In August this year, the 2024 NAPLAN results delivered a damning indictment on the failure of governments to fully fund public schools.
Today’s release of these results on the MySchool website provides further evidence of the need for the full funding of public schools, with additional resourcing required to address educational inequality and disadvantage.
AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said NAPLAN is just one measure of student achievement, however its data adds to the large evidence base about the inequality in Australia's education system caused by the ongoing underfunding of our public schools.
“The failure of successive governments to address the underfunding of public schools is leading to entrenched disadvantage and educational segregation in Australia,” Ms Haythorpe said.
“Currently, only 1.3% of public schools are resourced to the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) – the minimum amount a school requires to meet students’ educational needs.
“For more than a decade, governments have failed to fully fund Australia’s public schools and this has had a direct impact on priority cohorts of students, those who are most vulnerable and who need additional learning support.
“We cannot close achievement gaps without closing resources gaps and it is long past time for governments to close the resource gaps impacting public schools.”
With 2.6 million students in Australian public schools, the Albanese Government needs to urgently prioritise school funding negotiations that put these students first.
This year's results showed that:
- Achievement gaps for First Nations students and non-Indigenous students are wider in year 9 in writing and numeracy than they are in year 3.
- More than 90% of First Nations students in the Northern Territory have been assessed as “needing additional support” across a range of domains.
- Achievement gaps for students from low Socio-Educational Advantage (SEA) households and high Socio-Educational Advantage households are wider in year 9 in writing and numeracy than they are in year 3.
- Students from low SEA households are eight times more likely than students from high SEA backgrounds to require additional support in numeracy than their high SEA peers.
- Whilst the percentage of students from high SEA backgrounds who “need additional support” in reading is smaller at year 9 (3.9%) than year 3 (4.6%), the percentage of students from low SEA backgrounds who need additional support in reading increases by more than 6 times from 4.5% to 29.8% in year 9.
- Achievement gaps for First Nations students and non-Indigenous students are wider in year 9 in writing and numeracy than they are in year 3.
- More than 90% of First Nations students in the Northern Territory have been assessed as “needing additional support” across a range of domains.
“Students who experience compound disadvantages are at the greatest risk of falling behind their peers. Prime Minister Albanese must deliver on his promise of full funding for public schools to 100% of the Schooling Resource Standard, to keep them from falling further behind,” continued Ms Haythorpe.
“There simply is no other choice for governments but to back Australia’s teachers and students with the resources needed to deliver high quality teaching and learning.”
MEDIA CONTACT: Kylie Jensen: 0402 298 728
4 December 2024