‘We’ve got a real problem with equity’: 2024 NAPLAN results unpacked

Like last year, the 2024 NAPLAN results show one in 10 students nationally qualify as needing additional support to meet minimum standards across the key learning domains tested. 

For those from poorer backgrounds, it’s almost one in three. 

Indigenous students are also faring far worse than their non-Indigenous peers, the results indicate, with one in three below proficiency and in need of extra support in reading and numeracy. 

Meanwhile, students whose parents dropped out of high school are two years behind those with tertiary-educated parents and one in four students from remote locations, and one in two from very remote locations, also require additional support.

Speaking on breakfast radio this morning, Education Minister Jason Clare repeated his well-worn line that while we’ve got a ‘good’ education system, “it can be a lot better and it can be a lot fairer”.

“…In other words, your parents’ pay packet, where you live, the colour of your skin affect your chances in life,” Clare said, when asked about the results. 

“And what [NAPLAN] doesn’t show, but what I’ll tell you, is that it’s only 20 per cent of those kids who fall behind when they’re little, who catch up by the time they’re in Year 9 in high school. 

“In other words, most kids aren’t catching up. The result of that is we’re now seeing over the last seven years, a decline in the number of kids finishing high school.” 

Among the heated commentary released today from a range of policymakers and stakeholders have been calls for a ‘back to basics’ focus in classrooms, with Shadow Education Minister Sarah Henderson saying a doubling down on explicit teaching and a knowledge-rich, ‘common sense’ curriculum was critical to fixing our ‘national crisis’ in academic standards.

“Getting back to basics also means ridding the classroom of indoctrination and other activist causes,” Henderson argued. 

Dr Jessica Holloway, senior research fellow from Australian Catholic University, told EducationHQ that while this year’s broadly stable results do offer something to celebrate in what have been shaky times for schools, once again we see our deep systemic inequity reflected in the data. 

“The fact that we’re getting essentially the exact same evidence that we’ve gotten year in and year out, is that we’ve got a real problem with equity and fairness across the board,” Holloway said. 

“And Education Minister Clare has made it very clear that he’s also quite concerned about the problems with equity and that we’ve got significant gaps across our demographic groups – and I think we need to take this very seriously.” 

According to the expert, at the root of the achievement gaps we’re seeing is inadequate public school funding, and not ineffective classroom instruction. 

“We’ve got, unfortunately, many, many years of government schools being underfunded and receiving inadequate support for students who need it most. 

“And I think right now, we have just another year of evidence saying the exact same thing: we need to be funding our schools adequately in order for students to be able to be successful,” Holloway said. 

Education Minister Jason Clare has given five states until the end of September to sign a $16 billion school funding agreement tied to performance targets and key reforms. 

As school systems across the country have made clear moves to shift teachers’ practice to align with the science of learning, the fact that the NAPLAN needle is not moving shows the impact of external factors and not classroom-level ones, Holloway contended. 

“I think that part of the consistency that we see year in, year out, from my perspective, almost minimises the effect of teaching instruction on the scores, because we’re seeing such consistency that it has to be about something more...

“Now, some would very much disagree with me, and there’s a big push for ‘back to basics’, phonics, direct instruction ways of teaching. 

“But I’m very afraid that that drastically oversimplifies what we’re seeing in test results.

“I do think that what we’re seeing is attributed to inequity. I truly believe that, and I think that evidence from many parts of the world suggests something very similar.” 

The results come as the states remain locked in pressured school funding negotiations with the Federal Government. 

Clare has given five states until the end of September to sign a controversial $16 billion school funding agreement tied to performance targets and key reforms, declaring he won’t be handing out any blank cheques in the bid to lift educational outcomes.

“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.

“There are no blank cheques here. I want to invest billions into our public schools and I want to make sure that money makes a difference to the kids who really need it.”

The Greens argue Labor’s new deal would do nothing to reverse the decline in students’ academic performance, and would “actually lock in underfunding for a decade”.

Greens spokesperson on Primary and Secondary Education, Senator Penny Allman-Payne, said the latest NAPLAN results offer yet more evidence of the “catastrophic consequences” of federal governments underfunding the public school system for decades.

 “We shouldn’t sugar coat it. 

“We are at risk of a full-blown flight of parents and kids out of a public system that is being left to rot, while money pours into the pockets of the richest private schools,” she said. 

“Minister Clare talks of more testing and more checkpoints, when what we really need is more teachers, smaller class sizes, less admin and red tape, and enough funding so that all students, regardless of where they live or how wealthy their parents are, get the support they need…”

Holloway said it’s concerning that Clare’s offer comes with strings attached.

“I think that attempt to – I hate to use the word ‘control’, that might be a little bit too strong – but I think that it gets us into that area where [government] says, ‘Look, this is the thing that the government has decided is the way to teach…’

“I just think we’re too narrowly defining and we’re oversimplifying the complexity of schools, and that makes me a little bit worried.”