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NAPLAN Tutoring

A guide published by Dotto

NAPLAN and tutoring, from ACARA’s own pages

NAPLAN Tutoring is a guide to NAPLAN and the tutoring around it, written and published by Dotto from ACARA’s pages and the states’ Working with Children Check pages.

Start here

ACARA, which develops NAPLAN, says students are not expected to study for it, and that it “does not recommend excessive preparation for NAPLAN or the use of services by coaching providers.”

Everything else on this site starts from that line. The guides explain the tests, the reports and the rules around them, as ACARA and the states publish them.

NAPLAN on one page

Who
Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, every year. ACARA calls it the only national assessment all Australian students have the opportunity to undertake.
What
Writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy, all drawn from the Australian Curriculum: English and Mathematics.
When
March, since 2023. For 2027, ACARA’s key dates give 10 to 22 March.
How
Online and tailored to each student’s answers, except Year 3 writing, which is still done on paper.
Results
Not a pass or a fail: four proficiency levels, from Exceeding to Needs additional support.
Its place
One part of a school’s assessment and reporting, which does not replace teachers’ ongoing assessment.
Close-up of the eraser ends of two red pencils lying on ruled paper with a hole punched in it
Two pencils on ruled paper. Photo by stevepb on Pixabay.

Three short answers

Can a student fail NAPLAN?

No. ACARA’s answer is that NAPLAN is not that kind of test, and students should simply try their best.

Are there past papers to practise on?

ACARA does not provide past NAPLAN tests after 2016, and does not publish answers to recent ones. Its public demonstration site shows the kinds of questions instead.

How do results reach a family?

Individual results are strictly confidential. Reports go from each state’s test administration authority to the school, which passes them to parents and carers.

The five guides

  1. What NAPLAN tests, and whenThe four tests, the year levels, and how the nine days of the March window are used.
  2. Reading a NAPLAN reportThe four proficiency levels, the scales behind them, and getting a copy.
  3. Adjustments for students with disabilityScribes, support people, extra time, special print and braille, and formal exemptions.
  4. What ACARA says about preparing for NAPLANIts own words on study and coaching, and what is closed to everyone.
  5. Working with Children Checks for tutorsFive states’ checks, who needs one, and how a parent confirms one in three of them.

Anyone who teaches children privately

State by state

Where a family does arrange private teaching, the five states covered in the guide below each have screening rules for the person doing it. Queensland, for one, requires a blue card for a paid role that includes tutoring children on a commercial basis. NSW’s Office of the Children’s Guardian asks parents and carers to verify a self-employed worker’s check number before they start. In Victoria, a registered teacher who does child-related work other than teaching in a school or early childhood service must notify the state’s check agency within 21 days of starting that work. The guide to Working with Children Checks for tutors covers five states.

Where the facts come from

The NAPLAN pages draw on ACARA’s National Assessment Program website and ACARA’s own site, which publish their material under an open licence. The check pages draw on each state’s screening agency. Every page lists its sources at the foot, with the date they were checked.