The kids groan, the parents silently rejoice. The start of the new school year is coming into view.

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But this should be a moment for reflection on what the 40-odd weeks of schooling will bring, and whether the time, money and effort that goes into the classroom is as well-spent as it possibly can be for students and for teachers.

What's going on in schools might seem far removed from the doldrums the broader Australian economy finds itself in, with low productivity growth contributing to falling living standards at a time of stubbornly high inflation.

But the truth is, productivity and education are closely linked. Any teacher struggling with too much work and too little time knows, working smarter to achieve better results is a core part of the job.

First, let's look at the education system's productivity: the relationship between what we're putting in and what we're getting out in terms of students' results.

Here, we're trending in the wrong direction. For many years, taxpayers have forked out increasing sums for schools as a result of the so-called Gonski plan. This year and beyond will bring yet more funding as part of the national funding deal struck last year by Education Minister Jason Clare.

This deal differs from previous efforts in one important way, which is that it contains targets that seek to measurably improve student learning. Action towards these targets is sorely needed.

About one in three Australian students fails to meet proficiency standards in NAPLAN. This is closer to one in two for regional and remote students. For First Nations students or those whose parents didn't finish high school, only one in three do meet proficiency.

Today's 15-year-old Australian students have gone backwards in learning compared to their peers from a generation ago, a decline sharper than that experienced in almost any other country, according to the OECD's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) testing.

Second, there's the contribution that........

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