Literacy, numeracy
2007 topics:
Young Australians keen to learn more about money
National Report on Schooling in Australia
Young Australians keen to learn more about money
Young Australians recognise that small steps can make all the difference when it comes to handling money and are keen to learn more, according to a report by the Australian Government's Financial Literacy Foundation.
Released in September 2007, the report Financial literacy: Australians understanding money was based on a study of the financial literacy attitudes and behaviours of 7,500 Australians, including 553 young people aged 12 to 17 years. The majority of young people interviewed for the study (ranging from 70% to 90%) reported being interested in improving their knowledge across a range of money issues, including budgeting, saving and managing debt. Approximately half of the young people surveyed believed that 'during school days' or 'when finishing high school' were ideal times to begin planning their finances.
While results generally indicated that young people have a 'high level of awareness of financially literate behaviour', this awareness did not always translate into actual or intended behaviour. For example, 72% of young people agreed that saving a small amount of money on a regular basis from an early age is the most effective saving strategy, only half of those interviewed were actually saving money regularly.
Other findings from the study:
- while around 65% of young people believed that they had the ability and understanding to invest money, only 13% said that they would consider both risk and return before making an investment decision
- 44% believe that they have the ability to deal with credit cards
- 67% believe that retirement is 'too far away to think about'
- 48% reported spending 'a lot of time thinking about financial information before making a financial decsion
- 59% said that when it comes to finance, they 'like to live for today'.
The full report Financial literacy: Australians understanding money can be downloaded from the Australian Government's Understanding Money website: http://www.understandingmoney.gov.au/report
Source: Australian Government Financial Literacy Foundation 2007, Young people want to learn more about money: New report, media release, 25 September, [viewed 26/09/07].
Australian Government Financial Literacy Foundation 2007, Financial literacy: Australians understanding money, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, [viewed 27/09/07].
Herald Sun, 25/09/07, p.59.
Adelaide Advertiser, 26/09/07, p.30.
National Report on Schooling in Australia
In March 2007, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) released its report on reading, writing and numeracy tests conducted among students in Years 3, 5 and 7 in Australian schools in 2005.
The report records the percentage of students who achieved national benchmarks in reading, writing and numeracy in 2005, detailing results by state and territory, by gender, by geographical location and by sub-group (Indigenous students, students with language backgrounds other than English). It also compares 2005 results with results from previous years (MCEETYA has published data on reading benchmarks since 1999, and on writing and numeracy benchmarks since 2000).
Some results from the report:
Percentage of Years 3, 5 and 7 students achieving the reading benchmarks, by gender and sub-group, Australia, 2005
| Males | Females | Indigenous students | LBOTE students(a) | All students | |
| Year 3 | 91.2 ± 1.9 | 94.4 ± 1.3 | 78.0 ± 4.3 | 92.0 ± 1.8 | 92.7 ± 1.6 |
| Year 5 | 85.1 ± 2.0 | 90.1 ± 1.6 | 62.8 ± 4.1 | 86.2 ± 2.1 | 87.5 ± 1.8 |
| Year 7 | 87.6 ± 1.0 | 92.2 ± 0.8 | 63.8 ± 2.9 | 87.9 ± 1.2 | 89.8 ± 0.8 |
(a) LBOTE = language background other than English
Percentage of Years 3, 5 and 7 students achieving the writing benchmarks, by gender and sub-group, Australia, 2005
| Males | Females | Indigenous students | LBOTE students(a) | All students | |
| Year 3 | 90.7 ± 2.0 | 95.1 ± 1.3 | 74.0 ± 4.7 | 93.4 ± 1.5 | 92.8 ± 1.6 |
| Year 5 | 91.3 ± 1.7 | 95.4 ± 1.0 | 74.3 ± 4.3 | 93.1 ± 1.4 | 93.3 ± 1.3 |
| Year 7 | 89.3 ± 2.0 | 95.2 ± 1.1 | 72.3 ± 4.3 | 91.6 ± 1.8 | 92.2 ± 1.5 |
a) LBOTE = language background other than English
Percentage of Years 3, 5 and 7 students achieving the numeracy benchmarks, by gender and sub-group, Australia, 2005
| Males | Females | Indigenous students | LBOTE students(a) | All students | |
| Year 3 | 93.5 ± 1.1 | 94.7 ± 1.1 | 80.4 ± 3.8 | 94.0 ± 1.2 | 94.4 ± 1.1 |
| Year 5 | 90.5 ± 1.3 | 91.2 ± 1.4 | 66.5 ± 3.9 | 90.0 ± 1.4 | 90.8 ± 1.3 |
| Year 7 | 81.6 ± 0.9 | 82.0 ± 1.0 | 48.8 ± 2.9 | 78.8 ± 1.3 | 81.8 ± 0.9 |
The full report is available on the MCEETYA website: http://www.mceetya.edu.au
Information about the national literacy and numeracy benchmarks are available from the Curriculum Corporation website.
Literacy: http://cms.curriculum.edu.au/litbench/intro.asp
Numeracy: http://cms.curriculum.edu.au/numbench
Source: Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) 2007, National report on schooling in Australia 2005. Preliminary paper: National benchmark results -- reading, writing and numeracy, Years 3, 5 and 7, MCEETYA, Melbourne [viewed 28/03/07].