By Lucy Carroll and Christopher Harris
Thousands of primary school students will be tested on their mathematics knowledge as part of a landmark NSW numeracy screening trial to be rolled out from next term.
NSW will run the maths screening check for year 1 students across 150 public schools, testing about 5000 pupils on basic skills including counting, ordering numbers and simple addition and subtraction.
NSW will run a trial year 1 numeracy screening check in 150 schools from next term.Credit: Kate Geraghty
It comes as NSW struck a $4.8 billion funding deal with the Commonwealth on Monday which will tie extra cash to evidence-based teaching and reforms which will require schools to test maths and phonics-based reading ability of primary students.
NSW Education Minister Prue Car, who will outline details of the number check at The Sydney Morning Herald Schools Summit on Wednesday, said the state will develop and trial the test and will make it available for all states and territories to use.
The teacher-run number check, which will take about 15 minutes to complete, aims to spot students who are at risk of falling behind in class.
A number check for six-year-olds was first recommended by the former federal Coalition government in 2017 and was backed by an expert panel appointed at the time. The panel found identifying and supporting students struggling with basic maths concepts was critical to make sure they stayed on track.
Students from La Perouse Public with principal Lisa Heller practising maths.Credit: James Brickwood
By year 3, when students sit standardised NAPLAN tests, it was “difficult, expensive and inefficient to remediate gaps in literacy and numeracy skills”, the panel’s report said.
The latest NAPLAN tests shows a third of students failed to meet basic benchmarks in last year’s assessments.
A NSW Education Department spokesperson said the trial would include 20 to 50 questions to check students’ maths knowledge. It would include checking recognition of whole numbers, number relations and number operations including basic addition and subtraction.
The trial will be launched in term 2 with the aim of rolling it out across NSW public schools.
The NSW Education Department ran a pilot in 19 schools late last year to help develop the structure and mechanics of the test.
“The year 1 number screening check will support the existing year 1 phonics check, providing teachers with an early view of individual students’ progress,” a department spokesperson said.
Paul Wood, executive director of the department’s educational standards, said teachers need “a robust tool to identify students in the early years that might not be making the progress that we need them to. The kindergarten to year 2 years are critical for locking in these concepts.
“We want to make sure in the early years of school we are getting the foundations right. Its core purpose is to support teachers to identify students early.”
The numeracy check comes five years after former NSW education minister Sarah Mitchell declared the reading wars were over, and rolled out a universal phonics screening to flag students who struggled with making letter-sound combinations. About 60 per cent of NSW students passed last year’s phonics check.
The NSW and national teachers unions have previously fiercely opposed early primary school reading and numeracy screening tests.
The year 1 phonics screening check became compulsory in NSW public schools in 2021.Credit: Joe Armao
Maths teacher and researcher Greg Ashman said the year 1 maths check would help test basic addition and subtraction and if basic facts had been memorised.
“When you are testing kids on number bonds, you don’t want them counting on their fingers. You don’t want them using working memory because that is going to take a lot of time,” he said.
Ashman backed having a range of diagnostic tests but said the “single biggest improvement you could make in maths would be to have a state-mandated times tables test before kids leave primary school.
NSW number sreening check for year 1 students
- The screening check will include 20-50 items to check students’ number understanding across three areas:
- Number - knowledge of whole numbers, for example being shown the numeral 13, recognising it and saying “thirteen”
- Number relations - knowledge of relations between whole numbers, for example 5 comes before 6, which comes before 7
- Number operations - knowledge of how numbers can be taken apart and put back together, for example adding 2 and 4 makes 6
“You get the impression from teacher training that memorising facts is not a groovy thing for kids to do. Making sure all kids know their eight times tables seems low down the list of objectives, so a lot of them don’t.”
Numeracy checks have been used in the United Kingdom since 2020 to test year 4 students on their ability to recite their times tables fluently – an essential skill for future success in mathematics.
South Australia will screen every year 1 child for numeracy from next year after its own pilot program found 60 per cent of students were “mathematically vulnerable”.
In NSW, fewer students have been choosing higher-level maths for their HSC. Former head of the NSW Department of Education Mark Scott previously said the problem may begin in primary school with teachers who were “maths avoiders”, leading to students developing a negative attitude toward the subject.
Lisa Haller, principal at La Perouse Public, had her school participate in the first NSW pilot of the number check last year.
“It’s key for identifying these pockets and areas students might be struggling, to make sure they aren’t being left behind,” she said. “Number sense is so important and that sets the foundation for maths – if they miss out on core concepts it can be a real challenge to catch up.”
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