TASMANIA has continued to languish at the bottom in most education criteria in Australia.
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According to the Council of Australian Government's Reform Council report - Education in Australia 2012: Five Years of Performance , to be released today - the state has declined in six of 10 areas.
The report is a gauge of how the state is fairing in the National Education Agreement it signed in 2009.
Tasmania has declined in year 10 government school attendance (-1 percentage points), those fully engaged in work or study after leaving school (-1.3 percentage points) and indigenous year 1 attendance (-1 percentage points) and year 10 (-3 percentage points).
There were marginal declines in developmental vulnerability and year 3 numeracy testing, and no change to year 1 government school attendance.
There was a significant improvement in year 3 reading (+17.9 points), those attaining year 12 or equivalent or certificate II (+2.6 percentage points) and indigenous students attaining year 12 or equivalent or certificate II (+0.7 percentage points).
The Smith Family described the report as ``depressing reading'', with chief executive Dr Lisa O'Brien set to speak at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia event in Hobart, where Premier Lara Giddings and Opposition Leader Will Hodgman are also expected to attend tomorrow.
Nationally, the report shows a 20 per cent gap year 12 attainment remains between young people from low and high-socio-economic backgrounds and after leaving school, 41.7 per cent of the most disadvantaged young people are not studying or working.
The Smith Family state general manager Alison Standen said the report painted a bleak picture for anyone who cares about the country's future.
She said in Tasmania fewer young people were fully engaged in study or work than in 2006 and although the number of indigenous students completing year 12 had risen, the gap with non-indigenous remained close to 20 per cent.
``If we keep down the path we're on, more and more young people with poor educational outcomes are likely to experience unemployment and poorer health outcomes in adulthood and rely more heavily on income support payments - something which will create an additional burden on them, their families and Australia as a whole,'' Ms Standen said.
She said the issue would not be addressed through only a fairer education model, but how resources were spent.
Ms Standen said the organisation had done a lot to implement programs that addressed disadvantage within schools and it wanted to see more of this happen.
The report also highlighted a number of contextual factors that impact on the state's overall outcomes, such as people in the most disadvantaged areas.