Results from the 2024 NAPLAN were released by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) last week. Around the nation, interest groups have been keen to offer their commentary on the latest round of tests.
According to ACARA, the data shows that while there were small increases and decreases across domains and year levels, overall the results are broadly stable. Nationally, NAPLAN participation rates have held steady, increasing on the 2023 average by 0.1 percentage points across all years and domains to 93.4 percent.
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Like last year, this year’s NAPLAN results show nearly one in 10 school students need additional support to meet minimum standards in literacy and numeracy, and almost one in three students from poor backgrounds need additional support.
ACARA CEO Stephen Griel said: “Over the last two years, schools have adjusted to both the earlier timing of the NAPLAN tests and the changed reporting system with new proficiency standards. The fact that the results of Australian students have remained stable through these changes, with no significant difference in average scores, is an important achievement.”
Demographic results reflect trends in other national assessments and previous NAPLAN results, with female students outperforming male students in literacy, and higher results tending to align with students from the highest socio-educational backgrounds, in urban areas and from non-Indigenous backgrounds. A student’s performance in the test and the likelihood they will start behind or fall behind at school, then, is influenced by the education of their parents, where they live, and their background
“The 2024 results continue to show strong performance from Australian students in literacy and numeracy. However, they also provide clear information on areas requiring our collective focus and effort for improvement. The challenges remain with supporting those students identified in the ‘Needs additional support’ category and tackling the ongoing educational disparities for students from non-urban areas, First Nations Australian heritage and those with low socio-educational backgrounds,” Mr Griel said.
The Australian Education Union (AEU) has used the NAPLAN results to again call on the Federal Government to deliver on its promise for public schools to be funded at 100 percent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS). It argues that while NAPLAN is just one measure of student achievement, the data adds to the evidence base about inequality and the achievement gaps between students from different backgrounds.
Of significant concern is the number of First Nations students who were assessed at the “needs additional support” level in reading (at 34 percent) and numeracy (at 33 percent), almost four times the number of non-Indigenous students
Correna Haythorpe, Federal President, AEU said the 2024 NAPLAN results highlight that delays in fully funding public schools have left “priority cohorts” of the country’s most vulnerable students without the essential funding needed for teaching and learning.
“Australia cannot close achievement gaps without closing resourcing gaps. It is long past time for governments to close the resource gaps impacting on public schools.” said Ms Haythorpe.
“It is public schools that educate the most vulnerable students in Australia with 82 percent of students from low socio-educational advantage backgrounds and 83 percent of First Nations students. This makes full funding for public schools a non-negotiable to ensure that all students and teachers are receiving the vital funds needed for high quality teaching and learning.”
The Federal Government has committed to an additional $16 billion of investment for public schools as part of the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement. The 10-year Agreement ties new funding to reforms to help lift student outcomes, sets targets and improves school funding transparency.
Education Minister Jason Clare said the latest NAPLAN results show that serious reform is needed to build a better and fairer school education system. “Your chances in life shouldn’t depend on your parents’ pay packet or the colour of your skin, but these results again show that’s still the case.
“These results show why serious reform is needed and why we need to tie additional funding to reforms that will help students catch up, keep up and finish school – reforms that are included the next Better and Fairer Schools Agreement.
“I have made clear that 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,” Minister Clare said.
The Parenthood is an advocacy group which strives to make Australia an excellent place to be a parent. The organisation seeks to ensure the voices of mums, dads, grandparents and carers are represented in the national discourse to influence decision-makers to gain positive policy changes. The Parenthood argues that a universal early learning system would support the most disadvantaged children to thrive at school and beyond.
CEO of The Parenthood, Georgie Dent, said that the correlation between early childhood education attendance and performance at school is well established. “One in five children start school developmentally vulnerable in Australia, and the availability of services in Australia are highly dependent on family income and postcode. Equal opportunities for all children won’t exist until early learning access is universal,” said Ms Dent.
“Lack of access to early learning doesn’t just impact children’s performance at primary school, but their chances of finishing high school, attending university and securing stable employment.
“By connecting more children with the supports they need earlier on, a universal system has the power to change entire life trajectories.”
