Calls for NAPLAN testing shake-up ignored
Parents and educators clinging to hope that NAPLAN testing would be overhauled have been dealt a major blow.
Education
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NAPLAN will continue in its present form in 2021 despite calls from at least three states for it to be overhauled.
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority has released plans for the literacy and numeracy test, which will be held in May 2021.
The controversial national test was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Schools which were registered to complete the test this year will do it next year instead.
The VCAA said in a statement that rollout of online testing will continue, but some schools will complete the test on paper.
A practice test will be held on March 25 for online schools, followed by a testing from May 11 to May 21. Schools will do the test on paper from May 11 to 13. Campuses that are still doing the test on paper will be required to prepare in 2021 and transition fully to online in 2022.
A plan for NAPLAN to be replaced by a new, broader test with a greater focus on critical and creative thinking has been put forward by education ministers from Victoria, NSW, Queensland and ACT. The ministers wanted year nines not to sit the test and for it to be held earlier in the year so it would be less disruptive. It was not accepted by the federal government.
Tim Berryman, principal of Fitzroy Community School, is happy NAPLAN is continuing in its current form.
“As a parent I want to know that if my child needs help and whether the school is the issue or not,” he said. “NAPLAN gives this information.”
Mr Berryman said he did not think NAPLAN needed to have more critical or creative material.
“The problem as I see it is that there are some children in our schools who are numerically proficient but not as good at language,” he said.
“These kids don’t do as well because there’s too much English in the maths component. Maths should just be maths.”
It comes as a study from the AEU has found 75 per cent of teachers and 73 per cent of
principals think it’s ineffective.
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