By Noel Towell and Caroline Schelle
Nearly 30 per cent of Victorian school children are struggling with literacy and numeracy, the latest NAPLAN exam results have revealed, as experts call for system-wide reform to prevent large numbers of students falling through the cracks.
The results of the testing of 1.3 million children across Australia in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in March show little movement from last year’s marks and have been greeted by education specialists as underwhelming and disappointing.
However, the national curriculum authority ACARA praised the “important achievement” of students and teachers in keeping results stable despite big changes to the timing of the test, and the tough new proficiency standards introduced last year.
Victorian students performed strongly against their interstate peers in the tests, with the state’s children at or around the national average in 19 of NAPLAN’s 20 benchmarks.
But with 29.3 per cent – or about 88,000 – of the 300,000 Victorian youngsters who sat the test this year rated as either “developing” or “needing additional support”, experts are concerned.
Female students across Australia outperformed their male classmates in writing, achieving average NAPLAN scores above boys in every year group, with just over 73 per cent of year 7 girls writing at either “strong” or “exceeding” levels, compared with 58 per cent of boys of the same age.
Male students showed stronger numeracy results, with 5.9 per cent fewer year 3 girls and 6.7 per cent fewer year 5 girls achieving “exceeding” results than boys in the same year groups.
The results again showed sharp demographic and geographic divides, with about one in three First Nations students rated as “needs additional support” compared with under one in 10 of their non-Indigenous counterparts.
Fewer than 24 per cent of students from remote areas were rated as “strong” or “exceeding” in their reading this year, compared with more than 70 per cent of students in big city schools, while in numeracy, just 22 per cent of very remote area youngsters were strong or exceeding compared with 69 per cent of urban children.
Nick Parkinson, an education specialist with the Grattan Institute think tank, said on Tuesday this year’s NAPLAN results reinforced a clear message from last year’s marks.
“Too many Victorian kids are falling through the cracks,” he said. “Victoria’s 2024 results were not substantially different from the national average, the ACT or NSW on any of the NAPLAN tests.
“Victoria must not be complacent, and there is hard work ahead to ensure excellence and equity in every school.”
Parkinson said the state government’s commitment this year to phonics instruction and evidence-based teaching was positive, but called for further reform, including a long-term target of 90 per cent proficiency in literacy and numeracy.
“The state also needs better screening checks to flag students who need extra support. Waiting until year 3 NAPLAN is leaving it far too late,” Parkinson said.
“There should be a resit in year 2 for students flagged in the year 1 screening checks. The current English online interview doesn’t cut it.”
Other experts were concerned about the drop in literacy in high school, particularly for students in year nine.
“We’ve been aware for some time that high school literacy is a problem and something that we need to really address,” Professor Anne Castles from the Australian Catholic University.
“There’s been quite a lot of work addressing primary school literacy ... and that looks as though it’s having some moderate benefits ... but the thing about high school is we really don’t have structures in place for identifying or supporting children who have literacy difficulties in high school because high school teachers aren’t taught how to teach literacy.”
The professor, who is part of the university’s Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy, added there needs to be a way to screen children in year 7 who may need extra support.
On numeracy figures, maths Professor Vince Geiger from ACU said children should be taught and shown mathematics matters. A drop in maths skills in the middle years of high school was concerning, he said.
Glenn Fahey, director of the educational program at the Centre for Independent Studies, said the stable achievement results between 2023 and 2024 might point to a broader stabilisation in the quality of the educational system.
“This is generally consistent with other test results that may point to a halt – though not a reversal – to decades of generally poor or declining outcomes,” Fahey said.
“It remains that case that Australian student achievement levels and the gaps between students remain disappointing, given the relatively high level of taxpayer spending.
“Despite more than a decade of Gonski funding – intended to raise achievement and reduce gaps – there is little evidence of substantial improvement in results.”
Fahey said the results showed the achievement targets demanded by the federal government in return for a new $16 billion schools funding package for the states were crucial to improving educational outcomes.
“The currently proposed targets to improve the proportion of proficient students and reducing those who need additional support are a good place to start – but could benefit from being more ambitious,” Fahey said.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the results underlined the need for the reform he was demanding from the states.
“The additional $16 billion of funding for public schools the government has put on the table will be tied to practical reforms, like phonics checks and numeracy checks, evidenced-based teaching and catch-up tutoring,” he said.
Victorian Education Minister Ben Carroll said the state had the highest NAPLAN participation rates in 16 years.
“Victoria’s NAPLAN results are no accident – they are the product of our record investment in schools and the efforts of our dedicated kids, teachers, principals, parents and carers,” he said.
Victorian shadow education minister Jess Wilson said stagnant and declining learning outcomes were the real-world consequences of Labor’s mismanagement of education.
“With a continuing teacher shortage crisis, long overdue evidence-based learning reforms stalling and debt-driven delays to school upgrades across the state, it should be no surprise Victorian students are falling further behind,” she said.
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