NAPLAN results reveal growing divide between Victoria’s male and female students
Victorian boys are lagging behind girls in every subject at every year level, shocking new NAPLAN results show. Now experts have revealed a possible reason why.
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Victorian boys are lagging behind girls in every subject at every year level, new NAPLAN results show.
The gender gap is widest in year 9 writing, where girls outperform boys by 11 percentage points – a gulf that has not narrowed in years.
An average of 79 per cent of year 9 boys compared to 90 per cent of girls are meeting or exceeding national standards in numeracy.
NAPLAN outcomes from 1.2 million students reveal the performance gap between boys and girls nationally has widened since 2016.
Victorian boys are even bucking the national trend and failing to outperform girls in numeracy.
Kevin Donnelly, senior research fellow at the Australian Catholic University, attributed the gap to the “positive discrimination of girls, especially in reading”.
“The new style, where teachers are facilitators, doesn’t suit boys as much as girls,” he said.
“Boys need structure and discipline – they need to be told what to do and how to do it.”
Dr Donnelly said year 9 boys who were still developing were very much affected “by the style of teaching and what happens in the classroom”.
“It’s even harder for some children who have no safety net at home,” he said.
The results also reveal the impact of Covid-19, with Victorians improving more slowly in some subjects than the national average after the gruelling 2020 lockdown.
Boys’ education consultant and chief executive of the Boys Forward Institute, Dr Ian Lillico, said school lockdowns around the world increased disparity between the sexes. “What happened during the many lockdowns is … there was no direct teacher interaction – for many boys it is not the same,” Dr Lillico said.
Students whose parents don’t finish year 12 are also struggling, with only 64 per cent at or above standard compared to 92 per cent of students whose parents have a bachelor’s degree. In addition, only 60 per cent of Indigenous students are meeting standards in year 9 writing.
This is one of the highest grades of this group of students in the country, but is nonetheless 15 points behind non-Indigenous students.
This data was not apparent in the earlier NAPLAN snapshot released with much fanfare by the state government in August.
Dr Donnelly said “good schools and good teachers should be able to overcome a student’s disadvantage”.
The results of the NAPLAN tests – taken in May 2021 between the two long lockdowns – shows Victorian students in years 3, 5 and 7 are the best readers in the nation, the year 5s are the highest achievers overall, and they top the country for reading, grammar and numeracy.
By year 9, Victorian students are beaten by those from the ACT, NSW and Western Australia in every learning domain.
Longitudinal data from 2008 to 2021 shows some serious concerns over time, with a drop in year 9 reading from 94 per cent to 91 per cent at or above standard.
Victorian girls continue to outperform boys from across the country in three of five subjects in year 3, in four subjects at year 5 and three subjects in year 7.
But the year 9 slump meant no Victorian girls or boy were the best in any subject.
Students in Melbourne also continued to out-perform students in rural and regional areas.
The effects of Covid-19 – which led to Victorian students studying at home for up to eight months during 2020 and 2021 – are also starting to appear.
Students moving from year 7 in 2019 to year 9 in 2021 improved by 29 points, which was the lowest in the country in maths and well below the Australian average gain of 33 points.
And those going from year 5 in 2019 to year 7 in 2021 improved by 50 points in maths – four points below the national average.
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority chief executive David de Carvalho said the results showed achievement in numeracy, reading and writing remained largely stable at a national level for all students before and after Covid-19.
Acting federal Education Minister Stuart Robert said it was “heartening to see that overall NAPLAN results have remained stable with no changes in subject area, year level or jurisdiction”.
State Education Minister James Merlino said Victorian students had achieved outstanding results in this year’s NAPLAN in the face of unprecedented challenges.
* Victoria’s top VCE students will be revealed on Friday at 12.01am. A searchable database on the Herald Sun website will feature every pupil who achieved a VCE subject study score of 40 or above, with the scores also printed in Friday’s edition of the paper. Read more
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