NSW sets higher NAPLAN goals for schools and students

Australia’s biggest schooling system has set higher targets for academic performance and school retention, with NSW Education Minister Prue Car setting two-year NAPLAN goals.

NSW Education Minister Prue Car has set two-year goals for NAPLAN improvements. Picture: NewsWire/John Appleyard

Australia’s biggest schooling system has set higher targets for academic performance and school retention.

NSW Education Minister Prue Car has set two-year goals for improvements in the Nat­ional Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy tests.

Schools will “strive’’ to increase average NAPLAN reading and numeracy scores by 10.2 points by 2027.

Among year 9 students, ­reading scores must rise by 5.8 points.

The new target is to lift school attendance rates to 88.8 per cent, compared to 87.8 per cent in 2023.

The proportion of students finishing year 12 will have to rise to 74 per cent by 2027 – up from 70.5 per cent in 2022.

And another new target will be set, of 92 per cent of school leavers taking up university, training or work by 2027 – an increase from 88.1 per cent last year.

Ms Car said the Minns government was “fixing a broken system and lifting outcomes’’.

“This is about setting high expectations of our public education system and every one of our students,’’ the minister said.

“No longer will targets be focused simply on the top-achieving students.

“These ambitious measures will help lift outcomes for all students across the state.’’

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman

The NSW government has announced the new targets ­without first signing the national school reform agreement with the federal government.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has offered to meet NSW demands that he lift the federal share of NSW school funding from 20 per cent to 25 per cent.

The NSW government has brought teacher vacancies to a four-year low, after granting teachers a generous pay rise and granting permanent jobs to 16,000 teachers and school support staff on short-term contracts.

It has also made small-group tuition permanent in all NSW public schools, and is trialling a numeracy check for year 1 students

NSW has also offered to share its new state school syllabus, which focuses on the explicit teaching of fundamental knowledge.

NSW Education Department secretary Murat Dizdar said schools must aim to improve literacy and numeracy skills for all students.

“We have high expectations for achievement for our education system,’’ Mr Dizdar said.