Australia’s digital literacy crisis deepens as student scores hit record low

Australian students have recorded their worst-ever results in national digital literacy testing, despite growing up surrounded by technology, as reported by ABC.

Just 37% of Year 10 students and 50% of Year 6 students were assessed as proficient in the latest NAP-ICT tests, conducted in May last year. Around 10,000 students took part across both year levels.

The assessment measured skills such as creating presentations, searching for information, analysing data and understanding online safety.

The results revealed major achievement gaps. Indigenous students, children in remote areas and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds lagged far behind their peers.

"The 2025 results show a decline in student proficiency in ICT (information communication technology) literacy and continuing gaps between different groups of students," Stephen Gniel, CEO, Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority said.

"It's our lowest level since testing began in 2005. We can see that kids are using devices more and more but that's not translating into them having the proficiency skills that they need."

Growing concern

The latest figures marked a sharp decline from the previous test in 2022.

Gniel warned that constant exposure to technology was not the same as understanding how to use it properly.

"Just because you have a tool, it doesn't mean you know how to use it; it certainly doesn't mean you know how to maximise its use. That also includes not understanding the risk factors," he said.

"These are really important skills for us to teach our children … to identify whether information is fake."

Most students said schools had taught them how to search for information and judge whether sources were trustworthy. Around 80 per cent also said they had received lessons on cyberbullying and online privacy.

AI influence

The testing itself did not measure artificial intelligence skills. However, a separate survey found AI use among students was already widespread.

One in four Year 10 students said they frequently used AI for school tasks. More than 60% of Year 10 students and almost a third of Year 6 students said they used AI to generate written content at least once a month.

"This confirms what we see in international research, that AI is being used for schoolwork and it's being used by teachers as well," Gniel said.

"We need to make sure AI use is effective and appropriate, rather than just offloading the learning to a machine and (for students) to continue those discipline areas of maths, English, history, science, art."

He said the next round of testing in three years would likely include AI in some form.

Education Minister Jason Clare said the long-term decline raised serious questions about how technology was being used in classrooms.

"These results have been trending down for two decades. At the same time, more and more children have had access to digital technology and devices," Clare said.

"It begs the question: what is going on here?"

He added that education ministers across Australia would discuss AI and its impact on learning later this year.

"The even bigger question is what AI is doing and will do to learn. The challenge is to support teachers and students to use it safely, ethically and in a way that supports learning, not undermines it," he said.

Fundamental gaps

Experts say the decline reflects deeper problems in literacy and numeracy.

Blaise Joseph, director of education, Centre for Independent Studies, said many ICT skills tested today could already be completed using AI tools.

"ICT skills … rapidly evolve over time. For example, there are several tasks on the ICT tests which many professionals these days would use AI to complete," Joseph said.

"AI has already made lots of basic ICT tasks redundant, so it makes sense for the school system to focus more on fundamental skills like reading and maths that are not going to be radically different five years from now."

He argued that weak literacy and comprehension were likely contributing to poor digital literacy scores.

"ICT skills are ultimately built upon foundational literacy and numeracy skills. If students are struggling with basic ICT tasks, it's often because they're struggling with reading and comprehension first."

Surface knowledge

Therese Keane, Professor, La Trobe University said many students had only a shallow understanding of technology despite growing up online.

She said schools lacked highly skilled specialist computing teachers and warned that devices were often used only for basic classroom activities.

"You can give a student a computer, but if they don't know much more than just the basics, they're not going to move past that," she said.

"In many classrooms, for example, laptops are just note-taking devices. iPads are just content consumption tools for looking at the internet."

"We're not explicitly teaching students about evaluation of information: 'Is this information correct? Have you tried triangulating it? Where did you get your source from?'"

Professor Keane said the rise of AI had made critical thinking and digital literacy even more important for students navigating online information, schoolwork and future careers.