- Minister for Education
The 2018 NAPLAN results published today demonstrate the importance of the Morrison Government’s plan for education in Australia.
Minister for Education Dan Tehan has welcomed news the performance of Australian students in Years 5 and 9 numeracy, Years 3 and 5 reading, Years 3 and 5 spelling, and Years 3 and 7 grammar was significantly above the NAPLAN 2008 average, with significant cumulative gains in some domains and year levels for Indigenous students since 2008.
"Our Government is providing record funding to state schools, to Catholic schools and to Independent schools and our National School Reform Agreement commits the Federal Government and the states and territories to deliver the Gonski reforms that will improve results for all students," Mr Tehan said.
"The decline in writing skills in years 5, 7 and 9 since 2011 is concerning. In this year’s Budget we provided a further $9.5 million to deliver new online courses and resources for the teaching of mathematics and phonics because literacy and numeracy are the foundational skills of an education.
"We are working to ensure that every Australian child, no matter where they live, has access to a world-class education. The Morrison Government’s investment in education is a very real dividend from a strong economy, and it comes without increasing taxes.
"There has been fantastic improvement in the results of Indigenous students but more needs to be done to close the gap, that is why the Morrison Government is making Indigenous education a focus of its efforts."
In February our Government announced it will:
- remove all or part of the HELP debt for 3,100 teachers who work and stay working in very remote areas;
- provide an extra $200 million for Indigenous students to get the support and mentoring they need through their secondary studies;
- work with local communities and schools to invest $5 million on projects that support and promote school attendance in remote and very remote areas.