Tasmania's education results continue to lag behind every other state or territory in the nation after 10 years of a Liberal government.
According to the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) results, Tasmania had the lowest number of students at or above the National Proficient Standard for any state or territory across mathematical literacy, scientific literacy and reading literacy.
Only 42 per cent of Tasmanians reached the National Proficient Standard in maths, while 51 per cent reached the standard in both science and reading.
Tasmania recorded long term performance drops across all three categories compared to results recorded in 2003 (maths), 2006 (science) and 2000 (reading).
Compared to benchmark nation Singapore, Tasmanian students were 109 points behind in maths, 69 points behind in science and 61 points behind in reading.
With 20 points representing the equivalent of a year of schooling, Tasmanian students are five-and-a-half years behind their counterparts in Singapore for maths, three-and-a-half years behind for science and three years behind for reading.
Tasmania's educational challenges aren't new, but we haven't seen anywhere near enough urgency from the Rockliff government to address the issues.
The Liberals promised Tasmania would be at the national standard for reading, writing, maths and science by 2020, but the unfortunate reality is that our state is still a long way off.
The Liberals have had ten years to address Tasmania's education challenges, if they haven't fixed them by now, they never will.
Tasmania at the bottom of the class for maths, science and reading - Pisa
Source: PISA 2022, Reporting Australia's results, https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1056&context=ozpisa
Josh Willie MLC
Shadow Minister for Education and Early Years
