June 2024

Australia singled out for praise in PISA 2022 - Creative Minds, Creative Schools report

Australian students are amongst the highest for creative thinking in the world, according to the OECD’s latest PISA 2022 report ‘Creative Minds, Creative Schools’.

Welcoming the findings ACARA’s acting CEO Stephen Gniel said: 

“Critical and creative thinking is one of the Australian Curriculum’s general capabilities, which are integrated and applied across all the learning areas. So, it’s pleasing to see Australia as amongst those singled out for praise by the OECD as a high-performing system in the world for creative thinking in education. 

“Supporting the growth of students’ critical and creative thinking capabilities is one of the ways that the Australian Curriculum develops our young people’s skills for life. Thanks to the dedication of teachers and principals right around the country, the Australian Curriculum comes alive in their hands as they make the expert decisions about the learning experience each student needs in order to succeed. 

“As our recently released 2023 NAP Science Literacy assessment also demonstrated, students who reported engaging more frequently in Critical and Creative Thinking (CCT) activities tended to have higher levels of science literacy. 

“Overall Australian students’ strong creative thinking results are a positive outcome of our country’s long-term strategic commitment to creative thinking in our curriculum and our assessment and reporting practices.” 

Find out more about the Australian Curriculum’s Critical and Creative Thinking general capability. 

Access the recording of the PISA launch which unpacks the data in the report.

New report shows that overall science scores for Australian students remain steady 

Our latest National Assessment Program report shows that results in science literacy for students across Australia have overall remained steady. However, it also highlights that some disparities persist depending on a student’s background.

The 2023 National Assessment Program – Science Literacy (NAP–SL) Report provides results from the NAP Science Literacy Sample assessments, undertaken in 2023. The assessments test students’ general science literacy skills and knowledge in a sample of schools across the country.

Read our media release.

Find out more about the 2023 NAP-SL Report and its findings.

Latest release for the National Report on Schooling in Australia

New information on Policies and Priorities in education has been released by ACARA as part of the National Report on Schooling in Australia 2023. 

The Policies and Priorities chapter details the activities undertaken by the Australian, state and territory governments and the Catholic and independent school sectors to improve education outcomes in Australia. 

The National Report on Schooling in Australia is being progressively released, providing more timely commentary on progress against nationally agreed policy initiatives by Australia’s school education sector as the information becomes available.

Access the National Report on Schooling data portal.

The next release in December 2024 will focus on Vocational Education and Training and Student Attainment. The complete National Report will be released in February 2025.

Enrol into our new Professional Learning Hub Course for Science

Teachers can strengthen their knowledge with our new Professional Learning Hub course ‘Australian Curriculum Version 9.0 Developing a deeper understanding – Science’. This course is focused on three interrelated strands—'Science Understanding’, ‘Science as a Human Endeavour’, and ‘Science Inquiry’.
Teachers can explore connections between these strands to provide their students with a comprehensive scientific world view. It allows for students to learn to engage in detailed inquiry practices and be challenged to understand and apply scientific concepts both critically and creatively.

Find out more on our Professional Learning Hub.