Australia’s latest NAPLAN results may show signs of progress in numeracy, but longstanding gaps affecting students in regional, remote and disadvantaged communities remain, according to Schools Plus CEO Sherrill Nixon.
Writing in an opinion piece responding to this year’s results, Nixon argued that the national figures continue to show how strongly a student’s circumstances can influence the opportunities available to them.
“Where a child lives continues to shape their educational opportunities,” Nixon wrote.
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) CEO Stephen Gniel has also acknowledged persistent disparities in the results. These affect students from regional and remote communities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
For Nixon, the issue is particularly pronounced outside Australia’s major cities, where disadvantage can overlap with difficulties attracting and retaining teachers, limited access to specialist expertise and fewer support services.
Postcode still shapes educational opportunity
“Children growing up outside our major cities do not have less potential. Their communities are rich in talent and resilience. Yet many schools continue to face persistent teacher shortages, high staff turnover, limited access to specialist expertise and fewer support services than their metropolitan counterparts.”
“These challenges are often exacerbated by socioeconomic disadvantage, making it harder for schools to meet increasingly complex student needs. Left unaddressed, they widen gaps in learning, confidence and opportunity.”
Reasons for cautious optimism
The concerns sit alongside some positive movement in the latest NAPLAN figures. Average numeracy scores have improved since 2023 for students in Years 5, 7 and 9, with gains also recorded among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Nixon pointed to those improvements as evidence that disparities are not inevitable, while arguing that addressing them requires more than short-term interventions. She identified that these factors can contribute to improved student outcomes:
- investment in teachers
- stronger school leadership
- locally designed programs
- sustained funding
“The encouraging news is that we are no longer guessing about what works,” Nixon wrote.
“We know that investing in great teachers has one of the greatest impacts on student learning. We know that strengthening school leadership creates lasting change beyond individual classrooms. We know that solutions designed with local communities are more likely to succeed than those imposed from a distance. And we know that sustained, long-term investment delivers far greater impact than short-term funding cycles.”
Beyond government: the role of philanthropy and community
Schools Plus works with education departments, school leaders and teachers on programs covering literacy and numeracy, attendance, career pathways, teacher capability and family engagement.
Nixon highlighted the organisation’s partnership with Westpac and the Westpac Foundation as one example of that approach. The partnership supports literacy and numeracy programs, school leadership development and initiatives designed around the needs of individual communities.
The discussion also comes as Australian governments implement the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, a 10-year funding and reform framework running to 2034. The framework includes measures aimed at students experiencing disadvantage, including those in regional, rural and remote communities.
Nixon argued that closing the gaps identified in NAPLAN would require cooperation beyond government funding alone, involving school communities as well as the philanthropic and business sectors.
“Today’s NAPLAN results should be read as a brief for action. Government cannot close these gaps alone. Nor can philanthropy or business acting in isolation. Lasting change depends on sustained partnerships that combine public investment, community leadership and evidence-informed practice to ensure every child has the opportunity to thrive, regardless of where they live.”
For Nixon, the central issue raised by the results is therefore not a new one, but whether Australia is prepared to act on disparities that NAPLAN has documented over successive years.
“The question is no longer whether we understand the problem. It’s whether we’re prepared to invest in the solutions we already know work.”