Graduating teachers to pass tough new numeracy and literacy tests

All would-be primary and secondary school teachers will have to pass a rigorous new competency test before they can graduate and enter classrooms under a new federal government plan.

The idea is that graduates will have to prove they can teach maths and English, with the new test starting next year, News Corp reports.

University teaching degrees have faced recent criticism for focusing too heavily on theory and not on necessary classroom skills.

The new test is part of the government’s attempt to shake up teaching qualifications to arrest Australia’s decline in international rankings in maths and reading skills.

Australian schoolchildren are now ranked 19th in the world for maths, down from 15th in 2009.

In literacy, they have slipped to 14th from 9th place in the same time period.