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Eloise Robertson, 02 9329 7377
Media Release
22 October 2010
COAG making gains in literacy and numeracy
In releasing its second year reports today on the National Agreements in education, and skills and workforce
development, the COAG Reform Council has commended governments on significant improvements in
literacy and numeracy achievement.
Following the council’s baseline reports released last year, these second year reports—National Education
Agreement: Performance report for 2009 and National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development:
Performance report for 2009—are intended to focus on progress and measure change over time.
The council found significant improvement between 2008 and 2009 in primary school literacy and
numeracy achievement, both nationally and at a State and Territory level.
“It is particularly encouraging to see that these national improvements were evident among Indigenous
students and students from low socio-economic backgrounds,” Chairman of the COAG Reform Council,
Mr Paul McClintock AO said.
Coinciding with the economic downturn, the council also found a significant decrease between 2008 and
2009 in the post-school participation of young people, in full-time employment.
Employment outcomes for training graduates were worse in a majority of States and Territories over the
same period.
“Although the worst of the economic downturn is behind us, it’s crucial that COAG continue to address the
repercussions. Our reports show that the effects were evident with young people and training graduates
struggling to find full-time employment,” Mr McClintock said.
While welcoming some improvements, the council is again urging COAG to address substantial data
inadequacies to improve public accountability.
For many of the outcomes, particularly in the report on skills and workforce development, limited data sets
have hindered the council’s ability to carry out its role of performance reporting.
This lack of quality data becomes more problematic as the council’s focus shifts to assessing change over
time.
“Public accountability for the performance of governments is a hallmark of a robust federation. This
requires access to performance data—from key administrative and survey data sets—that are meaningful,
timely, accurate, and comparable across and within jurisdictions,” Mr McClintock said.
“Yet, once again we find ourselves urging COAG to resolve issues of data development and adequate
information.”
NEWS 
