Queensland and FNQ educators reveal where school students are missing NAPLAN targets

Educators have disclosed the very basic literacy skills kids are lacking, while explaining why FNQ students may be falling behind in the classroom.

EDUCATORS have disclosed the very basic literacy skills kids are lacking, while explaining why Far North students are falling behind in the classroom.

This week’s state government budget papers revealed students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 missed the education department’s targets on the percentage of students required to meet the national minimum standard in reading, writing and numeracy.

The statistics showed less than 90 per cent of Year 7 students were meeting the minimum standard for numeracy, and only 83.4 per cent from the same cohort met the minimum writing standards, while in Year 9, just 72 per cent of students met the minimum writing standards.

File photo of Peace Lutheran College Grade 5 student Myles Dever, 10, in their NAPLAN test. There is no indication these students were among those who did not meet minimum standards. Picture: Brendan Radke

Private tutor Aaron Blandford who recently moved from Cairns to Brisbane and helps with English and maths said based on anecdotal feedback he’d received from teachers, he was sure there were students falling behind in classrooms, but didn’t believe NAPLAN was providing an accurate outlook.

“The main thing that I’ve seen is that kids who have significantly fallen through the cracks, we’re talking kids in years 7-10 who don’t understand what makes a sentence make sense, things like what a noun is,” Mr Blandford said.

For whatever reason, they haven’t acquired that knowledge early. The problem is they get to high school where it’s too late for a teacher of 30 people, with 20 of whom have already assumed that knowledge, to go back to a Year 2 or 3 level English class and teach it again.

He said there were likely three core issues that led to the alarming statistics.

Private tutor Aaron Blandford says he was seeing kids in high school who were unable to complete sentences.

“I would say teachers not having enough time for the one-on-one class time to actually go over specific issues to learn the foundational skills.

“Second would be undiagnosed or unrecognised learning disabilities such as ADHD, I don’t think there’s enough resources and support to accommodate those kids, and they are the ones that end up being in tutoring a lot of the time.

“The final issue would be parent involvement. There would be a lot of people who think ‘well I drop my kid off at school for six hours, so it’s taken care of, I don’t have to contribute to their learning’.

“I would submit there is a parental responsibility there to ensure that your kids are meeting those basic standards. Just things like reading with your kids, helping them with homework to including them in conversations that test their skills, like getting them to help with the shopping list.”

Queensland Teachers’ Union president Cresta Richardson said the poor students results were also likely affected by the pandemic.

Queensland Teachers’ Union president Cresta Richardson said the poor student results were also likely affected by the pandemic.

“It would be disingenuous to suggest this stressful and unprecedented pandemic period hasn’t impacted the testing performance of some students as well.”

She also added that Queensland teachers deserved a higher than 2.5 per cent pay raise.

“The Queensland Teachers’ Union has not received any formal offer from the Queensland government as good-faith bargaining continues,” Ms Richardson said.

“Key to the future of our profession is addressing the urgent teacher shortages we are experiencing across the state and indeed Australia.

“This means allocating resources and a living wage increase in line with current economic pressures to retain teachers in classrooms, while also attracting students to pursue this rewarding career path.”

Originally published as Queensland and FNQ educators reveal where school students are missing NAPLAN targets