Australian Government and State and Territory education ministers agreed to a National Literacy and Numeracy Plan. This plan is focussed on the crucial early years of school. It means that all students will be assessed as early as possible in their first years of schooling by their teachers.
Australian Government and State and Territory Ministers have agreed to support:
- Assessment of all students by their teachers as early as possible in the first years of schooling;
- Early intervention strategies for those students identified as having difficulty;
- The development of agreed national benchmarks for years 3, 5 and 7, against which all children's achievement in these years can be measured;
- The measurement of students' progress against these benchmarks using rigorous state-based assessment procedures;
- National reporting of student achievement against the benchmarks, within the framework of the annual National Report on Schooling in Australia (ANR);
- Professional development for teachers to support the key elements of the Plan.
The National Literacy and Numeracy Plan supports the National Goals for Literacy and Numeracy which is included in the National Goals for Schooling. Australian Government and State and Territory education ministers have agreed to support the national goal that 'every student should be numerate, able to read, write, spell and communicate at an appropriate level'.
The Literacy, Numeracy and Special Learning Needs Programme is the Australian Government’s key targeted programme which contributes towards implementing the National Literacy and Numeracy Plan (NLNP).