Why your child’s Year 9 teacher matters for completing Year 12: new research

The Conversation · 🇦🇺 public Australia · Aug 23, 2026 · 1030 words · By Andrew J Martin; Rebecca J Collie

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What to know about Why your child’s Year 9 teacher matters for completing Year 12: new research

The article discusses a study of 40,000 Year 9 and 10 government school students in New South Wales to examine the relationship between teaching quality, student plans, and Year 12 completion rates. It concludes that evidence-informed teaching practices in Year 9 are correlated with a higher likelihood of students planning to finish school and successfully graduating.

Propaganda risk 0%

Claims checked 14

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center80%

Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

As young people progress through high school, they start making plans for what they will do when they leave.

Why it matters

And importantly, what helps them stay until the end of school?

Common ground

In our new study, we looked at Year 10 students’ plans and their rates of school completion.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Why your child’s Year 9 teacher matters for completing Year 12: new research?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that those who reported the best teaching were around 1.5 times more likely to be aiming to finish school and go to university than students who weren’t planning to finish?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/why-your-childs-year-9-teacher-matters-for-completin…

analyticsAnalysis

Propaganda Score

confidence: 95%

Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 14 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

verified Verified 5

schedule Pending 4

help Insufficient Evidence 2

info Single Source 2

cancel Disputed 1

schedule

Claim 1: “those who reported the best teaching were around 1.5 times more likely to be aiming to finish school and go to university than students who weren’t planning to finish.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 2: “around 20% were planning to finish school, but were undecided about what they wanted to do next.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the search results to corroborate or refute this specific percentage from the study.

cancel

Claim 3: “In Australia, only 75–85% of students complete Year 12.”

DISPUTED

Sources provide conflicting data on completion rates. One source mentions 75-80% in the ACT (2009), while another cites a national estimate of 67% in 2005, and another notes Tasmania is significantly lower than the national average.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Government-owned social enterprise. Similar awards …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_of_the_Year

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Year 12 is an educational year group in schools in several countries, including Australia, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and New Zealand. Depending on the education system, it may be the final yea…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_12

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web search NEUTRAL — The ACT has the highest rate in the nation for students finishing Year 12, according to the Productivity...It shows 80 per cent of girls and 75 per cent of boys completed the Year 12 certificate in th…
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6177425/year-12-finis…

+ 2 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 4: “This is consistently lower in rural and regional areas than in cities.”

VERIFIED

The Mitchell Institute specifically states that rural and remote Australians have lower rates of Year 12 completion than those in capital cities.

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web search NEUTRAL — "For the last decade, retention rates to Year 12 in Australia have not improved and Australia's Year 12 or equivalent retention rate is low by OECD standards," Ms Gillard said.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/hiking-y12-completion-rates-…

+ 2 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 5: “We looked at 40,000 government school students in Year 9 and Year 10.”

VERIFIED

The same source that confirms the study's origin also explicitly states the sample size was 40,000 government school students in Year 9 and Year 10.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A fiscal year (also known as a financial year, or sometimes budget year) is a one-year time interval whose beginning and end may be shifted with respect to the calendar year (1 January to 31 December)…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_year

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Year 13 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England and Wales, Northern Ireland and New Zealand. It is sometimes the thirteenth, fourteenth and final year of compulsory…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_13

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A year zero is a date where the current year for a given calendar system is zero. In systems which include a year zero, this year would be the epoch. Year zero does not exist in the Anno Domini (AD) c…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_zero

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 6: “Year 10 is the final year of compulsory schooling in NSW.”

VERIFIED

The source discussing the study explicitly states that 'Year 10 is the final year of compulsory schooling in NSW'.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — We chose Year 9 because Year 10 is the final year of compulsory schooling in NSW. So Year 9 is one of the last chances for teachers to support students’ decisions about their education. 5 common plans…
https://childmags.com.au/why-your-childs-year-9-teacher-matt…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Registration with the NSW Department of Education (responsibility moved from NESA in May 2025) is mandatory. Your program must align with NESA syllabuses. An Authorised Person conducts a home visit. I…
https://www.starpathlearning.com/library/homeschooling-in-ns…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Beginning of the year in which the child turns 6. SA. Continuous entry after 4th birthday.Control by Sciolists. A School-based Revolution. Department of Compulsory Schooling. Compulsion [Effects on Sc…
https://primaryschooling.net/?page_id=305

schedule

Claim 7: “around 10% were not intending to complete school or go to university, but were open to vocational training.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 8: “This compares with only about 2–3 in ten of the students least sure about finishing.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 9: “Our study was based on an annual student survey collected by the NSW Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation.”

VERIFIED

A web search result explicitly confirms the study was based on an annual student survey collected by the NSW Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Gregory Hills is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia in Camden Council. The suburb was assigned on 1 August 2008. The suburb was named from the topography of the local area a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Hills

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sydney is the capital of the state of New South Wales and the largest city in Australia. The metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 kilometres (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean in the e…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney

+ 3 more evidence sources

help

Claim 10: “around 10% were uncertain about completing school or going to university, but were open to TAFE or other vocational training.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the search results to corroborate or refute this specific percentage from the study.

info

Claim 11: “around 50% of students were planning to finish school and attend university.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The claim refers to specific findings of the study mentioned in claims 3-5. While the study exists, the specific percentage (50%) is not corroborated by independent external sources in the provided evidence.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Free Full HD porn tube - HD quality videos and photos. Watch over 2,785,355 full length hd sex movies, download porn xxx videos, sex photos and more.
https://www.eporner.com/cats/

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Eporner is a free porn spilling sex tube porn site xxx video chronicles, our site have all the porn recordings to fulfill your sexual impulses, eporner is day by day refreshed with new day by day begi…
https://eporner.com.es/en/

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Watch free HD porn videos online. Discover thousands of adult videos, updated daily and organized by categories, channels, and pornstars.
https://en-eporner.com/

schedule

Claim 12: “around eight in ten of those planning to finish school and go to university went on to complete Year 12.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 13: “Graduating from Year 12 is often a prerequisite for further education and training.”

VERIFIED

Web search results from the Queensland Police Service and JMU indicate that Year 12 completion or specific graduation requirements are prerequisites for certain employment and further academic paths.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Coaches of the Big 12 Conference bestow the following individual awards at the end of each football season.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_12_Conference_football_ind…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A year is a unit of time based on how long it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun. In scientific use, the tropical year (approximately 365 solar days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds) and the sidereal ye…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year

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+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 14: “around 10% were planning to finish school and do vocational training.”

SINGLE SOURCE

Similar to claim 6, this is a specific data point from the study. No independent external sources confirm this specific 10% figure.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Previously it was only ten years: three years of primary school and seven years of secondary school. Pre-primary educational establishments: Children under the age of six are taken to crèches and nurs…
https://www.euroki.org/koza/nº-find-in-the-text-and-read-the…

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web search NEUTRAL — Transitioning from high school to the rigor of college studies can be overwhelming for many students, and finding the best way to study with a new course load can seem like a daunting process. Effecti…
https://summer.harvard.edu/blog/top-10-study-tips-to-study-l…

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web search NEUTRAL — In the contemporary world, the number of young people prefer to pursue vocation training instead of university diplomas is increasing.In this essay, I will discuss both view and gives my opinion. On t…
https://engnovate.com/ugc-ielts-writing-task-2-topics/in-man…

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.