NAPLAN’s encouraging snapshot

Instead of sniping at the federal government and each other about unrealistic goals such as maintaining zero Covid after the nation achieves 70 and 80 per cent vaccination benchmarks to allow opening up, states should be concentrating on preparations to step up services in their key areas of responsibility, especially health and education. The latest NAPLAN results, released on Tuesday, show extended school lockdowns, especially in Victoria, have curtailed students’ progress in gaining core numeracy and literacy skills as they move from years 3 to 5, 5 to 7 and 7 to 9. The impact does not appear to be significant, however. Results, predictably, have largely flatlined, with Victorian students only marginally more affected than those in states where schools were closed for as little as a week.

The overall results suggest concerns about widespread learning loss – a problem that emerged in some other countries – were largely misplaced. Educational experts, however, remain deeply concerned about the educational, social and emotional fallout of school closures for students, especially in NSW and Victoria, which remain locked down. Disadvantaged children whose family circumstances and homes are not conducive to study and who lack access to reliable home internet are likely to be the most vulnerable to setbacks. A detailed geographic breakdown of the NAPLAN results will reveal more. But the overall picture could be worse. Results from the tests held in May were largely on a par with those from two years earlier. That is testament to teachers’ professionalism in teaching online in difficult circumstances and parents supporting their children during long periods of homeschooling.

NAPLAN measures students’ basic skills, not their ability to apply those building blocks in subjects such as science and social studies. As the nation opens up in term four, school authorities must prioritise the protection of students’ and teachers’ health, especially when Covid cases are expected to increase. Schools will need to ensure that students whose learning was most disrupted in the past 18 months are not left behind, especially in acquiring basic skills essential for further study and work. Their individual NAPLAN scores should be a useful guide.