NSW calls to halt online NAPLAN rollout as students re-sit bungled writing test

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell wants to halt national plans for fully online NAPLAN testing next year after widespread disruptions caused by the bungled e-tests trial last week.

• Thousands of students to re-sit NAPLAN tests
• Widespread technical issues with online NAPLAN

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell wants to halt national plans for fully online NAPLAN testing next year after widespread disruptions caused by the bungled e-tests trial last week.

Thousands of students will be given the chance to re-sit a new writing exam next Tuesday following computer glitches and connectivity problems plagu­ing last week’s exams.

About 50 per cent of students trialled online NAPLAN tests this year. Picture: Eddie Safarik

Schools have sent letters home telling parents their children will not be forced to sit the test again if their child doesn’t want to, while some private schools are opting to withdraw altogether from retesting.

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“Understandably, some students may have been distressed or impacted to an extent that may have affected their performance in the ­assessment,” the letters stated.

Ms Mitchell said she was “disappointed” with the glitches that hit multiple schools as the education authorities shifted to trial ­online testing this year for 50 per cent of students.

Under an agreement with the state and federal education ministers, the test is supposed to go fully online next year.

But Ms Mitchell is calling for a halt until the glitches are ironed out.

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell. Picture: Christian Gilles

“As soon as I was made aware of the extent of the issues, I raised my concerns with ACARA (Australian ­Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority) in the strongest possible terms,” she said.

“Given the issues with ­NAPLAN online this year, and the fact they were not unique to NSW, I will be arguing at Education Council next month that we delay a full online rollout next year.”

A spokesman for Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan referred questions to the department, which said all ministers had agreed in 2014 to move from pen-and-paper to online.

“Any change to this decision would be a decision of all ministers,” the spokesman said.

But teachers, educators and parent groups say the stuff-up has “polluted” the results.

Under the tests performed by pupils in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, children are given a prompt, which is an idea or topic, and asked to write a narrative text or a persuasive writing text.

Private schools are also opting against a second round of exams, with SCEGGS Darlinghurst head Jenny Allum saying the tests “are not important enough to go through the rigmarole of resitting”.

A spokesman for the Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations NSW said the online test should be scrapped, “or at the very least postponed in its rollout, as it is clearly ­unable to deliver”.