Poorer Australian students are 18 months behind their better-off peers at school, a new report has found.
The Deloitte report released on Sunday also found regional students were on average eight months behind at school.
If academic results could be improved by 50 per cent for poorer and Aboriginal students, the economy could get an over-$200 billion boost over 50 years the report said.
While it said there was obvious benefits in improving education outcomes, there were no guidelines in place on how to achieve this.
The report said this means there was a need for more research and policy-making in education.
It found Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, poorer, regional and remote students were all behind on international education benchmarks.
One of the largest factors in school performance was the quality of teaching staff, the report said.
The governance at the student’s school, their classroom environment and resourcing were also pinned as major factors.
By targeting these issues, there could be uniform improvements for these students, the report said.
Lifting teaching quality could include improving the feedback gave to students and other changes in teaching methods.
The report said better education outcomes meant students would have better chances of employment and higher wages, benefiting the economy.
Education Minister Dan Tehan said the federal government didn’t run schools or employ teachers, but was providing record levels of funding.
“As this report makes clear, everyone in education can influence the factors at their disposal to make a positive impact on a student’s education,” Mr Tehan said.
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