We must stop thinking of NAPLAN as a competition
THE NAPLAN tests are an effective way to meet students’ needs but they were never intended to be a contest or a way of earning bragging rights, writes Christopher Bantick.
Opinion
Don't miss out on the headlines from Opinion. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE maligned NAPLAN tests are undertaken nationally this week. There are likely to be many anxious parents, students and teachers.
Why? NAPLAN is not some bogeyman that is going to determine if a child passes or fails. If NAPLAN is a determinant of a good school, then the school does not have a lot going for it.
I have taught to the NAPLAN tests since their introduction in 2008. While they may be inconvenient and interrupt the delivery of the Australian curriculum, they are an essential part of the school academic year at years 3, 5, 7 and 9. The reason is clear. Without NAPLAN, there is no way we can get a measure of the nation’s literacy and numeracy.
That is the singular value of NAPLAN: data. The tests will not improve literacy and numeracy and that was never their brief. They were introduced so nationally, areas of weakness in basic skills could be identified and accommodated by funding and remedial action. There is a lot to like about that approach.
It matters not that last year’s results were good or bad in a given school or a state. What matters is the feedback to the students in the year they do the tests so teachers can then meet the needs of their students specifically. That could be targeted instruction, further diagnostic work to determine a latent learning difficulty and, where necessary, support.
Given that this is the precise aim of NAPLAN, to lift student performance, it is imperative that results are returned quickly, ideally in a matter of weeks. Currently, the delay of several months causes the appositeness of what NAPLAN shows to be lost. The curriculum has moved on.
I teach to the NAPLAN test not because I fear the results and feel that there is a sword of Damocles hanging over my head should the results be indifferent. It will certainly tell me a lot about my teaching and the students’ learning though. Good thing? Yes.
If NAPLAN is to be of relevance and constructive use, teachers need to be given time and opportunity to respond to what the scores reveal. This is a sound educational argument: instruct to improve.
What is anything but sound is the rabid competitiveness NAPLAN scores have prompted in schools and, specifically, parents. That is not what the tests are for. If a child is not performing and NAPLAN shows it, parents should be delighted and not feel somehow shamed by the test. Moreover, schools should not see their core business as NAPLAN. That is increasingly the case. It is not an educational argument but one based on vanity and a sense of competition.
In December, the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority warned that Australian schools must focus on teenagers’ reading skills if literacy and numeracy results are to improve. According to ACARA general manager, assessment and reporting, Stanley Rabinowitz: “We need to be checking to make sure there is an emphasis on not just reading to learn but learning to read as we get to higher year levels.”
This makes sense and is a telling illustration of why NAPLAN is essential. It shows what is trending in education outcomes for literacy and numeracy. That in turn has the scope to influence teaching and curriculum emphasis, let alone delivery.
It is entirely unhelpful, though, when data is used to allege failure in teachers. It beggars belief that the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership chairman, John Hattie, a professor of education at the University of Melbourne, can say: “Many teachers stopped teaching basics of reading in grade 2 because they assumed most students had grasped the skills.”
Where is the evidence?
This is a loose misappropriation of NAPLAN data to attack teacher competence, something NAPLAN was never envisaged as doing.
The same applies to parents who crunch the numbers on the My School website. To do that is to miss the point. NAPLAN is about addressing need not putting scores in league tables and claiming bragging rights.
CHRISTOPHER BANTICK IS A WRITER AND A SENIOR LITERATURE TEACHER AT A MELBOURNE BOYS’ ANGLICAN GRAMMAR SCHOOL
Human cost of pandemic goes much further than virus
Whether you are pro or anti-lockdown the grim, unintended consequences of the fixation on coronavirus are undeniable, as other diseases — including cancer and heart disease — go unchecked, and despair from joblessness, poverty and financial stress rises, writes Rita Panahi.
Premier must outline his plan so Melbourne can recover
As the community overwhelmingly complies with the Premier’s stage four restrictions, he must clearly outline his virus strategy so we can make plans to rebuild confidence and employment in our city, which right now is a ghost town, writes Jeff Kennett.