Improving Statistical Literacy in Schools in Australia

Abstract

We live in the information age. Statistical thinking is a life skill that all Australian children should have. The Statistical Society of Australia (SSAI) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) have been working on a strategy to ensure Australian school children acquire a sufficient understanding and appreciation of how data can be acquired and used so they can make informed judgements in their daily lives, as children and then as adults. There is another motive for our work in this area. Australia is facing a shortage in the supply of statisticians. We are also anticipating that by improved teaching of statistics in schools, some of those children with stronger quantitative skills will become more interested in studying statistics at universities, and possibly pursuing a career as a statistician.

What I am presenting in this short paper is the ''schools'' component of a proposed Australian Statistical Education System, developed mostly by Nick Fisher on behalf of the SSAI.

A further reason for our interest is that statistics is currently taught in a fragmented fashion in Australian schools, typically by mathematical teachers with little or no understanding of statistics.