WA's NAPLAN results trigger 'concern' for year 3s

Western Australia's latest NAPLAN results reveal a concerning trend for younger students, particularly in numeracy, while older students demonstrate strong performance.

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For me, the real value in whether we are actually having great outcomes in our educational system is the growth that you bring to each and every child, whether it's from term to term, from year to year.

Nearly 40 percent of Year 3 students in Western Australia are struggling with numeracy, placing them in the bottom two performance tiers. This mirrors a broader pattern where Year 3 and Year 5 students across the state ranked below the national average in most assessed categories, including writing, spelling, reading, and grammar and punctuation.

In contrast, Year 9 students in Western Australia emerged as the state's top performers, exceeding the national average in every category. This significant achievement has been a point of focus for the state's Education Minister, Sabine Winton.

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It is clear our education system is working well to add to that growth, and it's working particularly well when you consider our year 9 results.

Despite the disparities, some improvements were noted. Year 5 students showed a slight increase in grammar and punctuation scores, and Year 7 numeracy also saw a modest rise. However, Year 3 writing experienced the largest decline, dropping 1.7 percent from the previous year.

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It really does, I think, reflect what I hear anecdotally from my mates in terms of more children with development delays, the more complex needs coming into our school system.

Minister Winton described the Year 9 results as "encouraging" and emphasized the importance of student growth throughout their schooling. She acknowledged the "most concern" surrounding Year 3 numeracy, linking it to an increase in students with developmental delays and complex needs entering the school system. Opposition education spokesperson Liam Staltari echoed these concerns, warning that neglecting early years support could lead to long-term academic struggles and called for improved student-to-teacher ratios and measures to combat teacher burnout.

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If I were the parent of an eight- or a nine-year-old, I would be concerned, because if we don't support our kids in those critical early years, we know that they fall behind later in schooling.