Chaotic classrooms, digital distractions, truancy and bullying are rife in Australian schools, the latest global testing reveals. Source: The Australian.
Noise and disorder during lessons were reported by 41 per cent of the 15,000 Australian teenagers surveyed through the OECD’s latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) test – a figure 30 per cent higher than the average across industrialised nations.
One-third of the 15-year-old students reported that classmates don’t listen to what the teacher is saying, and that teachers have to wait a long time for the classroom to quieten down.
Four out of 10 Australian students were distracted by using digital resources, such as smartphones, apps and websites, during lessons – much higher than the OECD average of 28 per cent.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare called for a “digital detox” and more focus on reading books, following last year’s ban on smartphones in classrooms.
“This doesn’t mean there is no place for technology in schools – students need to learn digital skills (and) that includes how to use, and how not to use, AI,” he said. “But it does point to the need to wind back the amount of screen time in schools – a digital detox.”
Mr Clare said state and territory ministers would discuss cuts to screen time when they meet next month.
Australian students are twice as likely to use digital devices for schoolwork, compared to the OECD average, and average 2.6 hours a day using technology for learning activities – well above the OECD average of 1.7 hours.
One in seven students admitted to using laptops or phones for “leisure” while at school, wasting nearly an hour of lesson time every day.
The PISA report shows that 90 per cent of students feel safe at school, although one in 20 reported being “hit or pushed around” by fellow students.
A quarter of teenagers said they had been bullied in person, or cyberbullied online.
Truancy is rampant, with 44 per cent of Australian teenagers confessing they had skipped at least one day of school in the two weeks prior to last year’s test – a truancy rate double the OECD average.
The findings coincide with the worst mathematics and reading results since PISA began its international testing in 2000.
OECD director of education and skills Andreas Schleicher warned that AI chatbots and screen time were harming a generation of children by “shrinking attention spans”.
FULL STORY
Australian schools plagued by classroom chaos and distraction, damning PISA report finds (By Natasha Bita, The Australian)
