[Australia] Education the key to reducing Tassie poverty

From The Mercury

By LUKE SAYER

TASMANIA'S poor education report card was a major contributor to poverty in the state, a leading national economist said last night.

ANZ chief economist Saul Eslake sounded a warning to educators and government when he delivered the Dorothy Pearce Address on Social Justice.

It follows a positive assessment of the state economy.

The annual presentation is organised by the Tasmanian Council of Social Services and the audience included all Tasmanian political parties.

Mr Eslake said many of Tasmania's social challenges, including high rates of poverty, could be attributed to the lower level of educational attainment compared with other states.

He said 44.1 per cent of Tasmanians aged 15-64 had not completed year 12, compared to the national figure of 32.3, with a direct correlation between low-educational attainment, long-term unemployment and poverty.

"It seems to me that Tasmania's children ... are ill-served by pretending that Tasmania's education system is better than it is," Mr Eslake said.

He said in internationally standardised test results, by Grade 8 Tasmanian school children are below the national average by 5.5 per cent in maths and 4.4 per cent in science.

Mr Eslake said he wasn't meaning any disrespect to Tasmania's teachers and didn't want to enter the debate about the Essential Learnings frameworks.

"I believe that improving the quantity and quality of education received by Tasmania's children ought to be an integral part of any long-term strategy aimed at reducing poverty and deprivation in Tasmania," he said.