That’s the headline from the 2026 NAPLAN results, released by ACARA last month, and the results highlight significant and persistent disparities across Australia.

In remote areas, more than half of Year 3 students are below proficiency in reading and numeracy. In very remote areas, this rises to more than three in four. For Indigenous Year 3 students, three in five are below proficiency in reading.

Research also shows how important the early years are. Students experiencing difficulties with literacy in the first years of school are more likely to continue experiencing them in later years.

This is why early intervention matters. When children have access to strong language and literacy foundations early, we can create more opportunities for them to learn, communicate and participate with confidence.

At ALNF, we work alongside communities to strengthen language, literacy and communication skills through innovative, evidence-based programs that respond to local strengths, priorities and needs.

The data is sobering, but it also reinforces why this work matters. We believe literacy is freedom: the freedom to access education, participate in society, express ideas and have a voice.

By investing early and working in partnership with communities, we can help build strong foundations for learning and opportunity.

*Source: Education Today, “Making Sense of the 2026 Aggregated NAPLAN Data” (Serry & Monteleone) (Linked: https://www.educationtoday.com.au/news-detail/Making-Sense-of-the–6856 )

In Book Week 2026 the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation (ALNF) celebrates all the wonderful authors, librarians, parents, carers, speech pathologists, teachers, early childhood educators … everyone who is bringing literacy to life for our children.

Anne Hollonds AO, Chief Executive, said: ‘This year, Book Week comes shortly after concerning results from the NAPLAN tests landed in the media, showing serious declines in the literacy skills of children across Australia. There is much more work needed from governments across the federation to build strong scaffolding for literacy and language education.

Literacy is a core human capability that opens up the world for children. Far too many children living with disadvantage are missing out, including many vulnerable children who end up in out-of-home care and incarcerated in youth detention centres. 

These are children whose families live with poverty, discrimination, and educational exclusion. These children need extra help with literacy education because schools are often under-resourced and unable to provide the intensive literacy support that children need in order to thrive and to feel they belong at school.

Education, including for literacy, is a human right for all children. Despite Australia being a rich and developed country, we are still failing to address the unmet needs of our youngest and most vulnerable citizens.’

ALNF is proud to share that the Living First Language Platform (LFLP) has been featured in the 2025 Social Justice Report, A Fair and Just Future for First Peoples, released in late June 2026 by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Katie Kiss.

The first Social Justice Report handed down by Commissioner Kiss since her appointment in April 2024, sets out a vision for a future where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can fully exercise their cultural, social, political, civil and economic rights-underpinned by systems that uphold self-determination, dignity and equality.

Where ALNF’s LFLP fits in:

The LFLP is featured in the report’s section on Rebuilding connection to Country, to each other and to community, within a broader discussion of language revitalisation-work the report identifies as fundamental to healing, identity and self-determination for First Peoples.

The report describes LFLP as using innovative technology to support those with limited digital literacy, through collaboration and integration. It is described as easily scaled to other communities and languages and promotes the safety and security of community language components added to the platform.

The LFLP is an interactive app built specifically for the realities of community life with both online and offline access, and the flexibility to run on any device. Communities can add their own language components, from words and sounds to photos and games, in a way that is secure and entirely their own.

The platform is already at work across the country, supporting onsite Elder and youth camps and strengthening the teaching and learning of language in both school and community settings.

Part of a national movement:

The LFLP appears in the report alongside other significant language revitalisation efforts including the Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-operative’s work reviving Gumbaynggirr and other regional languages on the NSW mid-north coast, and the palawa kani language project, through which the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre has reconstructed a Tasmanian Aboriginal language from historical fragments and records.

These programs show what’s possible when technology, community leadership and cultural knowledge come together, and why sustained investment in language revitalisation matters. As the report makes clear, language is inseparable from identity, healing and connection to Country.

Why this matters:

Being named in a report of this significance is a meaningful acknowledgement of the work the program’s stakeholders have put in to build a platform that genuinely serves the needs of First Language speakers. It’s a reminder of why this work is necessary, and evidence that it’s working.

Learn more about the Living First Language Platform.

View the full report here.