His comments came after the release of the Council of Australian Government's Reform Council report - Education in Australia 2012: Five Years of Performance yesterday, that showed the state had declined in six of 10 areas and was below the national average in five.

These included year 10 government school attendance, those fully engaged in work or study after leaving school and indigenous year 1 attendance.

"This is completely untrue," Mr McKim said.

"We're seeing significant improvements in Tasmanian schools.

"We have improved the percentage of our students at or above national minimum standards in 14 out of 20 NAPLAN measures over the last two years and we've put in place a rigorous school improvement framework, as well as significant extra support for teachers and school leaders."

Mr McKim said there was a lot to be optimistic about, including the Launching into Learning program which had halved the number of students failing to achieve minimum standards and the highest rates of attendance among preschool-aged children in Australia.

Australian Education Union state president Terry Polglase said ultimately there were only minimal declines and the focus should be on praising the significant rise in year 3 reading outcomes, which was up 17.9 score points, and year 12 retention.

He said the other measures could be directly and indirectly related to the state as a whole in a stalled economy.

Children's charity The Smith Family Tasmanian general manager Alison Standen, who will be in Launceston today to visit a school involved in one of programs addressing disadvantage, said the Labor government had good programs but it as underfunded and could not fully address the issues.

She said there had to be a stronger approach to a year 7 to 12 education system in the state.