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For Victorian high school students Sahana and Amara, class isn’t always over when the school bell rings.

The sisters have been attending extra tutoring sessions in English, maths and science at Topscore Education in Box Hill for several years.

Sisters Amara (front) and Sahana have been taking additional classes for years.Credit: Joe Armao

Tutoring services have been in strong demand across the state since the pandemic, and recent consumer spending data reveals that extracurricular support is one area where families are refusing to cut back.

Sahana, who is going into year 11 next year, said the extra tuition helped her get ahead in some subjects, gain a new perspective on subject content and keep up in areas she found challenging.

“I’m looking for next year to do a bit of tutoring in chemistry. I struggle a bit in chemistry, so I want to try to improve that without lagging behind in classes,” she said.

Amara, who completed year 8 this year, said science tutoring had helped her build a strong foundation for a subject she didn’t know much about.

“I guess tutoring gives a lot of one-on-one help – they can personally reach out to you as an individual, instead of teaching the whole class and giving everyone the same information,” she said.

Another Topscore student, Isaac, said he had been doing after-school tutoring for nine years and it had helped him at school. “I feel like I also need the help, so I’m more than willing to take a class like science or English,” he said.

The latest OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) – which tracks 15-year-old students across the world in maths, reading and science – shows that across the country many students are struggling to meet proficiency standards in these subjects. Close to half are failing to show more than elementary skills for their age group.

The results show that while Australia’s performance has stabilised compared with recent years, just 51 per cent achieved the national proficiency standard in maths, 58 per cent in science and 57 per cent in reading.

Tutoring student Isaac and sisters Sahana and Amara with English tutor Colin Turner at Topscore Education. Credit: Joe Armao

This year’s figures also continue a trend of students born overseas or with parents who were born outside Australia outperforming their locally born peers.

Fewer Australian-born students achieved the national proficiency standard compared with foreign-born students and first-generation students in each subject.

Juliette Mendelovitz, head of the assessment and psychometric research division at the Australian Council for Educational Research, said this trend had been visible since the start of the PISA testing program, though determining the reasons behind it were complex.

Factors including parental engagement with education could have an impact, she said.

“For example, people who change countries can be quite aspirational about their children’s education.”

Sahana said her parents – who were born in Sri Lanka – had always had a focus on education and encouraged additional activities such as tutoring, but she and Amara did not feel pressure to achieve.

“I don’t think there’s a pressure [to do well], it’s more encouragement,” Sahana said.

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