8 April 2019

Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Education and Training

Tasmanian students continue to make NAPLAN progress

The Hodgman Liberal Government welcomes the release of the 2018 NAPLAN results which indicate our students are making further progress.

We have made record investments to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes of our students, and while these results show there is still work to be done, our efforts are making a real difference.

More than 26,000 students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 from government, Catholic and independent schools completed the 2018 NAPLAN tests in term two, focusing on reading, writing, language conventions and numeracy.

In Reading, average performances of Tasmanian students in every year level tested, year 3, 5, 7 and 9 was similar to the rest of the nation. Numeracy and Writing were also similar in years 3 and 7, and in Grammar and Punctuation when it came to year 7 students.

In the longer term, Tasmania has improved in 13 assessments out of 20 from baseline date (2008), so we are seeing improvements. For years 3 and 5 Reading, years 5 and 9 Numeracy and year 5 Spelling these improvements were significant from 10 years ago.

Tasmania’s Aboriginal students obtained higher mean scores, for every year level and domain compared to Aboriginal students around the country.

The investments we are making such as literacy and numeracy coaches in every government school from 2020 will mean we can continue to make a difference.

Other key initiatives that support students with literacy and numeracy include:

• A Literacy Strategy Framework and Plan for Action have been developed to improve student outcomes in literacy
• Learning in Families Together (LIFT) supports 80 schools with the highest need. LIFT uses family engagement principles to work with families to ensure children have the best start in the fundamental skills necessary for positive literacy and numeracy outcomes.
• The Middle Years Literacy Project. This initiative supports professional learning for years 4–8 teachers in 12 associations of schools across the state.
• The Tasmanian implementation of the national Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) School Education Strategy 2016–26 provides an interdisciplinary approach to learning.

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