In an effort to continue improving teacher education, registrations have now opened for the new National Literacy and Numeracy Test.
Announced by the Minister for Education and Training, Simon Birmingham, the news arrives in conjunction with the appointment of an administrator for the test, the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).
Minister Birmingham said the initiative has been designed to test student teachers “so we can have even better teachers in Australia’s classrooms”.
“Students graduating from teaching courses need to be able to cope with the demands of teaching and set good examples for their students. I’m sure Australian parents will agree that requires strong literacy and numeracy skills.”
According to Minister Birmingham, of the students who sat the pilot test in 2015, 92 per cent passed the literacy component and 90 per cent passed the numeracy component.
As of July 1 this year, all initial teacher education students will be required to pass the new National Literacy and Numeracy Test prior to graduating. The government has announced that the test shall be delivered ‘flexibly’ via physical testing centres or in an online format.
Early access for student teachers due to complete their courses this year will be provided in May.
“ACER has extensive international and national experience in test development and delivery and I have every confidence that they will fairly and effectively administer the National Literacy and Numeracy Test for teaching students.”
