Experts raise concerns over NSW Education Department’s new learning progressions software

A NEW system which teachers claim is dragging them out of NSW classrooms to compile 1000-point dossiers on students is being misused by the Education­ Department, one of its designers said.

A NEW system which teachers claim is dragging them out of NSW classrooms to compile 1000-point dossiers on students is being misused by the Education­ Department, one of its designers said.

Western Sydney University curriculum expert Dr Katina Zammit, who helped create the literacy progressions for ACARA contained in the ALAN system being rolled out in more than 661 NSW schools, said it was meant to provide teaching guidelines — not become an evaluation tool.

But, as The Daily Telegraph revealed yesterday, the system is being used as an assessment tool which the department says is helping “track students’ movement along the literacy and numeracy continuum”.

A screen grab from PLAN2 software shows detail on the ALAN program.

Teachers mark if a student has met, not met or is “working towards” each progression.

The Assessing Literacy and Numeracy (ALAN) program includes software called PLAN2 that requires teachers to mark K-2 students on 1098 indicators or “progressions”, including how each student “expresses feelings and needs” and uses “appropriate personal greetings”, along with listening, grammar and punctuation.

Teachers mark if a student has met, not met or is “working towards” each progression.

“Those progressions were never designed to become part of a software package to determine students’ literacy,” said Dr Zammit, who was employed by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment­ and Rep­orting Authority in 2016 to identify the literacy progressions.

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Education Minister Rob Stokes’ spokesman yesterday would not comment on Dr Zammit’s claim.

NSW Primary Principals Association executive Rob Walker said the process took up so much time that at least one school had hired a relief teacher to fill in, while classroom teachers complete all the questions for each student.

Yesterday’s front page coverage.

NSW Teachers Federation deputy president Joan Lemaire said teachers had raised concerns including the time it takes: “Members in various schools have raised different issues regarding the level of resources and support, workload and professional development provided to their school.”

An Education Department spokesman said: “The learning progressions support the NSW syllabuses by providing further detail around literacy and numeracy development.

“Teachers can use PLAN2 to record observations and routine class learning experiences. Learning progressions are individual so every student will have a different number of applicable indicators.”