‘Reassuring’: pandemic has not hurt children’s literacy and numeracy levels - from The Guardian

The Covid-19 pandemic appears to have had no significant impact on literacy and numeracy test results at the national, state or territory level, according to high-level Naplan data.

The summary results of this year’s National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy, released on Wednesday, reveal students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 continued to perform on par with students in 2019, despite lockdowns and periods of remote learning through 2020.

The 2021 Naplan tests were conducted in May, before Australia’s Delta outbreak forced schools in New South Wales and Victoria back to remote learning.

The tests did not take place in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, which forced learning online for children of non-essential workers in April and again during Victoria’s second wave lockdown.

Despite longer periods of remote learning, Victorian students maintained their test scores, as did those in all other states and territories.

The only statistically significant change in 2021 compared with 2019 was an improvement in the Northern Territory’s year 7 writing test.

David de Carvalho, the chief executive of the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, said the results “will be welcomed by governments, schools, parents and carers as a first national insight into the educational impact of the pandemic”.

“It’s reassuring to see that overall, our students’ literacy and numeracy standards have not significantly suffered, despite the major disruptions of Covid-19 and remote learning,” he said in a statement.

“However, this does not mean there has been no impact on specific students or demographic groups.”

De Carvalho told Guardian Australia the results were “testimony to the resilience of students, teachers, parents and carers during these challenging times”.

Nevertheless, he said it was “likely” some students had been affected by the pandemic, and Acara hoped to be able to see more insights in the full report later in the year.

Since testing began in 2008 and 2011 for writing, Australian students have significant improved in years 3 and 5 writing, year 5 numeracy, and years 3 and 5 spelling, this year’s results show.

Naplan is transitioning to online delivery, with 70% of the schools delivering the tests online in 2021 – about 870,000 students completed more than 2.9m Naplan tests online.

Concerns remain for kids in lockdown

Experts have suggested the impact of lockdowns on children’s education is unknown, but supervision of home learning has been one of the strains of extended lockdown reported by parents.

Last September, the OECD released a report warning of the possible economic impact of “learning loss” among children unable to attend school due to coronavirus lockdowns worldwide. The report foretold of a 3% reduction in earning capacity for children who endured lockdowns and hits of 1.5% to national GDPs.

Given Covid-19’s impact on more disadvantaged areas and lower rates of internet connection among these households, many fear the “digital divide” will mean lockdowns harm some children’s education more than others.

In April 2020 the Victorian government lent 48,000 laptops and tablets to students and provided 21,000 internet dongles to enable remote learning.

On Tuesday the federal president of the Australian Education Union, Correna Haythorpe, said the union wants “to see schools return to face-to-face learning” but education is “still being delivered” through remote learning.

“Our members are extremely tired, particularly those that are in lockdowns,” Haythorpe told the ABC. “They are facing extra work in terms of managing and delivery of curriculum, but their concern is around student welfare.

“Learning remotely is very different for our students and making sure that our students can engage with their learning and their curriculum and still have that sense of a collegiate space to learn in is very, very important.”

Haythorpe called for teachers to have priority access to Covid-19 vaccinations, and said the AEU believed mandatory vaccinations may be imposed on teachers “in the future”.