While Australian Year 4 students are performing above the global average in maths, Australia’s latest PISA snapshot shows that secondary students’ results continue to slip.
Australia now has one of the largest gender gaps in maths achievement internationally, and one-third of students aren’t meeting basic proficiency in numeracy. Education experts warn that Australia’s declining maths performance puts its future STEM capability and economic competitiveness at risk.
With the changing dynamics of teacher-student relationships and increasing teacher workloads, it is no wonder that maths teachers struggle to consistently deliver best-practice pedagogy.
Less time testing, more time teaching
A recent survey of more than 450 teachers across Australia and New Zealand by Education Perfect found more than half (52%) reported that formative assessments take too much time to implement regularly.
While teachers need meaningful data to teach effectively and adaptively, regular formative assessment is time-consuming, hard for teachers to run, and often not fully aligned to the curriculum.
To address this, a series of new evidence-based maths platform is being released to all secondary schools across Australia, offering live progress tracking for each student and giving educators full visibility of which specific curriculum outcomes a student has mastered or missed over time.
“Personalising maths instruction in a classroom with up to 30 students, each with varying levels of ability, can be challenging,” James Santure, Head of Product Impact at Education Perfect told The Educator.
“With Education Perfect’s brand-new curriculum-aligned learning snapshots in maths, teachers gain a clear and continually updated picture of each student’s progress against the curriculum and the areas where they might require additional support.”
Santure said teachers can also assign level-appropriate content, ensuring every student works on tasks suited to their abilities and needs.
“This approach blends traditional whole-class explicit instruction with tailored activities that address individual learning needs,” he said.
“School leaders need to play more of a role in investing in tech that’s designed to drive evidence-based learning strategies, as well as training for teachers.”
Santure said EP’s recent survey shows teachers identify technology and AI integration as a key priority for improving classroom impact.
“In fact, nearly a third [30%] of teachers strongly believe that technology can significantly enhance formative assessment, while 34% see it as essential for delivering personalised and adaptive learning,” he said.
“For this potential to be realised across an entire school, leaders must champion the use of data-informed practices, allocate time and resources for training, and foster a culture that embraces innovation in the teaching of mathematics.”
Making every student a ‘maths person’
Beyond simply identifying learning gaps, Santure said the platform fosters long-term student growth and mastery in mathematics.
“All too often, with many teachers being incredibly time poor, the reality is that classrooms end up in a rigid, one-size-fits-all approach that lacks flexibility,” he said.
“As a result, many students who may already believe maths is too hard, too easy, repetitive or irrelevant become increasingly disengaged and start to see themselves as ‘not a maths person’.”
Santure said EP “flips the narrative” by delivering individualised support matched to each student’s needs, making lessons feel appropriately challenging without being overwhelming.
“Its interactive, gamified and visual elements break away from traditional worksheets, keeping students curious and motivated. As they succeed in completing these tasks, their confidence grows and fluency builds, reinforcing a sense of capability and creating a positive feedback loop,” he said.
“EP’s real-time tracking tool not only supports individual student growth but also monitors maths progress at the cohort and system level.”
Santure said leveraging continuous assessment and aggregated data helps identify trends across classes, year levels or the entire school, making it easier for school leaders to evaluate the impact of maths teaching strategies and allocate resources effectively.
“This high-level visibility supports data-informed decision-making and ensures that growth is being measured consistently across the whole system, not just at the student level,” he said.
“The end result is a partnership between school leaders, teachers, students and their parents – and a real focus on supporting and maximising each individual’s progress over time.”