Mapping schools' NAPLAN results: a spatial inequality of school outcomes in Australia

Resource type
Journal Article
Authors/contributors
Title
Mapping schools' NAPLAN results: a spatial inequality of school outcomes in Australia
Abstract
This article identifies spatial dimensions of educational outcomes using maps of the 2016 Grade 5 reading results for Australia’s National Assessment Program–Literacy and Numeracy for all Australian schools. A geographical information system (GIS) was used to overlay schools’ results onto suburbs’ advantage or disadvantage to visualise spatial patterns. We then examined the extent to which school results “cluster” in socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged suburbs and considered the consistency of spatial patterns for results across major cities. That work illustrates both how GIS can foreground educational inequality and how “the spatial” is more than corollary for student socio-economic status. Results show substantial differences between urban and remote areas and towns of different size. Maps of cities visualise spatial “clustering” patterns of school results, with most schools in advantaged suburbs having high results and almost no schools in disadvantaged suburbs having high results. Educational outcomes strongly align to local sociodemographic characteristics, and parallel host communities’ levels of advantage or disadvantage. Differences between public and private schools are less significant than within-sector differences for schools in advantaged or disadvantaged locales. Patterns in all cities are consistent—schools in advantaged suburbs predominantly have high results, whereas non-government schools generally perform better than government schools in disadvantaged suburbs. Most concerning is the persistent and increasing trajectory of results in advantaged, and more so in disadvantaged suburbs, of all cities since the first National Assessment Program–Literacy and Numeracy in 2008. Ameliorating spatial inequality between primary schools is one of the greatest challenges for Australians.
Publication
Geographical Research
Volume
57
Issue
2
Pages
133-150
Date
05/2019
Journal Abbr
Geographical Research
Language
en
ISSN
1745-5863, 1745-5871
Short Title
Mapping schools' NAPLAN results
Accessed
07/03/2021, 17:37
Library Catalogue
DOI.org (Crossref)
Citation
Smith, C., Parr, N., & Muhidin, S. (2019). Mapping schools’ NAPLAN results: a spatial inequality of school outcomes in Australia. Geographical Research, 57(2), 133–150. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12317