NAPLAN results revealed thousands of Year 7 students failed, reading, writing, numeracy exams

Shocking data from the latest NAPLAN results has revealed the number of Year 7 students unable to read or write at the national minimum standard has skyrocketed.

Thousands of students across the state failed to read, write, or do basic maths at a minimum standard, according to last year’s NAPLAN results.

The number of students obtaining results below the national minimum standard has increased by close to 4000 in the past decade, with NSW Education data revealed 12.3 per cent of the Year 7 student population are unable to write.

According to NAPLAN data, 5127 or 9.5 per cent of all Year 7 students failed to meet the National Minimum standard in reading in 2021, with a further 6627 (12.3 per cent) failing writing tests. Meanwhile 5022 students (9.5 per cent) did not meet the national minium standard for numeracy.

NSW Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell. Picture: Christian Gilles / NCA NewsWire

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the NSW Government was implementing “significant evidence-based reform in our schools, with the aim of lifting students’ literacy and numeracy results”.

“Our overhaul of the Kindergarten to Year 12 curriculum and the School Success Model will make every level of the system from Department executives to principals and teachers accountable for improving student outcomes,” she said.

“These reforms are designed using the best available research and I am confident that positive results will follow.

More than 16,000 kids failed to meet the minimum requirement for reading, writing or numeracy exams in last year’s Year 7 NAPLAN test.

“We have also cracked down on initial teacher education providers, mandating that our future teachers study how to teach phonics and writing.”

Meanwhile, an Education Department spokeswoman argued the tests didn’t “describe the full range of what students are taught or what they may achieve”.

Shadow Education spokeswoman Prue Car said the government needed to get the basics “back on track”.

Shadow Education spokeswoman Prue Car. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

“Reading is the master key that unlocks learning right across the curriculum, and alongside writing and numeracy forms key foundational learning for students,” she said.

“We can’t afford to have the Perrottet Government letting students fall behind, especially given the disruption being caused by COVID-19 and teacher shortages across the state.”

An ACARA Spokesperson said the NAPLAN wasn’t “a pass or fail test”.

“It is a nationwide measure to see whether or not students are developing the literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for other learning and results can be used by teachers to assist in identifying what support students require,” she said. “NAPLAN tests are intended to provide a snapshot of achievement and don’t cover the full range of what students are taught or what they may achieve.

“Students who do not achieve the national minimum standard at any year level may, or are likely, to need intervention and support to help them achieve the literacy and numeracy skills they need to progress satisfactorily through their schooling.”