THE state government has hit back at opposition criticism that teachers without science, technology, engineering and mathematics qualifications are teaching the specialist subjects.
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The Mitchell Institute's Educational Opportunity in Australia 2015 report released on Monday shows that, based on 2009 Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth data, by age 19 only 48.9 per cent of students in Tasmania study two STEM subjects, and 22.3 per cent tackle four or more - both considerably lower than national averages.
The results prompted criticism from Labor education spokeswoman Michelle O'Byrne, who said STEM was vital "if our young people are to participate fully in society" and that teachers without STEM qualifications were teaching the specialist subjects due to budget cuts.
"Labor federally has committed to coding in schools and all schools should be engaging with STEM at each year level," she said.
Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the figures were reflective of when Labor was in power in 2009 and that Education Department was working on ways to introduce digital technology subjects, in line with the Australian curriculum.
He said all STEM subjects were offered in all Tasmanian schools and the department was scheduling professional development next year for primary and secondary teachers to introduce STEM approaches.
"This government is already taking action to roll-out coding across all Tasmanian government schools ... by the end of 2018 all schools will be teaching coding," he said.
"One of the very first things we did when coming to government was invest $4.2 million in the Developing Our Workforce Strategy, including developing maths and science specialists.
"In fact, the first group of maths and science specialist teacher graduated last month."
Australian Education Union state secretary Terry Polglase said Tasmania's poor education outcomes could be directly linked to the state's underperforming economy.
He said the fate of many Tasmanians was too dependant on their postcode.
"What we are doing in our schools is better than anywhere else, the question really is, are we doing it in the right areas like STEM," he said.
"In our state we have a lousy economy and our kids don't finish year 12 - what does that tell you?"
The report also showed about a third of 24-year-old Tasmanians were not fully involved in education, work or training and that more than 40 per cent of Tasmanian 19-year-olds did not complete year 12 or equivalent qualifications in 2014.
