Australia’s latest NAPLAN results reveal a familiar story. Around one-third of students are not meeting expected literacy and numeracy standards. Around two-thirds of students met proficiency expectations in literacy and numeracy, while significant achievement gaps persisted between metropolitan and regional schools, students from higher and lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and First Nations and non-Indigenous students (ACARA, 2025). There was little in the data that policymakers did not already know. For almost two decades, NAPLAN has consistently highlighted the same structural inequalities across Australia’s education system.