NAPLAN Results Expose Learning Gaps

More than one in 10 Victorian students require additional support in some key literacy and numeracy skills, according to the latest NAPLAN results.

The 2026 data shows grammar and punctuation remains the state’s biggest area of concern, with students across every tested year level recording double-digit proportions in the “Needs additional support” category.

In Year 3, 11.7 per cent of students required additional support in grammar and punctuation. That figure was 9.0 per cent in Year 5, before increasing to 12.7 per cent in Year 7 and 13.0 per cent in Year 9.

Reading also remained a challenge for many students, with around seven to eight per cent of Victorian students across all year levels requiring additional support.

Writing produced Victoria’s strongest literacy results, with just 3.6 per cent of Year 3 students falling into the lowest proficiency category. However, the proportion increased through the year levels to 6.0 per cent in Year 5, 7.7 per cent in Year 7 and 8.8 per cent in Year 9.

In numeracy, between 5.2 per cent and 8.3 per cent of Victorian students required additional support, while spelling ranged between 4.6 per cent and 7.7 per cent.

Despite these figures, most Victorian students continued to achieve the expected standard. Across every subject and year level, at least 84 per cent of students reached the Developing, Strong or Exceeding proficiency levels.

Victoria also remained among Australia’s strongest-performing states across the five NAPLAN assessment domains.

More than one million students across Australia sat NAPLAN in March, with students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 assessed in reading, writing, numeracy, spelling, and grammar and punctuation.

Nationally, grammar and punctuation also recorded the highest proportion of students needing additional support across every year level.