Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Fawcett for his question and his interest in student performance around Australia. Last week, the latest NAPLAN results were released in relation to NAPLAN testing in 2017. They really did demonstrate a mixed bag of results. Around the country, we saw, for year-on-year results, marginal gains in relation to reading and numeracy skills, but a marginal decline in writing skills. In our home state of South Australia, Senator Fawcett, we did see longer term trends that showed, in particular, improvements, as across the nation, in relation to the areas of reading and numeracy but particular declines in relation to writing skills.

Overall, I'm sorry to say, across all measures in relation to the year-on-year results, our home state was the worst or second worst performing state in 16 out of the 20 different categories. Alarmingly, for the most significant negative shift, there was a five per cent decline in year 3 writing skills, which shows a significant impact and a concern in relation to future results. This, as Senator Fawcett and other senators would be well aware, comes on the back of 15 years of state Labor policies in South Australia, which are clearly failing hardworking teachers and principals, parents and students in terms of the outcomes that South Australia needs. South Australia clearly needs to look at some of the other states that have shown more positive results. In New South Wales, there were positive gains in all categories; Western Australia has seen a strong gain over a long period of time. These are instances and demonstrations that policies in states can make a difference. What we must do is identify how the record funding to Australian schools is used most effectively and ensure it's being replicated right across— (Time expired)