CANBERRA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- More needs to be done to improve Australian students' performance in a range of subjects in school, federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham said on Wednesday, who described the performance in civics subjects in particular as "woeful".
In a media release, the minister said the results published in the 2017 National Assessment Program, Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing report should serve as a "warning signal" for educators.
Among the concerning results was that just 25 percent of nine-year boys were writing at the national minimum standard, while just 38 percent of 10-year students were at a "proficient standard" in civics, a significant decline since the last round of testing in 2013.
"These results are woeful and should be of serious concern," Birmingham said on Wednesday.
"Just 55 percent of students in Year 6 met the proficient standard (in civics), while the figure has dropped down to 38 percent for Year 10 students a decline of 6 percent from the previous round of testing in 2013," Birmingham said.
Speaking more broadly about the report, which included results in literacy and numeracy among other subjects in the science and civic fields, Birmingham said there was not enough consistency throughout Australia.
"The full 2017 NAPLAN National Report highlights while there have been pockets of improvement, we're not seeing the sort of consistency we should expect in these results," Birmingham said.
"It confirms the mixed bag' of results we saw in the preliminary report.
"We know how vital literacy skills are to setting students up for life beyond school, so the decline in writing scores and the flat lining of reading results should act as a wake-up call that some changes are required."
The minister added that while the government was implementing a range of policies to help boost Australia's world ranking in terms of education, parents could also play a vital role in sparking a child's interest in reading and writing.
"Children need those basic literacy skills in the early years because they're the building blocks for future school success," Birmingham said.
"Families and schools must work together to find ways to keep that engagement in reading beyond the first years of school well into high school."
