For the third year in a row, one in three Australian students has not met literacy and numeracy standards.
Nearly 94% of eligible students participated in this year’s NAPLAN assessment, the highest participation rate since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The results show two-thirds are meeting or exceeding expectations, while the remainder are “developing” or need extra support.
While proficiency levels improved slightly across year groups, national results show little improvement compared to previous years.
NAPLAN
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) has held NAPLAN tests since 2008. In 2023, it began grading results on a new scale:
Needs additional support: Students who need help to progress
Developing: Students on track to meet expectations
Strong: Students who are meeting challenging but reasonable expectations
Exceeding: Students who are surpassing expectations
ACARA said trends were emerging from this grading system.
Results
Nationally, nearly 70% of students across all year levels met or exceeded standards in reading, while close to 10% were identified as needing additional support.
In mathematics, slightly fewer students (67%) met or surpassed expectations, with around 9% requiring extra numeracy support.
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The results also indicated ongoing disparities between students from regional and remote areas, and students from the cities.
Government
The Federal Government has recently signed public school funding agreements with all states and territories.
Most jurisdictions have targets to reach, including improving numeracy and literacy NAPLAN results and increasing school attendance rates, in exchange for the funding.
Education Minister Jason Clare said the funding is “tied to real, practical reforms”.
Opposition
The Opposition said this year’s NAPLAN results “point out that the system is failing”.
Shadow Education Minister Jonno Duniam said it is “in the national interest that we turn this around”.
“Australian kids deserve the best possible start in life... a high-quality education that focuses on foundational skills, delivered by a workforce that is supported and empowered,” Duniam said.
