A major report released by the Whitlam Institute found that almost 90 per cent of teachers reported that students felt stressed prior to taking the tests, and significant numbers also reported students being sick, crying or having sleepless nights.
A smaller proportion reported specific stress-related conditions, such as insomnia, hyperventilation, profuse sweating, nail biting, headaches, stomach aches and migraines.
The varying ages of the students taking the test, the format of the test and the pressure some students feel to succeed in the test, culminate in an increase in student fatigue.
It has been a decade without reform
It has been a decade without reform and the purpose has been hijacked by over-reporting making it high-stakes
There has been no significant improvement in literacy or numeracy at a systemic level and it is a clunky measure with limited accuracy at an individual level.
It is time to look at how this can be done better!
Curriculum time is lost and the curriculum is narrowed
Many schools are pressured to teach to the NAPLAN test. This is changing what is taught in classrooms. You only have to look at how frequently children are taught the genre of “persuasive writing” in schools all over the country to know that this is true. Valuable teaching time is wasted as teachers do their best to prepare their students for this point-in-time test that is not part of their regular teaching and learning.
Research into the impact of NAPLAN by the Whitlam Institute reported a narrowing of both teaching strategies and of the curriculum. Robyn Ewing from the University of Sydney believes that the increasing focus on high stakes testing leads to an increasing priority on subject areas that can be measured by multiple choice tests, and reduces time spent teaching students to express themselves through art, poetry, drama, music and literature
Evidence is now available that schools all over Australia are cutting back on arts education to devote more time to literacy and numeracy.
Richard Gill (OAM) states that these activities “destroy individuality, stifle creativity, stultify thought and make all children respond in the same way”. Children are missing out on taking time to observe their environment, engage in abstract thinking, work collaboratively, and think reflectively. This reduction in creativity reduces the engagement and motivation of students.
NAPLAN results are not reliable
NAPLAN was designed to measure the performance of school systems, not be a measure of an individual student’s progress.
Any individual child’s score can fluctuate by about 12 per cent (higher or lower) where they sit the same test, but performance varies due to different combinations of questions.
What is this campaign seeking?
The test should be a sample not a census test – i.e. that parents should opt in for their students to participate in NAPLAN and that the withdrawal form should be made more easily accessible for parents (not hidden behind firewalls as has been the practice this year)
The aggregation of results should cease – if the data is to be used to inform practice then the individual results of students should be considered by the classroom teachers and parents – there exists no reason that this data should be aggregated to a year level or cohort
The writing task should be removed – the assessment of writing tasks is subjective and the skilling of students in persuasive and creative texts is artificial in the context of student learning and the implementation of the Australian curriculum
The practice of using the data to create league tables should be abolished – there exists no benefit to student outcomes from the publication of league tables (UPDATE March 2021: The Australian Education Council has decided to stop the creation of league tables from NAPLAN results after years of lobbying from teacher unions)
NAPLAN data should not be used in recruitment and selection processes, and if included should be disregarded – this removes the notion that NAPLAN will be used in some form of performance management
NAPLAN outcomes should be removed from the headline indicators – if, as stated in the joint statement the best indicator of student achievement against the Australian curriculum is the A-E reporting then a reliance of NAPLAN data in school reviews does little to reflect the efficacy of school based programs
How can you help our campaign for change?
Meet with your state MP and tell them you want to see the test removed in its current form
Share this information with friends and family
Help ensure friends and family are aware that NAPLAN is not mandatory
