An ongoing ideological bias against explicit instruction in maths classrooms is the biggest reason why Australia’s performance in the subject continues to slide, according to experts. An analysis paper, ‘Failing to Teach the Teacher’, published by the Centre for Independent Studies, found that Australia’s universities were failing to teach effective instruction methods to future maths teachers. It found that primary education bachelor courses in 27 of 31 universities had an emphasis on student-led, or “constructivist” instruction methods, rather than teacher-led, or “instructivist” approaches. The remaining four were either ambiguous or provided a range of teaching approaches. Glenn Fahey, an education policy expert and co-author of the paper, told The Epoch Times that teachers wouldn’t be effective in the workplace if what they learn during their training courses were not effective. “What’s clear is that putting teacher education in the hands of education academics appears to be not effectively preparing new …