What we know about the literacy and numeracy skills of graduating teachers

The 2025 news headlines concerning NAPLAN data provoked alarm about the literacy and numeracy skills of Australian students, for example, “Code Red” and “Worrying trend”. Despite the alarming headlines, the 2025 results have remained consistent with those of previous years, in which one-third of school students did not meet the national expectations.

In 2011, similar concerns about Australian students’ literacy and numeracy skills prompted the Education Ministers to focus on lifting student outcomes. They did this by concentrating on the quality of teachers’ literacy and numeracy skills as a way of improving educational practice.