Australian students in top 10 for problem-solving: PISA report

Australian students are some of the world’s best collaborative problem-solvers, according to a report released yesterday. The PISA report included an assessment of collaborative problem solving for the first time, and ranked Australia 10th out of 52 countries – behind Canada and New Zealand but ahead of the US (13th) and the UK (15th). Minister for education and training Simon Birmingham said the results were evidence that Australian students had above average problem-solving skills that would help them in tertiary education and the workforce. “Australia’s education system is one of the world’s best at preparing students with the vital collaboration and social skills that workplaces are increasingly demanding,” he said. “As workforces become more and more globalised, it’s skills like collaboration that can deliver significant competitive advantages. “We have nearly double the number of students with high level skills in collaborative problem solving at 15 per cent compared to the OECD average of eight per cent. “Around four per cent of our students were low performing compared to the six per cent OECD average. “The findings are a testament to the skills of our teachers, the influence of Australian families and the culture in our education system.” Birmingham said the report also raised a number of issues the federal government would aim to address in the near future. “While we should be pleased with the overall result of Australian schools, there are lessons for all of us in these results,” he said. “We need to hone in on tackling the gender divide that has seen the results of Australia’s boys trail behind girls and work to close the performance gap between students from high and low socio-economic status backgrounds. “While 62 per cent of our students performed better in collaborative problem solving than was expected based on their reading, maths and science scores, a focus on one skill shouldn’t come at the expense of the others. “The report makes it clear that some of the most important factors in these collaborative problem solving results is in the strong, positive relationships that exist between students, teachers and parents.” Australia fared well in other categories of the report, maintaining above average results in maths, science and reading, although these were on the decline. Results showed that Australia's weak points were a gap in performance between boys and girls, and a low sense of belonging in schools. The full report is available at http://www.oecd.org/pisa/