‘Dire’ Tasmanian NAPLAN report sparks call for ‘urgent action’; Premier promises to ‘do more’
A ‘dire’ and ‘disturbing’ report analysing 10 years of NAPLAN data has found Tasmanian students’ literacy and numeracy skills decline as they progress through their schooling.
A “dire” and “disturbing” report analysing 10 years of NAPLAN data has found Tasmanian students’ literacy and numeracy skills decline as they progress through their schooling.
Report author, University of Tasmania workforce demographer Lisa Denny, said the finding should cause “outrage” and result in “urgent” action.
“There is no way to sugar-coat the findings … (which) show that the literacy and numeracy knowledge and skills of Tasmanian students as a cohort have declined as they progress through their schooling from lower primary to upper primary and to secondary schooling,” Dr Denny said.
“This is despite students being regularly identified through a range of assessments as either at risk or below the expected standard throughout their schooling.
“The report also identifies a decline in proficiency of literacy and numeracy skills for those above the expected standard. The findings warrant many questions, honest discussion and truthful answers. And action.”
The report says that in 2012 about 21 per cent of Tasmanians in their first year of schooling were identified as developmentally vulnerable, with a further 15.6 per cent considered “developmentally at risk”.
By 2021, when this cohort was in grade nine, 28.5 per cent could not read at the level expected to engage in the wider curriculum, while 41.5 per cent could not express themselves in writing and 23.4 per cent were not numerate.
The decline in standards was greater for poorer students. There was also a “concerning gender gap”, with 52.7 per cent of year nine boys not exceeding the expected standard for writing, compared with 32.4 per cent for girls.
Also “alarming” was a comparison between the level of attainment of the grade nine students of 2011 and that of the grade nine students of 2021.
“Compared with the 2011 year nine cohort, a greater proportion of 2021 year nines were below the expected level in reading (4.2 percentage points), spelling (1 percentage point) and grammar and punctuation (2.5 percentage points),” the report found.
Dr Denny found it “difficult to believe and accept” that the state government could have been aware of such declining outcomes without acting “with the level of urgency required to arrest these dire outcomes”.
Premier Peter Gutwein said he had not seen the report but suggested the comparison between the year nine students of 2011 and those of 2021 may be flawed.
“The cohort of students in 2011 might have been different in terms of their socio-economic circumstances and backgrounds compared to the ones we had in 2021,” he said.
“Importantly, we accept there is always more to be done in this area. This year, we will be putting on 40 additional school literacy coaches. We’re already investing more than any government before.”
Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said the report “paints a devastating picture” and warranted further help for disadvantaged and struggling students.
“The damning analysis reveals Tasmanian children are being let down before they even enter high school,” Ms O’Connor said.
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