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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-11-13 Daily Xml
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NAPLAN results

In reply to the Hon. S.L. GAME ().17 September 2025).

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Autism): I have been advised:

The state government is making record investments in the education outcomes of students in public schools. At the beginning of 2025, the government signed a new agreement with the federal government to fully fund public schools—which will improve educational outcomes for all students, including boys.

While there is more work to do to lift the performance of all students, South Australia this year achieved its best ever NAPLAN results since testing began, which I am sure you will agree we should all be proud of.

Across Australia and a wide range of other countries there is a common pattern where, on average, female students slightly outperform their male counterparts in aspects of literacy, and male students slightly outperform females in numeracy.

This was evident in the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results which provide an international comparison of 15 year olds, where boys outperformed girls in mathematics, but girls surpassed boys in reading on average across OECD countries.

This was also reflected in the 2025 NAPLAN results for South Australian students, where boys outperformed girls in numeracy across all four year levels based on the mean scores (year 3 by 13 points, year 5 by 21 points, year 7 by 17 points and year 9 by 14 points).

It is important to point out that there is minimal gender difference in the 2024 phonics results—showing the importance of early intervention to ensure students of both genders achieve positive results. A new numeracy check will be introduced for all year 1 students in 2026.

The department's efforts to improve results is undertaken with a commitment that there needs to be a focus on the performance of boys in particular areas, just as there needs to be a focus on improving the outcomes of girls in other areas.

This is why initiatives such as increasing the number of male primary school teachers through a $2 million investment in teaching scholarships has been rolled out through the Department of State Development.

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