Counting on uni success

Points for hard maths and sciences

HIGH school students who take difficult maths and science subjects would get bonus university entrance points under a radical plan to boost Australia’s sliding maths and science capabilities.

The plan, to be discussed at a meeting of state and federal education ministers today, also proposes forcing students to sit a new compulsory maths proficiency test before they graduate from year 12, to prove they have basic maths skills.

The strategy is aimed at countering concerns too many students are dropping maths, science and technology subjects in their later years of schooling, or selecting dumbed-down maths and science courses.

Ahead of the meeting, fed- eral Education Minister Simon Birmingham said more students needed to study these subjects at advanced levels because three-quarters of the fastest-growing occupations in the country required skills in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

“We need to do more and we need to do it differently to encourage more young students to engage with science, technology, engineering and maths subjects,” Senator Birmingham said.

The National STEM school education strategy is critical of the Aussie cultural norms which say it is OK to be “bad at maths” or “I’m not a numbers person”.

The strategy proposes several areas for “national action”, including “options for a minimum level of numeracy attainment for all students to demonstrate before leaving school”.

It also suggests increasing “the recognition of the subject load of advanced STEM subjects and encourage the uptake of advanced courses, for example, through university entrance bonus point schemes.”

This could mean year 12 students studying advanced maths, physics and chemistry receive additional credits from universities that allow them to gain entry into courses above their ATAR cut-off.

Currently, while 80 per cent of Australian students undertake maths in year 12, more than half only do the very basic maths subjects.

Australian students are also sliding down international student rankings in both maths and science.