NAPLAN testing for 1.3 million Australian school students has resumed following technical problems that saw schools across the country unable to access the digital test.
“NAPLAN testing has now resumed following a widespread issue earlier this morning, which affected students being able to log on to the online platform to complete their assessments,” an ACARA spokesperson said.
“We apologise for the disruption to students and schools, and thank them for their patience. The issue has now been resolved, and schools have been informed they can resume testing.”
NAPLAN is an annual test of literacy and numeracy for students in years 3,5,7 and 9.
It is run by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) which says it will continue to monitor testing for further issues.
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“We continue to monitor the platform to ensure students are able to complete their assessments without further issues,”
the spokesperson said.
Earlier today testing was paused after technology problems with the online assessment.
In a statement to ABC News earlier this morning ACARA said schools had “been advised to pause testing”.
“We are aware of a widespread issue affecting students being able to log on to the online platform to complete their NAPLAN assessments,” the ACARA statement read.
“This issue is being urgently investigated by our technology provider, Education Services Australia, who run the platform.”
Year 3 students who sit paper versions of the test have continued testing as normal.
Victorian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (VCAA) CEO Andrew Smith said students would not gain an unfair advantage by sitting the test later.
“The prompts that are used for writing are protected in a way and allocated in a way that means there’s no advantage to having done the test earlier than others,”
he said.
“The way the online platform works is that any student who has been testing, if they have had to pause their testing, when they resume testing they will be able to pick up exactly where they left off this morning.”
The ABC understands ACARA is working to minimise the impact on schools and students.
The VCAA said schools had well established protocols for dealing with disruptions like today.
‘A nightmare’
School communities on social media described the technology failures as a “nightmare”.
On the Australian Teachers subreddit, teachers said the test was working for five minutes this morning before failing nationwide.
NAPLAN testing moved online in 2022 to speed up the time it takes for parents to get results back.
Further reforms agreed to by education ministers, and introduced in 2023, moved the date of testing forward from May to March.
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The earlier start time was designed to allow schools and teachers to intervene earlier with students who may be struggling with literacy and numeracy.
In a statement today, before the tests were paused, Education Minister Jason Clare said the earlier online testing meant NAPLAN was more valuable.
“We’ve made the most sweeping reforms to NAPLAN since it started in 2008. The turnaround time in NAPLAN results is faster than ever. What used to take months is now back in teachers’ hands within weeks,” Mr Clare said.
“This helps us identify kids earlier who may be struggling and help give them the support they need.
“NAPLAN results also provide valuable data to inform national reform. The 2025 NAPLAN results showed encouraging signs, but there is more work to do.”
Education academics have argued NAPLAN causes unnecessary stress for children and school communities.
Teacher’s unions are also opposed and are particularly concerned that some media use NAPLAN data to create league tables ranking schools.
Those media outlets defend the publication of league tables as being of interest to parents.
National NAPLAN results are usually released in July with individual school results updated on the myschool website in December.
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