There is nothing more radical than providing equal access to quality education. Only when all students, regardless of background, are systematically able to perform well at school will Australian society be truly inclusive, equitable and just.

Unfortunately, we’re not there yet. Australia’s maths performance on an international level is declining and the gap in educational inequality is growing, with students at the bottom falling faster than those at the top.

As educators, it’s up to us to ensure every student is given the best possible opportunities for success and growth. But to do this, we need to understand what underlying factors influence student learning, and which we can actually control. 

Does a student’s background really matter?

A student’s background shouldn’t make a difference to their learning, but unfortunately in Australia it does. Assessments like NAPLAN, PISA and TIMMS all show a clear connection between student background and performance in mathematics, with more disadvantaged students achieving lower results.

According to the 2019 TIMSS national report released by ACER, students from higher socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds had a maths score 30 points above the average student and 86 points above those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. 

Only 17% of high SES students did not reach the National Proficient Standard for maths, compared to 59% of low SES students. 

Recent results from PISA and NAPLAN actually show that the educational gap linked to student background is growing in Australia. And It’s not a small gap — students in the lowest socioeconomic quartile are a staggering three years behind those in the highest.

What’s even more troubling is that students who start off behind their peers in mathematics due to socioeconomic factors often don’t catch up, falling further and further behind each year. This contributes significantly to the growing inequality in maths performance and education at large.

What factors impact student achievement?

Approximately two thirds of the variation in student achievement comes down to student-based factors like socioeconomic background, parental support, prior knowledge and raw aptitude. This means that a student’s background is the primary driver of their achievement level. While schools can’t change these factors, they are the primary influence on student progress and stronger student progress means higher student achievement. 

How do schools affect student progress?

The value a school adds to learning is reflected in student progress because it gives a clearer picture of what learning is taking place in the classroom. There are a number of school related factors that contribute to progress, including, ‘school remoteness, sector and size’; ‘school advantage’ and ‘school-level factors’.

School remoteness, sector and size

It’s a popular misconception that school sector is strongly correlated to school performance. On average, student progress in public versus private schools varies by about one month across two years of primary schooling and a maximum of two months across two years of secondary schooling. Similarly, remoteness and school size have little impact on school results. The slightly higher progress of metropolitan students is explained by socio-economic factors.

With little impact across the board, these factors are not considered direct drivers of student progress. Regardless of their background, students can walk into many different types of schools — big or small; remote or metropolitan; catholic, government or independent — and based on these factors alone, they can still progress in their learning.

School advantage

‘School advantage’ is determined by reviewing the factors like school remoteness and parent occupations and education levels. According to the Grattan Institute about 20-30% of school-level variation in progress can be attributed to school advantage. That means that a student who attends a more advantaged school is likely to make more progress than if they attended a disadvantaged school.

When we look at maths specifically, the gap between students in the least and most advantaged schools is significant. Students in disadvantaged secondary schools are making around half the progress in numeracy compared to students in advantaged schools. And in many cases, students in disadvantaged schools are making less than 12-months worth of growth each year. 

Even more telling is the fact that students in disadvantaged primary schools who score high on numeracy in Year 3 make two years and five months less progress by the time they reach Year 9 as similarly capable students in more advantaged schools.

It comes as no surprise that students from low socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to attend disadvantaged schools. Often, this is where the gap grows. But just because a school is disadvantaged, it doesn’t mean its students can’t progress. There are many factors outside of advantage that have a big impact in student learning.

School-level factors

Preliminary research is showing that school-level factors like leadership quality, school culture, consistency of teacher practice and professional development are twice as important to student progress as school advantage. The Grattan Institute says ‘school-level factors could be driving differences in student progress’, but they also point out that more research in this area should be done.

This suggests that schools that focus on strategic leadership and improving teacher practice supported by ongoing professional development can have a big impact on student progress, regardless of their school socio-eonomic status. Students of all backgrounds should therefore be able to progress in any school, as long as the school focuses on these highly impactful controllable factors. 

How can schools close the equity gap in maths?

When there’s an equity gap to be closed, the first thought is often to provide everyone with equal opportunities. But equal doesn’t mean equitable. Giving all students the same opportunities won’t close the gap. It could actually make it worse.

Universal interventions where every student participates in the same program or practice has been found to result in two possible scenarios:

> Scenario A: Students from advantaged and disadvantaged backgrounds improve at the same rate so the gap remains.

> Scenario B: Students from advantaged backgrounds increase their achievements upon receiving the intervention due to their head start, therefore widening the gap.

Figure 1: Adapted from Australian Education Research Organisation

This research shows that students from disadvantaged backgrounds don’t catch up in either scenario. Instead, what is needed is targeted interventions. This ensures students from low SES backgrounds have the support and resources they need to catch up. 

Assessments, data and personalised learning are all key components of any targeted intervention, as they ensure each student’s individual needs are identified and catered to. This can sound overwhelming, with so many students in a classroom, how is there time to effectively implement targeted interventions? Well, some schools are already doing it, and the equalising effect is significant.

Schools closing the equity gap

Australia might not at large be providing a truly equitable education to students just yet, but it’s not all bad news.

Some students in disadvantaged schools are rapidly catching their more advantaged peers. The mean improvement rate for students in disadvantaged schools using the Maths Pathway model was 2.61, compared to the still impressive improvement rate of 1.97 for learners in more privileged schools. In other words, Maths Pathway students in disadvantaged schools are rapidly catching up, providing a clear pathway for disadvantaged students to achieve and excel.

Figure 2: Growth of Maths Pathway students vs. students in a traditional classroon

Maths Pathway was created by two teachers who understand what equity means in the classroom. Richard Wilson saw firsthand the impact of a quality education during his childhood in South Africa and Justin Matthys spent the early years of his teaching career working with students who struggled to make progress. Together they created Maths Pathway so that every student, regardless of their background or their academic standing, could experience the joy that comes when you progress in maths.

To achieve this, the model focuses on teacher practice, professional learning and the use of data to personalise learning. This aligns with research that suggests these factors are key to student progress and the answer to stagnation in disadvantaged schools. Combined, these practices enable teachers to increase their impact in the classroom and meet every student at their point of need with the content that they’re ready to learn.

We know that every student and every school is different. And while there is a lot that we can’t control as teachers, there’s also a lot that we can. Supporting each and every one of our students to progress in their learning is the first step toward a truly equitable education system in Australia. We’re here to support you to make it happen in your classroom because that’s the very reason Maths Pathway exists.