ACARA news, December 2018

2017 ICT literacy report shows stable results


13 December 2018

Today we have published the 2017 ICT literacy report, which shows that national student performance in ICT literacy has remained stable compared to the previous sample assessments held in 2014.

Read the media release (PDF 105 kb).

The National Assessment Program (NAP) sample assessment in information and communication technology literacy tests students’ general ICT skills and knowledge in a sample of schools across the country. The sample tests are held every three years.

Other results from the report show:

  • Gender: Female students nationally in both Year 6 and Year 10 performed significantly better than male students.
  • Indigeneity: Indigenous students had a statistically significant lower mean achievement than non-Indigenous students. The gap continues to be significant and large.
  • LBOTE: Year 6 students who speak a language other than English at home outperformed students who speak English at home (a significant difference of 13 score points). The difference was not significant for Year 10 students.
  • Australia-born: No significant difference between Year 6 students born in Australia and those born overseas was found. However, Year 10 students born in Australia significantly, by 21 score points, outperformed those born overseas.
  • Geographical location: School geographic location was classified as metropolitan, regional and remote. For both Year 6 and Year 10, students from metropolitan schools had the highest scale scores, and those from remote schools had the lowest scale scores. These differences were significant.

Key findings from the Year 6 and Year 10 student surveys show that:

  • Higher levels of digital device experience were associated with higher levels of ICT literacy, particularly in Year 10.
  • Students’ ratings of the importance of using digital devices were higher in Year 10 than in Year 6, and higher for males than for females.
  • Outside of school, male students were significantly more likely to report using entertainment applications (such as watching videos, playing games and streaming music) than female students. The difference was more marked at Year 10 but was still observable among Year 6 students.
  • For both Year 6 and Year 10, students with lower ICT literacy achievement were more likely to report frequent use of entertainment applications when at school. This was particularly true for students in Year 6 and for male students in both year levels.
  • Lower achieving Year 6 students reported slightly more frequent use of communication applications when at school than higher achieving students did. This was true for both female and male Year 6 students.
  • Of the ICT-related tools for school-related purposes, students at both year levels were most likely to use word-processing software, presentation software and computer-based information resources. These types of software were more frequently used by Year 10 students than by Year 6 students.

Visit the NAP website to read the full report.

 

My School updated with 2018 Term 3 student attendance data


12 December 2018

Today the My School website has been updated with school student attendance rates for Term 3, 2018. Attendance data are reported on all students, Indigenous students and non-Indigenous students. Data are suppressed where student numbers are less than, or equal to, five students. 

This update follows on from the release of Semester 1 student attendance data in November 2018.  Attendance data reporting is a COAG (Council of Australian Governments) initiative to help improve learning outcomes by monitoring attendance. Data are reported twice a year, for Semester 1 (Terms 1 and 2) and Term 3. 

 


Data updated on the National Report on Schooling data portal


11 December 2018

ACARA’s interactive resource, the National Report on Schooling data portal, has been updated with new data on schools and schooling including:

  • student attendance data for 2018
  • data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of Education and Work for 2018
  • participation in vocational education and training (VET) data
  • Year 12 subject enrolments and certification data sourced from the Australian Government Department of Education and Training.

See the National Report on Schooling data portal on the ACARA website.