According to this year’s NAPLAN results, we have some serious issues to address in our schools.

Student writing skills have fallen to the lowest levels since the national tests first started around a decade ago.

One in five Year 9 students failed this year’s NAPLAN writing tests.

The Outsider Mark Latham says there are some serious “alarm bells” ringing.

“I see this as a parent of three students,” he tells Ben Fordham.

“It’s not the fault of the teachers in the classroom so much, but the people devising the curriculum.

“The English curriculum, essentially, has become an exercise in gender theory and politics.

“They’re teaching stuff like Emma Watson’s speech to the United Nations. The greats of English literature like Dickens and Orwell have been sidelined.”

He says we need to get back to the fundamentals of reading and writing to get our kids back on track.

“I’ve just been through the problem of my year 10 lad having to do a course on gendered words.

“That’s not going to help anyone read and write.”

Click PLAY below to hear from The Outsider Mark Latham