication.