Victoria records weaker school results

Victorian students have outperformed most other Australian children in national literacy and numeracy tests but have recorded weaker results than last year.

Victorian students performed strongest in four of 20 tests while ACT children came first in 15 of those measures, May's National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) report shows.

Last year Victorian students were strongest in six of the measures benchmarking pupils in years three, five, seven and nine.

This year, results for Victorian children have fallen or remained static in 12 of 20 measures with year nine students the biggest offenders.

Year nines were weaker in reading, writing, spelling and numeracy - but still above the national average - and stronger in grammar and punctuation.

This year's results are higher than 2008's - NAPLAN'S first year - in 12 of 20 measures.

The Victorian Opposition has attacked the government over the results, saying the state has gone "backwards" in some areas.

Victorian Education Minister Bronwyn Pike insisted the trend was "upwards".

"Victoria is above the national average on all 20 of the indicators," Ms Pike told reporters.

"For all levels - that's years three, five, seven and nine - we rank alongside NSW and the ACT as the highest performing jurisdictions and in some measures we're a bit higher, and in others we're a bit lower but we're well above the national average and we're amongst the best in everything.

"We are trending upwards, in some areas it's a little bit down, others it's a little bit up but overall the trend is going in the right direction."

This year, Victorian students in years three, five and seven achieved their strongest results in reading skills in the three years the NAPLAN tests have been held.

Victorian students performed best in the country in year five spelling (equal with NSW), grammar and punctuation and numeracy and year nine writing (second consecutive year).

"The improvement in reading I think is really exciting because it is the absolute core of learning," Ms Pike told reporters.

"If a kid can't read it's incredibly hard for them to be able to do maths, or obviously write or spell properly. That big investment in reading is really paying off and I'm really excited about the jump there."

The tests have been plagued by problems, including allegations of cheating and teachers threatening to boycott supervision, claiming the results would be used to discriminate against schools through simplistic league tables.

Ms Pike said there was no evidence of cheating and it was in the interests of teachers and schools to know what the truth was so they could help students improve.

"These tests don't decide whether someone goes to university or whether they get a job, they help teachers know what they need to do to modify their teaching so that kids can improve," she said.

Victorian Opposition education spokesman Martin Dixon said the state had the equal lowest participation rates in the tests and accused the government and schools of discouraging poorly performing students from participating.

"We're not even getting the true picture of what Victorian students are actually achieving or not achieving," Mr Dixon told reporters.

"There is ample evidence pressure is being put on schools by government officials for students not to come along if they are going to actually affect the results of that school and the state in a negative way.

"Students haven't been improving, they're not the best in the country in every single category and they're not improving in every single category, so that's a fail."