House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1) 52 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time National Literacy and Numeracy Tests NATIONAL LITERACY AND NUMERACY TESTS Mr PISONI House of Assembly Unley NATIONAL LITERACY AND NUMERACY TESTS Mr PISONI (Unley) (15:05): My question is for the Minister for Education. Why did South Australian year 3 students go backwards in writing, spelling and numeracy in this year's NAPLAN tests, when nationally we saw significant improvements in those same categories? The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL House of Assembly Cheltenham Minister for Education Minister for Early Childhood Development Minister for Science and Information Economy NATIONAL LITERACY AND NUMERACY TESTS The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Education, Minister for Early Childhood Development, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (15:05): That is a reasonable question, and we are analysing the data to see what can be learnt from it. The truth is that the national system of testing has been in for a relatively short period in international terms. Many countries have longitudinal data which— Mr Pisoni House of Assembly Mr Pisoni: It's the fourth year. The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL House of Assembly The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Yes it is, but it's relatively short in the scheme of things. We will look at the data and see what lessons can be learnt from it. That is the nature of the data, and it's very important that we scrutinise it, and that is what we are choosing to do.