NAPLAN 2025: An ugly lesson in school secrecy

It’s one of the questions most parents want answered – where does my child’s school rank? Unfortunately the NSW government doesn’t want you to know.

The government is hindering parents’ right to know when it comes to ranking schools based on NAPLAN results. Stock picture: Getty Images

• Every school’s NAPLAN results

Successive governments and the bureaucratic Departments of Education believe media organisations and their journalists cannot be trusted to communicate data they collect from your children, back to parents

This year The Daily Telegraph has decided to use NAPLAN results as they were originally intended, to give teachers, parents and students the full picture on how their school performs.

The decision over which school to enrol your children at is impacted by many factors: price, location, but also getting the best education possible.

The five NAPLAN exams in reading, writing, spelling, grammar-slash-punctuation and numeracy are among the very few common denominators in the Australian education systems, sat by almost every student regardless of which sort of school they attend or where.

Parents receive their own child’s results in an envelope from late July but must wait until the end of the year to observe the overall trends at their child’s school and others nearby.

The Daily Telegraph makes it easy for mums, dads and parents-to-be to look at all their options by publishing a full, searchable list of all school results along with thorough analysis – a task that is being made increasingly difficult every year by government departments who oppose your right to know.

In 2024, reporters received an email from a NSW Government press secretary informing them their story about NSW schools’ NAPLAN performance breached the NSW Education Act.

Under the Act, schools must not be identified as being ranked within a percentile of less than 90 per cent except with the principal’s permission.

“Section 18A notes that school results must not be publicly revealed in a way that ranks or otherwise compares the results of particular schools, except as authorised or under a relevant national agreement,” the press secretary’s email stated.

“I appreciate it’s regular practice to do some form of ranking when these test results come out, my understanding is previous lists of this manner have been limited to the top 10 per cent of schools, as is permitted under the Act.”

NAPLAN results for every school reveal decline in writing skills

The government has not taken any action against The Daily Telegraph – yet.

At the federal level the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), which runs the NAPLAN tests and the MySchool website where results are published on a school-by-school basis, has been clamping down on journalists’ early access to the findings.

In advance of the 2025 NAPLAN and HSC exam results being handed down, we approached the NSW Education Minister’s office about the issue, but her office appeared unwilling to even countenance your right to know.

When we asked if we could discuss the restrictions, they brought up a story – from more than 30 years ago – that sparked the secrecy.

Successive governments and the bureaucratic Departments of Education believe that media organisations and their journalists cannot be trusted to communicate the data that they collect from your children, back to parents.

We think you should have all the information available to make educational choices for your kids.

Do you have a story for The Daily Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email [e-mail]