ACARA Update

July 2025

NAPLAN student results are available from the start of Term 3

NAPLAN student results are available from the start of Term 3
Parents and carers of students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 who took this year’s NAPLAN assessment in March will receive an individual student report (ISR) of their child’s results from their school from the start of Term 3.

Specific timing will be determined by the relevant state or territory test administration authority.

These reports provide useful information on a student’s results in reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

NAPLAN ISRs are reported against proficiency standards. The standards are set at a challenging but reasonable expectation of what students know and can do at the time of testing.

Along with other school assessment reports, parents and carers can use the NAPLAN ISRs to discuss their child’s progress with their teacher.

Find out more about the NAPLAN ISRs.

Read our handy parent and carer brochure about the ISRs (PDF 256 KB), and watch our video explaining how to read your child's ISR.

New information about policies and priorities in education in Australia released

New information on policies and priorities in education has been released by ACARA as part of the National Report on Schooling in Australia 2024.

The Policies and priorities chapter details the activities undertaken by the Australian, state and territory governments, and the Catholic and independent school sectors to improve education outcomes in Australia.

Some of the highlights for 2024 include:  

  • the advancement of universal early childhood education, with a $1 billion fund for new centres and a guarantee of 3 days of subsidised care from 2026
  • progression of the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan, with targeted measures to strengthen and sustain the teaching profession
  • commitment to culturally responsive, community-led approaches to improving outcomes for First Nations students
  • a focus on inclusion through continued funding for the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) Continuous Quality Improvement Measure. 

ACARA progressively releases chapters of the annual National Report on Schooling in Australia as the data becomes available, which provides more timely commentary on progress against nationally agreed policy initiatives by Australia’s school education sector. 

Find out more about this release.

Access the National Report on Schooling data portal. 

The next release in December 2025 will focus on Vocational Education and Training, and Student attainment. The complete National Report will be released in February 2026.

STEM resource

We know how important it is to equip young Australians with the skills they need to solve real-world problems and thrive in a rapidly changing world. That’s why we’ve recently released a new STEM Connections resource to support schools to deliver integrated learning aligned to the Australian Curriculum.

The resource is a useful guide for teachers to design and implement STEM units that connect science, technologies, mathematics and other learning areas. It includes sample units, planning templates and examples of student work to help educators foster inquiry-based learning and real-world problem solving.

Explore the resource: STEM Connections | Australian Curriculum