Victoria's NAPLAN "Lead" Is a Postcode, Not a Policy Win -- Family First Warns Against Complacency
Family First Party
Jane Foreman - Family First Legislative Council Candidate
Key Facts:
KEY FACTS:
·NAPLAN 2026 national results show nearly 30 per cent of students “not achieving the learning outcomes that are expected” or “working towards expectations” in numeracy, reading, writing and spelling, and more than 40 per cent missed the grammar benchmark (The Age, 5 August 2026)
·Victorian students scored above the national average in every discipline for a second consecutive year and led the country in writing and numeracy
·CIS education researcher Trisha Jha said Victoria’s results reflect a “geographical advantage”, noting the state has no remote or very remote communities unlike other states
·In reading, 23.1 per cent of students from very remote schools were rated “strong” or “exceeding”, compared to 70 per cent of students from major city schools; the numeracy gap was almost identical
·National reading and writing scores fell across all year levels compared to 2025, with the share of students rated “needs additional support” in reading rising to 10.2 per cent, up from 9.3 per cent
·Sunshine Primary School lifted Year 5 reading and numeracy results after introducing phonics in 2019, years ahead of Victoria’s mandate — evidence, Family First says, that explicit teaching, not geography, is what actually improves outcomes
·Family First’s education policy calls for a back-to-basics curriculum built on phonics, explicit teaching and foundational literacy and numeracy: familyfirstparty.org.au/education_policy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7 August 2026
Victoria’s NAPLAN “Lead” Is a Postcode, Not a Policy Win — Family First Warns Against Complacency
Family First’s Jane Foreman says The Age’s report on the 2026 NAPLAN results (5 August) risks Victorians mistaking a geographical head start for a genuine education success story, even as the same data confirms almost one in three Australian students are still failing to meet basic literacy and numeracy standards.
Ms Foreman says The Age’s coverage confirms Victorian students scored above the national average in every discipline for a second consecutive year and led the country in writing and numeracy, but the same results show nearly 30 per cent of the 1.2 million children tested nationwide were “not achieving the learning outcomes that are expected” or “working towards expectations” in numeracy, reading, writing and spelling, with more than 40 per cent falling short of the grammar benchmark. Family First says Victoria’s result should be read as a head start, not proof its classrooms are delivering for every child.
“Victoria doesn’t have a literacy and numeracy secret, it has a map,” said Mrs Foreman. “The Age’s own expert says our state’s NAPLAN lead comes down to having no remote or very remote communities, not policy genius in Spring Street. That is not something to boast about — it is a warning that our results would look very different if we were judged on more than a geographical advantage other states simply don’t have.”
The Centre for Independent Studies’ Trisha Jha told The Age Victoria had a “geographical advantage” that regularly lifts its results above other states, given it has no remote or very remote communities, while national data shows students in very remote schools were rated “strong” or “exceeding” in reading and numeracy at less than a third the rate of students in major cities. Family First says that gap, not Victoria’s ranking, is the real story of this year’s NAPLAN — and one governments of every stripe have let fester for years.
Ms Foreman says the results also show Victoria’s genuine wins, such as Sunshine Primary School lifting Year 5 reading and numeracy after introducing phonics in 2019, years before it was mandated, prove what actually moves the needle is explicit, evidence-based teaching, not geography or slogans about “the reading wars” being over.
“If we want every Victorian child reading and adding up regardless of their postcode, we don’t need more press releases declaring victory, we need every school doing what works: structured phonics, explicit teaching and honest reporting on how far we still have to go,” said Mrs Foreman. “Almost a third of Australian kids are still not meeting basic standards. Beating Tasmania or the Northern Territory is not a victory lap, it’s the bare minimum. Family First will keep asking the question no one else will: are we teaching the basics well, or just grading on a curve because we got lucky with our map?”
Family First is calling on the Victorian government to resist complacency on this week’s results and instead double down on explicit, evidence-based teaching and foundational literacy and numeracy in every classroom, urban and remote alike, consistent with Family First’s education policy platform. It’s exactly why Victoria needs Family First in the Legislative Council after November — to be the one voice in Parliament refusing to let a good postcode substitute for a good education.
— ENDS —
About us:
About Family First
Family First exists to restore Australia by restoring the primacy of the family in public policy. This will be achieved through a grass roots political party which raises courageous voices in our nation’s parliaments. More details are available on our website: https://www.familyfirstparty.org.au/
