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Education Minister Martin Dixon welcomed the final NAPLAN National Report for 2011, saying Victorian students in year 3, 5, 7 and 9 had performed at or above students in other states and territories in most areas.

Victoria’s report card for 2011 showed girls did better than boys in literacy, boys did better than girls in numeracy, years 3 and 5 students out-performed Australia as a whole and metropolitan students did better than their counterparts in regional Victoria.

“This report shows us the Victorian education system is performing well compared to other Australian states and territories and that is to be acknowledged and celebrated,” Mr Dixon said.

“But it is also vital we use these reports to identify areas where we need to improve even more to ensure Victoria is comparable with the very best education systems in the world, not just the best in Australia, and that is what the Victorian Coalition Government is intent on doing.”

Mr Dixon said since coming to office the Coalition Government had introduced many initiatives to improve students’ performance including:

• $24.3 million to recruit an extra 100 maths and science specialists who will work with teachers in primary schools to build their maths and science teaching skills,
   
• 100 scholarships to encourage university science graduates into teaching,
   
• the first International Baccalaureate in a government school with a plan for a new Victorian Baccalaureate, and
   
• grants for schools to run specialised programs.

Other initiatives to support students’ learning include a $124.4 million funding boost to provide an additional 150 welfare officers in primary schools and support the existing 256 welfare officers, and a $14.5 million package to combat bullying and cyber-bullying.

The final NAPLAN report also shows:

• Students of parents with higher levels of education or in occupations associated with higher levels of education did better;
   
• Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students were ahead of Australia as a whole in every domain and year level – except in year 7 and year 9 spelling for both male and female students and year 7 writing for male students;
   
• The percentages of female students in Victoria achieving at or above the national minimum standard in all areas of NAPLAN testing was higher than the percentages of female students in Australia;
   
• NAPLAN results for Victorian students in 2011 were similar to 2010. However the 2011 results were lower for year 7 reading and spelling (male and female students) and year 9 grammar and punctuation results for female students were lower;
   
• Results for year 9 reading for Victorian Indigenous students improved from 2010 to 2011;
   
• Victorian students from a language background other than English scored higher than their classmates in writing and spelling across the year levels and in year 9 numeracy. However they were lower than non-LBOTE students in reading across all year levels, year 3 numeracy and year 7 grammar and punctuation.