According to the latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science study, Australia has dropped from 18th to 28th out of 49 countries in Year 4 mathematics, from 12th to 17th in Year 8 maths and from 12th to 17th in Year 8 science while remaining steady at 25th place in Year 4 science.

That puts us below countries such as Kazakhstan, Cyprus and Slovenia. 

Many former maths teachers and university educators have gone into panic mode over the results and have offered solutions (pardon the pun) to the problem, including drilling and having future teachers undertake appropriate pre-tertiary study of maths and science. 

Maths and science are incredibly important no doubt, especially if students see themselves in any career involving science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills but are these results really so bad? 

Australia is still ahead in the two fields compared to Western counterparts such as New Zealand and France and it’s not so much that Australia has become worse, rather these countries above us have become better.

There would also be an incredible lot of students who simply don’t have an interest in the two areas for a variety of reasons nor would they need those skills for their future career path. 

I can guarantee that if a teacher had drilled maths into me at school, it wouldn’t have helped my understanding of certain aspects of a mathematics course – numbers and I just don’t add up.

I can do the basics – multiplication, counting money – practical maths skills that are used in every day life. 

As I heard a maths tutor once say, "you don’t need maths past a Year 4 education,” and not once have I used trigonometry, that’s for sure. 

And I quite liked learning maths, it’s a nice antidote to English sometimes where there is only one possible answer. 

I think the main thing, and this is coming from personal experience, is that we need to get teachers who are patient and passionate about maths and science, who want to make the learning experience easier. 

Stop relying on a textbook to show how a science experiment is done and teach kids some practical math skills that everyone will need. 

By Kelsey Sutor.