BY LINA ZUCCARELLI

University is a mammoth undertaking. Tertiary education typically requires one to sign themselves up for late nights of study, unhealthy quantities of caffeine, a reduced income and, most significantly, copious amounts of stress. However, the undertaking is justified when one’s chances of employment skyrocket following the successful completion of a university degree.

But, imagine, completing a degree and obtaining high results, only to fall short of potential employment due to two unforeseen tests introduced mid-way through, or at the end of your degree.

This is the reality for many students studying education.

The Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education – known as the LANTITE – comprises of one literacy and one numeracy test education students must complete, and pass, to begin teaching Australia’s youngsters.

Implemented in 2016 by the Federal Government, the LANTITE is run by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). 

The Department of Education, Skills and Employment’s website states “strong personal literacy and numeracy skills form an essential part of the attributes and skills needed to be effective in the classroom”. The LANTITE’s purpose is to assess whether education students meet the literacy and numeracy requirement of being in the top 30 per cent of the adult population to be able to teach in a classroom. 

The test’s implementation was due to the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group calling for a reform in 2015 into teacher education, after discovering many issues with quality in the initial teacher education provided across Australia. 

But since the LANTITE’s implementation, students have failed to graduate from their completed education degrees due to not passing both tests. 

Students are given three attempts to pass both the literacy and numeracy components of the test. More attempts (maximum of five) are permitted, but only after consultation with the university, which may deem a student eligible for an extra attempt.

MOJO News has spoken with 40 students and surveyed 213 students who have sat the LANTITE.

Charlie Smith* is a mature age student at Western Sydney University in New South Wales. Crying on the other end of the phone line, she explained her story. 

She is a single mother of three, with one child suffering from autism. She headed back to university as a mature age student after she stopped working to raise her children for several years. After five years of intensive study, including studying over summer each year to fast track her degree, she has completed a Diploma in Education Support and a Bachelor of Arts. She is now two units away from graduating with her Master of Teaching. 

Ms Smith has one more hurdle: the LANTITE.

Failing both components of the test twice, she believes her mature age is a disadvantage while the test conditions cause her severe anxiety.

“Getting the results for the second time has completely flattened me in every aspect. My whole demeanour, my confidence, my everything. It made me feel like a failure, like a dummy, despite I’ve almost finished my second degree,” Ms Smith said.

“It is absolutely shattering, that I have got severe anxiety because of it. I just think of it and I start to cry.”

Ms Smith also said completing the test from home is a disadvantage. Unable to travel to the city to attempt the LANTITE, sitting the test remotely means during the duration of the test, her computer is taken over and monitored. 

Having taken the LANTITE twice, her computer was first monitored by staff in the Bahamas and then in Indonesia.

On both occasions, the staff would disrupt her computer by either moving the cursor, drawing red lines on the screen or turning the microphone on.

“I could have passed that first time if it wasn’t for those interruptions,” she said.

Hayley Brown* is also a mature age student, completing her Master of Education at Federation University in Victoria. While she has now passed both components, it took her more than two years. She also believes her age is a disadvantage and she also struggles with the computerised test.

“I haven’t just come fresh out of school…it takes my brain longer to process things,” Ms Brown said.

“Like I know how to do it, I can sit there and work it out, but I can’t do it in that timeframe. I can’t do it in that two hours.” 

Ms Brown has struggled to pass the test but still believes numeracy and literacy knowledge is essential when teaching.

“It should be something you do before you go to uni. If they want to bring in a test, the university should do it before they accept people,” she said. 

While some students argue the LANTITE discriminates against mature age students, others say it discriminates against students with learning disabilities.

Mark Shepherd* is in his fourth year at Swinburne University in Victoria, studying a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Japanese and minoring in International Studies, and a Bachelor of Education. It was only this year he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Mr Shepherd believes his ASD is the reason he has struggled when sitting the LANTITE. 

He does not believe his learning disability negatively impacts his teaching capabilities, and believes he will be a capable teacher in the subjects of his choice.

“I’m teaching a lot of kids in Japan at the moment, like simple letters and pronunciation, and many colleagues have told me I’m doing ok, I’m doing well,” Mr Shepherd said. 

“We all learn. And I may be slow, and I have my own personal cognitive inadequacies and inconsistencies, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t learn and I’m not capable enough.”

Japanese is a subject which can only be taught by teachers who are sufficiently proficient in the language. Speciality subjects, like Japanese, which require knowledge additional to numeracy or literacy, cast doubts over whether education students who have specialised in a subject, should be required to sit the LANTITE. 

67 per cent of respondents surveyed by MOJO News said education students who are studying to teach a specialty subject should not be required to sit the LANTITE.  

Emily Fisher* is studying a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Studies) at Edith Cowan University in Perth. She believes she should not have to complete the LANTITE as she is only learning to educate children under the ages of six.

“I feel, especially the literacy, it’s not really relevant to what we’re doing. As teachers…it’s not really…relevant to what we would do in the real world,” Ms Fisher said.

She believes a more suitable way of assessing university students’ capabilities would be to have three separate tests: one for early education, one for primary education and one for higher education.  

85 per cent of survey respondents feel the LANTITE had negatively impacted their mental health. Ms Fisher is among them.

“LANTITE has put so much pressure on me. So this [degree] is obviously something that I’ve wanted to do forever and having that kind of pressure and anxiety put on you to not even being able to pass and do what you want for a career is really stressful,” she said.

Ms Fisher said she had to seek medical advice on how to manage her stress and anxiety due to the LANTITE.

“It’s a very negative state of mind to be in. Especially because normally I am quite a positive person, but this test has just literally got a dark cloud following me until I pass it.”

Education students are also frustrated universities are inconsistent when it comes to including the LANTITE within their curriculum.

Students have said some universities will not let them complete their assessments until they have passed the LANTITE, while other universities have students complete all their assessments before they can sit the LANTITE.

Victorian Minister for Education James Merlino told MOJO News universities can decide when students sit the LANTITE.

“Universities have different views about this. Some universities would be quite comfortable having the LANTITE very early. Other universities say it should be at the end of the second year, at the earliest, so [they] have time to work with students and if they need more support in literacy or numeracy that [they] can give it to them. So there’s varied views within universities,” Mr Merlino said. 

“From my perspective, I think the earlier the better…a lot of those decisions are up to the students and the universities. We can encourage, we can suggest and we can discuss it at [Education Council of the Council of Australian Governments], but universities make those calls.”

Mr Merlino said from 2021 the VCE Statement of Results will explicitly grade the literacy and numeracy levels of graduating year 12 students, so more informed decisions can be made on the career pathways and university degrees they wish to pursue. 

By implementing these changes, it is believed a student will better recognise whether they are capable of passing the LANTITE.   

Students have also voiced concerns with the availability of LANTITE support provided by universities.

Sarah Cooper* has been completing a Bachelor of Education part-time at Swinburne University, and intends to use her degree for social work instead of education. She believes being a student prior to the introduction of the LANTITE is a disadvantage, as students who began their degrees afterwards have more course-structure and LANTITE support. 

Since the LANTITE was only introduced in 2016, she is unable to alter her degree to include any LANTITE-focused units that other students, beginning post-2016, are offered.

Swinburne University states all education students have access to “LANTITE support materials” via its student portal.  

But Ms Cooper said these resources are minimal, leaving her to personally pay for additional resources.

“In terms of universities helping – they’re not,” Ms Cooper said. 

One of the resources provided by Swinburne University includes Cambridge LANTITE Edge, which was free for the first few months. Samantha said she used this resource, and achieved marks above 90 per cent on both the provided practice tests, but still went on to fail both components of the LANTITE. 

A Department of Education, Skills and Employment spokesperson said it was universities’ responsibility to support students. 

“Providers are expected to support students to pass the test. Providers are responsible for the timing of the test and how it is included in their program requirements,” the spokesperson said. 

Ms Cooper is also frustrated by the LANTITE’s $196 price tag, as well as the additional costs associated with buying resources to help her pass. 

Students do not believe it is reasonable that they need to personally source support materials and that the costs cannot be added to their HECS debt.

“I think if it’s a mandatory requirement, why is it not free? That’s my thoughts on it. A lot of people have said that it should just be added to your HECS debt, and other people have said that if you don’t pass then it’s just more you have to pay on your HECS debt,” Ms Cooper said. 

“The test operates on a cost recovery basis and the fee charged for the test is commensurate with assessments for other professions,” the department spokesperson said. 

Ms Cooper, as well as Ms Smith, Ms Brown and Mr Shepherd, suggested it is unfair they should be sitting the LANTITE, as they began their education degrees prior to its introduction in 2016.

“I think the main thing that needs to be pushed across is…how unfair the whole process is. How unfair the lack of material and units is, and how unfair that the students who entered their degree prior to 2016, prior to the exam being brought out, have to pass it in order to get their certificate that they’ve worked so hard for,” Ms Cooper said.

“I know the [Federal] Government is open to suggestions, so my suggestion would be to exempt those people, because the people after 2016 have got those free seminars [and] they’ve got those units that’s been added.”

Mr Merlino said he is open to suggestions of ways to improve the practicality and flexibility of the LANTITE.

“My view is that we should always look at practical suggestions on how [the LANTITE] can be improved. So I’m always keen to hear that and then feed that back through Education Council,” he said.

While there are students who think negatively about the LANTITE, there are also students who support the test. 

Bridget Doe* is studying a Bachelor of Prep to Year 12 Education at Victoria University. She believes “there should be a basic competency amongst teachers” in regards to their literacy and numeracy knowledge. She passed the LANTITE easily and without any struggle. 

“I walked out early and was only worried that I had messed up because it was so easy,” Ms Doe said. 

“I know a lot of people who were annoyed with both LANTITE tests because they were so long and a required a lot of reading – even the maths was a lot of writing to read.”

“If you weren’t trying to focus on teaching English then it would probably be annoying, and it would be less useful for students who, say, wanted to teach a subject like Maths Methods. I don’t think the LANTITE would’ve been helpful for students who don’t want to teach English,” Ms Doe said. 

Ms Doe is neutral about whether she believes the LANTITE is the best way to assess students numeracy and literacy knowledge, but believes the main part of teaching is whether the teacher is good working and interacting with children, which something to which the LANTITE does not assess. 

“The LANTITE doesn’t assess someone’s emotional ability to be a teacher. There’s a lot more to being a teacher than just being able to read and doing maths,” said Ms Doe. 

Like Ms Doe, Samantha Marks also walked out of her test early. 

“I left halfway through the maths test because my teaching placement students were performing at a school event,” Ms Marks said. 

Ms Marks, who is in her final semester of a Bachelor of Secondary Education (Honours) and a Bachelor of Arts, said she completed the LANTITE three years ago and found it quite easy. She believed it may be challenging for some international students whose second language is English. 

“No one I know has failed the test, but the people I have heard of failing are international students,” Ms Marks said. 

“I come from a point of privilege because I grew up and studied in Australia and the LANTITE is designed to be catered for the Australian literacy and numeracy curriculum…if you’re an international student our framework will be different to what they know.”

She stated the standard of English language needs to be stricter when getting into an Australian university, as it is crucial not just for passing the LANTITE, but if a career is pursued in an English-speaking school. 

“Communication is an integral part of our profession. People that can’t communicate well don’t have the skills to be able to teach effectively.”

While Ms Marks believes a literacy and numeracy requirement is necessary, she does not believe the LANTITE is the best option, but stated the universities now provide sufficient resources to help with the test. 

“Does [the LANTITE] act as a good moderator for people entering into teaching in Australia? Yes. Is there a better testing option? Maybe.”

“There’s a lot of resources now to help students. The classes that Monash [University] provided were quite useful,” she said. 

COVID-19 has also made it more difficult for students to sit the LANTITE, as there have been no additional windows added for online testing, and due to stage four restrictions there is no in-person testing taking place in Victoria. 

Similar to the LANTITE, the UK implemented the Professional Skills Test for prospective teachers in 2000, but decided to scrap the test for any degree commencing April 1, 2020.

A change.org petition has been created to remove the three-attempt limit for the LANTITE, while students have also submitted parliamentary petitions in a fight to obtain their degrees and graduate. All together, more than 10,000 signatures have been received.

Managing consulting firm dandolopartners was commissioned by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment and is currently undertaking a review of the LANTITE. 

Swinburne University, Edith Cowan University, Western Sydney University and Federation University were contacted for comment. 

ACER was contacted for comment, but referred any queries to the department. 

* names have been changed on request