A steep fall in the number of NSW school students classed as high performers in international tests has alarmed experts,who fear the state will lack"the innovators of tomorrow".
Nationally,the number of high performers in the reading section of the globalProgramme for International Student Assessment tests dropped by four percentage points since 2000. But in NSW,that number fell by seven points.
Even though the state is home to almost 50 selective high schools there was a similar drop in maths;in the six years to 2018 there was a drop of seven points,the biggest in the country.
NSW also recorded the biggest fall in the proportion of high performers since science was first tested in 2006. High performers demonstrate"high levels of skills and knowledge"in the subject.
Peter Goss,the school education program director at the Grattan Institute,a think tank,said PISA showed the drop has been greater across Australia for the most advantaged students,who tended to be the higher achievers.
"It's absolutely a concern,"he said."Australia needs to do better across the board to support our current strugglers to build their skills,to set them up for success in the modern world and to stretch our high achievers who will be some of the innovators for the economy of tomorrow."
Director of the Gonski Institute for Education at the University of NSW,Adrian Piccoli,said the NSW school system was more segregated,with not only many private schools,but almost 50 selective schools - far more than in any other state.
"If the high performing students were doing really well,I'd say okay,putting kids into selective schools,or high SES[socio-economic] students going to independent schools,you could draw some conclusions from that,"he said."But they are doing badly too. Is that part of the problem?"
Fiona Mueller,the education program director at the Centre for Independent Studies,a think tank,said falling numbers of high achievers was concerning because it risked Australia becoming uncompetitive.