Shorten government ‘would review NAPLAN’

A Shorten government would ­review NAPLAN, Tanya Plibersek has revealed.

Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek. Picture: AAP

A Shorten government would ­review NAPLAN, Tanya Plibersek has revealed, as the deputy Labor leader pledged nearly $400 million to help student teachers, principals and disabled children.

The opposition education spokeswoman said a post-election look at the effectiveness of the ­annual numerary and literacy test would be timely, as demands mount for NAPLAN to be scrapped.

“NAPLAN and the transparency that it’s brought I think is really important,” she told the ­National Press Club yesterday. “But it’s been around for a decade, so it’s quite timely to have a look at whether what we’re testing, how we’re testing and how the results we get from NAPLAN can improve students’ learning. It is time to have a look at whether that is happening as effectively as it can.

“Of course we want that information. What we don’t want is simplistic league tables or superficial readings of data .” I’m confident that we can get that right.”

She also reaffirmed a Labor government would maintain the at-times contentious $250m national school chaplaincy program but allow schools to use the funds to employ either a chaplain or social worker to support students.

Ramping up Labor’s campaign on education, which it is pushing as a key issue for the May poll, Ms Plibersek claimed no public school in Australia would receive fair funding under the Coalition, unlike private schools.

She announced $45m in grants for high-achieving Year 12 and university students, as well as workers, to study teaching. A further $300m over three years would be targeted at disabled students, on top of the disability loading included in the Gonski needs-based funding model and a principals academy would be set up to train current and aspiring principals through a range of courses, subjects and programs .

“If I become education minister I want an education for every Australian child that is as good as the education I want for my own children. That means every school must be a great school,” Ms Plibersek said.

“The federal government doesn’t run schools but it does have an enormous impact on the quality of schooling.”

Education Minister Dan Tehan said the Coalition government would provide $22.1 billion for students with disability to 2027 — a figure Labor has promised to match – with average growth in funding of 5.7 per cent.

“This is part of our record school funding of $307.7bn for state schools, for Catholic schools and for independent schools. We can pay for our plan without increasing taxes by $200bn and hitting retired teachers in the hip pocket,” he said.

Government sources pointed out public schools were the responsibility of state governments. The Coalition has committed to fund 20 per cent of the schooling resource standard and insist the states fund at least 75 per cent, while Labor would fund 22.5 per cent of the SRS.

An Australian, Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority survey released last week found most parents (three in five respondents) believed NAPLAN was valuable but just less than half supported the test moving to an online format.