Disquiet is growing among parents and principals over the government's new NAPLAN prerequisite that could see more than half of the state's students fail at the first hurdle to get their HSC.
Under a surprise change brought in by education minister Adrian Piccoli in July, year 9 students from next year will have to demonstrate a minimum literacy and numeracy standard by getting a mark of Band 8 or above in their NAPLAN tests to qualify for their HSC in year 12.
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Half to two-thirds of the year 9 cohort statewide got results of Band 7 or below in their five literacy and numeracy tests in the 2016 NAPLAN.
From 2017, students who don't meet the minimum standard in Year 9 will be required to pass subsequent online tests in order to qualify for their HSC.Â
It's a move the government says is designed to lift student literacy and numeracy, but critics say it is transferring HSC pressure onto kids before they are mature enough to handle it, and could see more than half of students labelled as failures at a crucial time in their development.
Labor's education spokesman, former Punchbowl principal Jihad Dib, says principals are increasingly worried about the implications of the reform, which he says "places enormous pressure on kids from the age of 14 to get their HSC".
"The announcement was made because it sounds good but there was no thought behind it. The more educators have had time to reflect on it, the more they express these concerns," Mr Dib says.
"Many kids are just not mature enough at 14, they're not ready. It labels them as failures to begin with."
![Year 9 students from next year will have to get a mark of Band 8 or above in their NAPLAN tests to get their HSC in year 12.](/web/20161002030344im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/s/7/8/3/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grphjf.png/1475248055487.jpg)
Mr Dib also believes that children who struggle or come from non-English-speaking backgrounds will be hit particularly hard, and that the reform will mean Year 9 NAPLAN will assume far greater significance – so teachers will "teach to the test".
Mr Piccoli defends the reforms, adopted after a West Australian model, saying the vast majority of students will meet the standard by Year 12.
!["Many kids are just not mature enough at 14": Jihad Dib.](/web/20161002030344im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/1/m/3/7/r/j/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grphjf.png/1475248055487.jpg)
"Part of it is trying to encourage students to take the early years of high school more seriously. There is this perception among students that you don't have to take high school seriously until you get to year 10 or 11 or 12," he says.
![Adrian Piccoli says the Band 8 requirement is one of a suite of reforms to lift numeracy and literacy in NSW.](/web/20161002030344im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/j/t/b/s/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grphjf.png/1475248055487.jpg)
Students who don't meet the standard in year 9 will be identified early and supported to improve their performance, he said.
Mr Piccoli concedes that lower socio-economic schools were likely to have more students struggling to meet the benchmark, but says he is confident "those schools will get the most funding under the needs-based funding model".
He points out that students will have two opportunities a year to retake the tests, up to five years out of school.
Mr Dib is sceptical.
"What 22-year-old is going to sit a test they didn't pass when they were 14?" he asks.
Chris Presland​ from the NSW Secondary Principals Association says: "There are some concerns, but at this stage it's pretty much just guesswork in terms of how many students won't eventually achieve the standard.
"We would certainly be concerned if this proved to be a deterrent for students to complete their HSC, but at this stage it's impossible to know if that will be the case."
Some parents are concerned about the impact this will have on kids going into Year 9 next year.Â
"I have serious concerns over both these changes themselves, and the way they have been brought in," says Justine Jennings, a mother of four children at Sydney public schools, with her second-oldest in year 9 next year.Â
"Do we want 50 per cent of our students to be labelled as failures?
"There are kids who it's really going to have a negative impact on ... The concern to me is the government seem to be working it out as they go, but on a very short time frame, given it's next year's year 9."
A spokesman for BOSTES, which will administer the tests, said "ensuring that all students leave school with functional levels of literacy and numeracy is core business for teachers and principals".
The future of needs-based school funding is up in the air from the end of next year, while rancorous debate continues between the federal education minister Simon Birmingham and his state counterparts.