The National Catholic Education Commission has welcomed a decision by State education ministers’ to progress implementation of a national numeracy check for Year 1 students and will pilot the implementation of national checks in 2026.
Commission executive director Jacinta Collins said the move was a positive step towards early identification of students’ learning needs and early intervenion to ensure students develop the foundational numeracy skills that will stay with them throughout their schooling.
Critical need drives policy development
The new national checks follow 2024 NAPLAN results that showed one in three Year 3 students lacked proficiency in numeracy, with analysis revealing that four out of five struggling students never achieve proficiency throughout their schooling.
Federal education minister Jason Clare has positioned the 10-minute check as a diagnostic tool rather than an assessment burden. “The 10-minute check is to identify kids that might need additional help; then it’s our job as Ministers with the funding we’re providing to make sure kids get that additional help to help them to catch up and keep up and ultimately meaning more kids finish high school,” Clare said.
States lead implementation efforts
South Australia has emerged as the national leader, becoming the first state to guarantee both literacy and numeracy checks in Year 1, while NSW has extended its numeracy trial to 165 schools with plans for full rollout by 2026.
Catholic schools across Australia already employ various systems for tracking mathematical proficiency, with many institutions piloting numeracy checks for Stage One students. The sector has made particular progress in South Australia and New South Wales through collaboration with state governments and educational authorities.
“Catholic schools across Australia currently adopt a range of systems for early tracking of mathematical proficiency, and many Catholic schools and school systems are currently piloting a numeracy check for Stage One,” Collins explained.
Building educational infrastructure
The Catholic sector has demonstrated commitment to mathematical excellence through the NCEC’s Mastery in Mathematics programme, which provides curriculum resources for Years 7 and 8 mathematics teachers. The programme, expanding to include Year 9 and 10 curricula, has attracted significant interest across all educational sectors.
More than 1,400 schools and 26,768 users from Catholic, government and independent sectors have accessed these freely available resources.
“It’s encouraging to see there is an appetite for quality, evidence-based curriculum resources by teachers,” Collins noted. “The more we can support teachers with data, evidence and quality resources, the better equipped they will be to focus on the needs of individual learners in the classroom.”