NAPLAN rules are giving us a generation of anxious kids

ONE mother vents her fury that the Government is telling her 15-year-old son he may not be smart enough for the HSC.

A mock HSC exam at Ashfield Boys High. Picture: Craig Greenhill

IN THE next couple of weeks more than 50,000 Year 9 students will hear they’re not smart enough to do the HSC, based on this year’s NAPLAN scores.

The state government argues that’s not what they’re being told, that this is good news for those underachievers because they can now receive extra support to reach minimum reading, writing and numeracy standards. But I can only assume neither the Premier nor the Education Minister has ever met a 15-year-old if they think their self-esteem will not be shattered when told their marks are not up to scratch.

The HSC is 3½ years away for these kids. In teenage years, 42 months is like a lifetime. No one can predict what they can or cannot achieve in that time, but telling them now that they’re not clever enough to sit the HSC will inevitably mean some kids stop bothering — but they won’t be able to leave. School leaving age is now 17, so students will be forced to keep turning up but won’t be allowed to sit for the HSC, putting them (and their teachers) in a hellish limbo for two years.

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While no one would argue that students need to leave school with adequate levels of literacy and numeracy, why is the HSC suddenly out of reach to so many? NAPLAN defines “minimum standards” as reaching Band 6 and above but the NSW government has decreed students must hit Band 8 — although not in spelling and grammar, it doesn’t matter how bad your mark is in those subjects because they don’t count in the minimum standards.

When my son Alex was about to sit his first NAPLAN test in Year 3, he was worried. NAPLAN, we told him, wasn’t a test of students, it was a test of the teachers, to make sure they were doing a good job. That’s how the government sold it to us and we trotted that line out every two years. But this year the stress returned.

Whether or not Alex meets the all-important standards this year will unfortunately be the defining moment of Year 9 for him and his mates. According to figures released this week, 60% of Year 9 will now have the stress of extra testing (and probably out-of-school tutoring) on top of their regular studies just to keep the option of the HSC open.

Alex has no idea what he wants to do when he leaves school and I imagine plenty of other 15-year-olds are in the same boat. It will be a criminal shame if this harsh new policy limits their ambitions.