NSW counts on numeracy check for year 1 students

A new numeracy test has been introduced for year 1 students to check if they know how to count and add up.

NSW Education Minister Prue Car with students Wilfred and Isabella at Stanmore Public School in Sydney, one of the first schools in Australia to introduce a numeracy check in Year 1.

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The numeracy knowledge of year 1 students is being checked for the first time, as Australia’s biggest education system counts on early intervention to help kids master mathematics.

More than 7000 students from 165 NSW public schools will take part in a new “number screening check’’ of year 1 children over the next fortnight, as NSW becomes the first state to get cracking on reforms embedded in a 10-year federal funding agreement for schools.

Victoria and South Australia will introduce the numeracy checks next year, alongside the existing “phonics checks’’ to gauge whether children know the alphabet when they start school, but national checks are not mandated until 2028.

NSW Education Minister Prue Car said the teacher-led numeracy check will take 10-15 minutes to complete.

“We know that year 1 is the critical time for teachers to be able to check that students are developing the key foundational numeracy skills they need to progress in their learning, and NSW is the first state to trial a number check for year 1,’’ Ms Car said.

“This check will enable teachers to intervene where needed, to ensure all students are set up for success as they continue their schooling.’’

Ms Car said she would share results from the trial with the federal government and other state and territory education ministers, “with a view to making this a national standard’’.

The NSW numeracy check will test students’ recognition of numbers, counting skills and basic single-digit addition and subtraction.

One in three children failed to achieve baseline numeracy standards in last year’s National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests.

The NSW government says its early intervention will help children master mathematics.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the numeracy checks are a condition of $16.5bn in bonus federal funding to state and territory governments over the next nine years, through the still-secret Better and Fairer Schools Agreement.

He praised NSW for “bursting out of the starting blocks’’.

“This is really important to identify children in the first years of school who are behind and need help to catch up,’’ he said.

“The earlier we identify children who need additional help, the easier it is to help them catch up.’’

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare chats with a student at Stanmore Public School in Sydney.

Federal opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson criticised the 2028 national implementation deadline as “far too slow’’.

“With one in three children not meeting basic literacy and numeracy standards in NAPLAN, we have an education crisis in this country,’’ Senator Henderson said.

“The Albanese government’s refusal to fast-track an evidence-based early years numeracy check in all Australian schools is another shocking failure.

“It is no wonder education standards under Labor are declining, compounded by Jason Clare’s refusal to disclose all school funding agreements.’’