Student learning outcomes & attendance falling, State Labor fails to answer why

Victorian students’ learning outcomes continue to fall under the Andrews Labor Government at the same time as their school attendance declines.

It has also been revealed this week that the setback from remote learning is worse than expected for NSW students, with check-in assessments revealing students had fallen three to four months behind in reading and numeracy. 

In PAEC this week, the Minister for Education failed to explain why learning outcomes, as measured by the Department’s own NAPLAN targets, aren’t improving across the board. Instead, the minister danced around the question and would not guarantee that funding made available through record borrowing would improve student results.

The percentage of students above the bottom three bands in reading in Years 3 and 5 has gone backwards and the Department’s targets are far from being met.

Elsewhere, students at both primary and secondary school are missing more and more school days – meaning fewer opportunities to learn.

Year 5 students on average are missing 16.4 days of school and Year 6 students 17.3. That is more than three school weeks missed each year. 

At the secondary level, many students in Years 7-10 miss more than four weeks at school.

It comes as Parliament’s Public Accounts and Estimates Committee heard last week that attendance rates for Aboriginal students at a primary level has deteriorated every year under the Andrews Labor Government.

For Aboriginal students, average days lost at the primary level amounted to over five school weeks, exceeding the government’s target of 24 missed school days. Results for Aboriginal primary school students in literacy and numeracy are also trending backwards, with the biggest drop in reading at Year 3.

At the secondary level, Aboriginal students are missing the equivalent of over seven weeks (37.8 days), compared to 21.3 days (Years 7 to 10) and 17.3 (Years 11 and 12) for secondary students overall.