The Federal Government is considering introducing mandatory phonics, maths and literacy testing for Year One students, a move which Labor says will not help improve Australia's international education ranking.

Key points: Education Minister says the compulsory tests are not going to be "confronting"

Education Minister says the compulsory tests are not going to be "confronting" Last year three reports indicated Australia's education performance was plateauing

Last year three reports indicated Australia's education performance was plateauing But Labor says fulfilling Gonski funding commitments best way to improve education

Education Minister Simon Birmingham said an expert panel will draw up a series of "light" classroom assessments to help identify children falling behind in basic skills.

The decision was made after three reports last year indicated Australia's education performance was plateauing.

One report — the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), released last November — showed Australian Year 4 and 8 students dropping several places down the international rankings for maths and science subjects.

Mr Birmingham said the compulsory tests were not going to be "confronting", but an assessment that lets parents, teachers and students know if early intervention is needed.

"This is about identifying where there are younger students developing their literacy and numeracy skills effectively and appropriately, and if they're not, ensuring that early interventions can take place so that they don't fall further and further behind," he said.

Schools need more funding and resources, not tests: Labor, Union

The plan has been criticised by the Labor Party and the Australian Education Union, which said fulfilling Gonski funding commitments is the best way to improve educational outcomes.

"Schools don't need another national test to work out which children need help … they need the resources to cater for those children," said Australian Education Union president Coreena Haythorpe.

Labor's Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek said Australia is slightly below average when it comes to funding for schools, and less than 10 per cent of extra needs-based funding has been delivered.

"You can't fix what's going wrong in Australian schools when you cut $30 billion from our schools," she said.

"It's the equivalent of cutting one in seven teachers — it means less one-on-one attention for our kids, less focus on the basics.

Queensland's State Education Minister, Labor's Kate Jones, also said more funding is needed.

"We have an education minister federally that wants to put in an extra test but won't put one extra dollar on the table to provide the support for the students that the test finds need that additional support," she said.

A terms of reference document about the Year One testing said the expert panel will work on the development of the testing, and report to the Government by the end of April.

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