December 5, 2025

Five hundred Australian teachers can’t all be wrong!

In July 2025, Renaissance surveyed more than 500 Australian teachers to understand how well current assessment practices reveal the needs of young learners. The message was consistent: today’s system shows what students know, but not what they could know.

This gap widens further during transition. Many teachers felt that students’ emotional and wellbeing needs at this point are poorly understood – and, in many cases, not identified at all.

  • 88% of teachers are concerned about students’ emotional wellbeing during the transition into secondary school.

  • 37% are very concerned.

  • 94% say more emotional-readiness tools are needed for Year 7.

Achievement grades tell us what students know or remember-but they can also mislead. With the fast pace of schooling, teachers often feel compelled to teach, test, transition, and move on to the next cohort. Yet many educators recognise that lingering “rock-under-the-towel” feeling: on paper the student appears ready, but will they cope emotionally?

Nor can we expect students to readily ask for help. At this age, they are vulnerable, unsure, and reluctant to stand out-preferring to struggle quietly rather than draw attention to themselves.

A picture emerges: a wellbeing gap. Teachers sense it, students feel it, but neither has the tools to close it.

A call for help

Teachers believe the challenges are real, present, and likely to intensify unless addressed earlier.

“Start earlier – and expect it to get harder.”

  • Only 17% believe their school begins transition early enough; another 17% say it starts too late.

  • 71% expect student needs to become more complex over the next five years.

Implication: Delayed discovery leads to a more costly response later.

“We need help in three places”

  • Collaboration between schools (60%)

  • Emotional assessments to identify risk early (43%)

  • More pastoral care capacity (43%)

The signal is clear: schools want structure and support around wellbeing – not simply more attainment data.

Tools

The Whole-Student Toolkit

So what can help schools address these challenges? Renaissance has listened and developed a toolkit that provides a structured pathway to understanding the whole student.

PASS – Pupil Attitudes to Self and School

A survey that offers early warning across nine attitudinal factors, providing cohort heatmaps and individual risk indicators to guide pastoral and classroom action.

CAT4 – Cognitive Abilities Test

Reveals learning potential across four batteries:

  • Verbal Reasoning – thinking with words and concepts

  • Non-Verbal Reasoning – problem-solving with patterns and shapes

  • Quantitative Reasoning – working with numbers and relationships

  • Spatial Ability – visualising and manipulating shapes, often linked to STEM and creativity

Combined, these batteries reveal strengths, hidden talents, and areas requiring support.

NGRT & NGST – Standardised literacy and spelling

Provide dependable skill baselines, linking wellbeing, cognition, and attainment to give a full picture.

In practice

What do the ‘signals’ look like – and how can the toolkit help?

Here are three student profiles demonstrating how learners may fall into the gap, and how the Renaissance toolkit can intervene.

1) Amira – capably anxious

Quiet, compliant, and worried.

  • PASS flags low Confidence in Learning and negative Feelings about School.

  • CAT4 and NGRT confirm solid academic and reading ability.

Intervention: Small-group check-ins, normalising mistakes, supportive seating arrangements.

2) Luca – effort without voice

Completes work but avoids participation.

  • PASS suggests low Self-Regard as a Learner and a potential Negative Attitude to Teachers.

  • NGST indicates strain around number-based tasks.

Intervention: Low-stakes oral responses, confidence-building in maths, encouragement through quick wins.

3) Sefa – spatially strong, text-wary

  • CAT4 reveals high Spatial Ability with lower Verbal outputs.

  • NGRT shows decoding difficulties.

  • PASS indicates slipping Attitude to Attendance.

Intervention: Visual and spatial entry points for new topics, paired reading to build fluency and confidence.

Going forward

As educators, we have a responsibility to respond to learners’ needs as early as possible. With the right tools, we can finally see – and support – the whole student. Let’s use them.