Female school students are underperforming in numeracy compared to their male counterparts, according to the newly released National Assessment Program, Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results.
The gender gap between male and female students in numeracy are evident from Year 3, where only a small percentage of female students (less than 5.9 per cent) achieved an ‘exceeding’ benchmark score, compared to male students.
In numeracy, male students scored better than female students. The NAPLAN results confirm previous research that showed boys did better on numeracy tests, while girls scored higher on reading and writing tests.
Almost three quarter of female students in Year 7 scored in the highest band (“strong” or “exceeding”) in the writing component of NAPLAN, while only 58 per cent of Year 7 boys scored in the same band.
Previous NAPLAN results have consistently revealed similar gender literacy and numeracy gaps. The trend is global — the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment have found that female students consistently outperform their male counterparts on reading tests. Possible reasons for this disparity include boys’ weaker vocabulary, poor reading engagement, lack of motivation and absence of role models.
More concerning has been the clear achievement gaps between students from varying social and economic backgrounds.
The latest NAPLAN results showed that students from higher socio-educational backgrounds and those from urban areas and non-Indigenous backgrounds performed much better than students from low socio-educational environments.
In writing and numeracy, achievement gaps for students from low Socio-Educational Advantage (SEA) households and high Socio-Educational Advantage households are wider in Year 9 than they are in Year 3.
Of the roughly 1.3 million students who took the numeracy and literary tests, roughly 10 per cent achieved the lowest level (“needs additional support”).
In numeracy, students from low SEA households are eight times more likely than students from high SEA backgrounds to “need additional support.”
In reading, the percentage of students from low SEA backgrounds who need additional support increased by more than six times from 4.5 per cent to almost 30 per cent in Year 9.
First Nations students underperformed in both numeracy and literacy compared to non-Indigenous students, with the gaps widening between Year 3 to Year 9. In the Northern Territory, over 90 per cent of First Nations students were assessed as “needing additional support” across a range of subjects.
Across Australia, almost four times the number of First Nations students assessed at the “needs additional support” level in both numeracy and literacy compared to non-Indigenous students.
The call for better funding for public schools
According to the federal president of the Australian Education Union (AEU) Correna Haythorpe, full funding for public schools is a non-negotiable.
“[We need] to ensure that all students and teachers are receiving the vital funds needed for high quality teaching and learning,” Haythorpe said in a statement today.
“It is public schools that educate the most vulnerable students in Australia with 82 per cent of students from low socio-educational advantage backgrounds and 83 per cent of First Nations students.”
A 2023 report from AEU found that roughly one per cent of public schools were meeting the Schooling Resource Standard, compared to 98 per cent of private schools.
ACARA’s CEO Stephen Gniel said the results provide a “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,” he said.
Education organisations are now calling on the Albanese Government to deliver on their pre-election promise for public schools to be funded at 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).
The latest NAPLAN results will reignite the debate between Commonwealth and state and territory governments over the $16 billion Better and Fairer Schools Agreement which proposes an increase of federal funding of public schools from 20 per cent to 22.5 per cent of the SRS.
While most states have rejected the deal, the Northern Territory and West Australia have signed on. Queensland, South Australia, NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT are seeking a funding boost of 25 per cent of the SRS — a figure that was recommended in the Gonski review.
Education Minister Jason Clare said the additional funding would be dedicated to “practical reforms, like phonics checks and numeracy checks, evidenced-based teaching and catch-up tutoring”.
“There are no blank cheques here,” he said. “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.”
Speaking about the latest NAPLAN results, the Minister praised Australia for having a “good education system,” though admitted it could be “a lot better and a lot fairer”.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
AEU president Correna Haythorpe said it is long past time for governments to close the resource gaps impacting on public schools.
“Australia cannot close achievement gaps without closing resourcing gaps,” she said.
“The results show that the current funding system is leaving the students with the highest levels of need without the support they need to thrive, which is completely unacceptable.”
“Teachers and education support personnel work very hard to cater for all of their students’ needs but they must be backed by governments with full funding.”
Haythorpe believes that the public school funding gaps can only be fixed with a full 25 per cent from the Commonwealth and 75 per cent from state and territory governments “to ensure that all schools are funded at 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard.”
“As a nation, we cannot leave the most vulnerable students without the resources and support they need to fulfil their potential,” she said.
Opposition spokesperson for Education Sarah Henderson described a school “funding war”.
“Rather than put students first, Mr Clare has become embroiled in a school funding war with the states which is a mess of Labor’s own making,” she said.
“Delivering a back to basics education sharply focused on literacy and numeracy, underpinned by explicit teaching and a knowledge-rich, common sense curriculum, is critical to raising school standards.
“It is shocking so many young Australians do not reach minimum standards of literacy and numeracy. Getting back to basics also means ridding the classroom of indoctrination and other activist causes.”