One Third of Australian Students Fail NAPLAN Benchmarks

NAPLAN 2025 results show that roughly one-third of Australian students in years 3, 5, 7, and 9 are not meeting national benchmarks in reading, spelling, writing, and numeracy, though numeracy is the only subject with consistent improvement. Around 10% of students require significant additional support, while another 20% are classified as 'developing' and risk falling further behind. The overall performance remains broadly stable compared to previous years, but major disparities continue, especially among students from disadvantaged, regional, remote, and Indigenous backgrounds. Parental education remains a strong predictor of student success, with children of university-educated parents more likely to excel. Positive trends include improved numeracy results and more high-achieving Indigenous students in upper years. Experts call for urgent early intervention and strategic teacher training to address persistent gaps.