NSW Nationals: NSW students above the national average, but more to do

Students in NSW continue to perform above the national average according to the latest NAPLAN results.

Nationals Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell congratulated the 400,000 NSW students, their teachers and schools that took part in NAPLAN online this year, and noted their results confirmed the government’s focus on regional education and the early years to ensure all students, no matter where they live, reach their full potential.

“The 2022 NAPLAN National Report is a testament to the hard work of our teachers and schools in NSW who, despite the disruption of the pandemic and natural disasters, have made sure our students continue to learn,” Ms Mitchell said.

“The proportion of NSW students in the highest NAPLAN band is above the national average in every domain and at all year levels – a real testament to the quality teaching taking place in our schools across the state.”

The 2022 NAPLAN National Report highlights that NSW ranks:

• in the top three jurisdictions by mean scores in all domains, for all year levels, except in Year 9 Reading where we rank fourth;
• first or equal first in Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation, and Numeracy for Years 3 to 9, Writing for Year 3 and Reading for Year 7; and
• equal second in mean scores in Writing for Years 5 and 7.

The latest data also revealed significant improvements in primary school Reading and Spelling, continuing a positive trend over the past few years and reaffirming this Government’s focus on phonics and early literacy.

“I am pleased to see growth in our primary schools and that NSW mean scores across the board remain above the national average in each test domain for all Year levels,” said Ms Mitchell.

“NSW students are among Australia’s best spellers, ranking first or equal first out of all jurisdictions for all Year levels.”

Ms Mitchell also highlighted action to drive further improvements in areas such as Year 9 boys’ literacy, Year 5 numeracy and regional students.

“As a regional minister, I am particularly focused on doing everything we can to help our regional students match their metropolitan counterparts. That’s why we will be reviewing the Regional Rural and Remote Education Strategy to ensure it is responding to these latest NAPLAN results. We have to make sure our country kids have the support they need.

“I am committed to ensuring that NSW students, wherever they are in the state, have strong foundations in literacy and numeracy as we roll out a new Kindergarten to Year 12 curriculum.”

From next year, Kindergarten to Year 2 students will begin learning from the new English and Mathematics syllabuses. Schools will begin teaching the Years 3 to 10 English and Mathematics syllabuses in 2024.

Overall, participation rates for this 2022 NAPLAN across NSW were amongst the highest in the country, despite the impact of the pandemic and natural disasters.

From 2023, improvements to NAPLAN, including bringing testing forward to Term 1, will also come into effect.