Overview
Cultural safety and connection to culture is a critical foundation that supports Aboriginal children to be confident learners and makes schools more inclusive of Aboriginal students and their aspirations.
Measures under Goal 5 have improved
More Aboriginal students from years 4 to 12 feel connected to their schools. Aboriginal students also report less bullying and more schools have undertaken community understanding and safety training.
NAPLAN results for Aboriginal students have also generally increased across reading and numeracy in the past year.
Closing the Gap – Relevant Outcomes and Targets for Goal 5
The National Agreement does not contain outcomes and targets that align with this VAAF goal. Victoria is pursuing more ambitious and comprehensive goals under the VAAF, which are reported on in this chapter and the Data Dashboard.
Closing the Gap - How Victoria is tracking nationally
Not applicable.
Data Note
The following measure relies on datasets that are infrequently collected. No new data was available at the time of reporting.
- Measure 5.2.6 Number of schools teaching Aboriginal language
Historical data for this measure is available on the First Peoples – State Relations website
5.1 Bring Aboriginal achievement at school in line with learners’ aspirations
Measure 5.1.1 Percentage of students scoring strong or exceeding– Reading and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9
What does the data say?
Reading
In 2025, 47.2 per cent of Year 3, 55.6 per cent of Year 5, 44.7 per cent of Year 7 and 41.6 per cent of Year 9 Aboriginal students achieved strong or exceeding on their NAPLAN results.
Numeracy
In 2025, 44.3 per cent of Year 3, 45.0 per cent of Year 5, 40.3 per cent of Year 7 and 36.2 per cent of Year 9 Aboriginal students achieved strong or exceeding on their NAPLAN results.
Does the data show improvement or decline?
Reading
Year 3 is the sole year level Aboriginal students recorded a decline in the strong or exceeding category since 2024, with a decrease of 1.5 percentage points. For all other year levels, there were improvements. Year 5 improved by 5.0 percentage points, Year 7 improved by 2.1 percentage points and Year 9 improved by 4.9 percentage points. All year levels reported improved reading results since the new proficiency standards were introduced for the NAPLAN in 2023.
Numeracy
Aboriginal children at all year levels reported improved results since 2024. Year 3 improved by 1.6 percentage points, Year 5 improved by 4.0 percentage points, Year 7 improved by 2.9 percentage points and Year 9 improved by 3.0 percentage points. All year levels reported improved numeracy results since the 2023 NAPLAN.
How does this compare with non-Aboriginal results?
Reading
The proportion of non-Aboriginal students achieving strong or exceeding reading results was nearly double that of their Aboriginal peers in 2025. For non-Aboriginal students, 72.1 per cent of Year 3, 78.1 per cent of Year 5, 74.7 per cent of Year 7, and 69.7 per cent of Year 9 achieved strong or exceeding.
Numeracy
Again, the proportion of non-Aboriginal students achieving strong or exceeding results was nearly double that of their Aboriginal peers in 2025. For non-Aboriginal students, 70.6 per cent of Year 3, 74.2 per cent of Year 5, 73.5 per cent of Year 7, and 69.7 per cent of Year 9 achieved strong or exceeding.
5.2 Increase the proportion of Aboriginal students who feel safe and connected at school
Measure 5.2.1 Proportion of students who feel connected to their school
What does the data say?
In 2025, 74.0 per cent of Aboriginal students in Years 4 to 6, 45.8 per cent in Years 7 to 9, and 44.3 per cent in Years 10 to 12 felt connected to their school. Taken together, this means that 58.2 per cent of Aboriginal students in Years 4 to 12 felt connected to their school.
Does the data show improvement or decline?
The proportion of Aboriginal students across all year levels who felt connected to their school remained consistent or increased in 2025 compared with 2024. Years 4 to 6 increased 0.8 percentage points, Years 7 to 9 increased 3.4 percentage points and Years 10 to 12 increased 2.2 percentage points. The average increase for all years (4 to 12) was 1.6 percentage points.
Aboriginal students felt less connected to their school in 2025 than they did in 2017. In 2017, 62.6 per cent of Years 4 to 12 felt connected to their school, compared with 58.2 per cent in 2025.
How does this compare with non-Aboriginal results?
In 2025, 77.1 per cent of Years 4 to 6, 50.6 per cent of Years 7 to 9, and 49.5 per cent of Years 10 to 12 for all students felt connected to their school. This is higher in each year level than for Aboriginal students.
Measure 5.2.2 Student attendance rates in government schools
What does the data say?
In 2025, Aboriginal students attended Victorian government schools at the following rates: 84.2 per cent in Year 1; 83.9 per cent in Year 2; 84.1 per cent in Year 3; 83.3 per cent in Year 4; 83.2 per cent in Year 5; 81.6 per cent in Year 6; 77.3 per cent in Year 7; 72.5 per cent in Year 8; 69.5 per cent in Year 9; and 70.4 per cent in Year 10.
Does the data show improvement or decline?
In 2025, attendance rates for Aboriginal students improved in two year levels compared with 2024: Year 8 increased by 2.8 percentage points and Year 10 increased by 1.9 percentage points. Year 4 was the only year level to record a decline, with attendance falling by 1.2 percentage points. Changes in all other year levels were less than one percentage point.
Aboriginal students attended school less in 2025 than they did 10 years ago.
In 2016, Aboriginal students attended Victorian government schools at the following rates: 89.4 per cent in Year 1; 89.6 per cent in Year 2; 89.8 per cent in Year 3; 89.2 per cent in Year 4; 89.3 per cent in Year 5; 89.4 per cent in Year 6; 87 per cent in Year 7; 83.2 per cent in Year 8; 82.8 per cent in Year 9; and 82 per cent in Year 10.
How does this compare with non-Aboriginal results?
In 2025, the Year 1–10 attendance rate for Aboriginal students was 79.2 per cent, compared with 88.0 per cent for non-Aboriginal students; a difference of 8.8 percentage points. The data shows Aboriginal students become progressively less likely to attend school than their non-Aboriginal peers as they move into higher year levels.
Measure 5.2.3 Number of Aboriginal people on school councils
What does the data say?
In 2025, 74 Victorian government schools (10 per cent of the schools that responded to the Term 3 Principal Survey) reported 94 Aboriginal people on their school councils.
Does the data show improvement or decline?
An accurate year-to-year comparison of the Term 3 Principal Survey is not possible as the survey is not compulsory and the number of schools responding varies every year.
Measure 5.2.4 Proportion of Aboriginal students who report bullying at school
What does the data say?
In 2025, 21.8 per cent of Year 4-6, 24 per cent of Year 7-9 and 15.4 per cent of Year 10-12 Aboriginal students reported experiencing bullying at school in Victoria.
Does the data show improvement or decline?
Since 2024, the proportion of Aboriginal students experiencing bullying at school has stayed the same or decreased. In 2024, 23.7 per cent of Year 4-6, 24.2 per cent of Year 7-9 and 16.6 per cent of Year 10-12 Aboriginal students experienced bullying at school.
The proportion of Aboriginal students who experienced bullying has also stayed the same or decreased over the long term. In 2021, 23.2 per cent of Year 4-6, 24.8 per cent of Year 7-9 and 16.8 per cent of Year 10-12 Aboriginal students experienced bullying at school.
How does this compare with non-Aboriginal results?
Aboriginal students have experienced more bullying than their non-Aboriginal peers every year and at every year level since 2017.
South-West Victoria Region – Community Anti-Racism initiative
SDRF enabler 2: Address racism and promote cultural safety
In 2025, in consultation with the Koorie Education Workforce, the Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative, and other community members, the Barwon Local Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (LAECG) developed an Anti-Racism Statement along with resources to assist schools and community members when addressing and reporting incidents of racism. The Anti-Racism Statement was burnt onto a kangaroo skin, with space surrounding the statement left for schools and early years services to sign as they commit to uphold the intent of the statement within their educational setting, through universal strategies that prevent racism, targeted strategies that address racism and ensuring all incidents are reported through the DE reporting hotline.
The core purpose of the project was to support a strengthened understanding of racism among schools in the Barwon area, to decrease incidents of racism through proactive universal strategies, and to provide clarity on appropriate practices and processes for addressing and reporting incidents of racism as they occur.
The Anti-Racism Statement and accompanying resource complement and support the intent and implementation of the statewide Preventing and Addressing Racism in Schools policy (which came into effect Term 3, 2025) in local schools.
The Barwon LAECG presented the project in November 2025 at the World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference in Education in Auckland, with support from DE and VAEAI.
Measure 5.2.5 Number and proportion of school-based Aboriginal education workers across all schools
What does the data say?
In 2025, there were 326.4 FTE education staff in Victoria who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, which accounted for 0.4 per cent of the total education workforce. This number is Full Time Equivalent (FTE) and includes casual and part-time staff.
Education staff fall into three categories: Education Support, Teachers and Principals.
Education Support
In 2025, there were 205.4 FTE education support staff who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. This represents 0.8 per cent of the education support workforce.
Aboriginal people were predominantly employed as education support staff and accounted for 62.9 per cent of the overall Aboriginal education workforce.
Teachers
In 2025, there were 109.2 FTE teachers who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. This represents 0.2 per cent of all teachers in Victoria.
Aboriginal teachers accounted for 33.5 per cent of the overall Aboriginal education workforce.
Principals
In 2025, there were 11.8 FTE school principals who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. This represents 0.3 per cent of all principals.
Aboriginal school principals accounted for 3.6 per cent of the overall Aboriginal education workforce.
Does the data show improvement or decline?
The number of education staff identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander has increased year-on-year since 2018, with 137.2 more in 2025 than in 2018. However, when considering the overall education workforce, the proportion of Aboriginal education staff has not increased.
Education Support
In 2018, there were 114.3 FTE Education Support Staff identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander accounting for 0.7 per cent of the Education Support workforce. This means that although the number of Aboriginal Education Support staff is 91.1 FTE higher in 2025, proportionally, the Aboriginal Education Support workforce has not increased.
Teachers
In 2018, there were 65.9 FTE Teachers, accounting for 0.2 per cent of all teachers. While the number of Aboriginal teachers was 43.3 FTE higher in 2025, the proportion of all teachers who are Aboriginal has not increased.
Principals
In 2018, there were 9.0 FTE Aboriginal school principals, accounting for 0.3 per cent of all principals. While the number of Aboriginal school principals was 2.8 FTE higher in 2025, the proportion of all principals who are Aboriginal has not increased.
How does this compare with non-Aboriginal results?
The education workforce in Victoria has increased year-on-year since 2018, with 17,814 more education staff in 2025 than in 2018. This means the education workforce in Victoria has increased by 28.5 per cent. There was an increase in the Aboriginal education workforce between 2018 (189.2 FTE) to 2025 (326.5 FTE). While this represented a 72.5 per cent increase in the Aboriginal education workforce, this only represented a 0.1 per cent increase as a proportion of the entire education workforce.
Measure 5.2.7 Number and proportion of government schools having undertaken Community Understanding and Safety Training (CUST)3
What does the data say?
In 2025, 16 more schools completed CUST, bringing the total rate of Victorian government schools that have now undertaken this training to 98 per cent. CUST empowers school staff to foster culturally inclusive environments that enhance Koorie students' wellbeing.
Does the data show improvement or decline?
The number of school campuses undertaking CUST has steadily increased since the beginning of the program in 2018.
3. Formerly ‘Cultural’ Understanding and Safety Training.
Goal 5 – Victorian Government Investment and Action
The Victorian Government is driving action through Marrung: Aboriginal Education Plan 2016-2026 (Marrung) and Best Start, Best Life reforms to ensure that all Aboriginal Victorians achieve their learning aspirations.The key Aboriginal Governance Forum for realising outcomes in this Domain is the Marrung Central Governance Committee.
The Koorie Literacy and Numeracy Program (KLNP)
KLNP continues to support First Nations students from Foundation to Year 6 who need additional support. The 2025/26 State Budget allocated an additional $18.5 million over four years to support the continued delivery of the program, with an additional $5.2 million invested on an ongoing basis.
Preventing and Addressing Racism in Schools
In June 2025, DE launched the Preventing and Addressing Racism in Schools Policy, which makes clear that racism is not tolerated in Victorian Government schools. Initially released in 2024, the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0 (VTLM 2.0) is a revision of the original VTLM, developed in consultation with the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO). VTLM 2.0 is focused on effective teaching practices and approaches to achieve strong learning outcomes for students, including priority cohorts. This includes the Inclusive Classroom and Cultural Responsiveness guides, which were developed in collaboration with VAEAI and AERO’s First Nations Reference Group. First Nations authors and perspectives have also been featured in the Victorian Lesson Plans.
First Nations Teachers
In October 2025, DE launched its refreshed Aboriginal Employment Plan 2025-2029, which outlines 10 actions to increase First Nations employment across Early Learning Victoria centres, schools, and corporate workspaces, including in leadership roles. This plan is a key action under DE’s Dhelk Wukang: Aboriginal Inclusion Plan 2022-2026.
The Koorie Staff Network was established as a peer-led network to connect First Nations staff in DE and schools and to promote First Nations inclusion, fostering a culturally safe work environment.
The Aspiring Koorie Teachers Now (AKT Now) program supports First Nations peoples to become teachers or Education Support staff by helping them complete education qualifications while undertaking paid employment in schools. In 2025, the program supported 25 candidates in securing employment in Education Support positions.
Community Understanding and Safety Training (CUST)
The CUST program has effectively strengthened connections between schools and their local First Nations communities and encouraged reflection and planning on how to improve outcomes at the local level through self-determination.
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