NAPLAN to be reviewed as online test pushed back
Victoria will conduct a review of NAPLAN alongside other states in defiance of the Federal Government. The test’s transition to online has also been extended to 2021.
Education
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Victoria has joined other states to conduct a review of NAPLAN in defiance of the Federal Government as the test’s transition to online has been extended to 2021.
Victoria will join NSW and QLD in their own review of NAPLAN as the Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan rejected a bid to probe the student test at an Education Council meeting today.
Education ministers from across Australia met in Melbourne, where Mr Tehan refused to support a NSW proposal for a review.
Mr Tehan said it would be “premature” to commission a full review while there is an investigation into widespread glitches with NAPLAN online this year.
“It would be appropriate to consider a full review of NAPLAN once it has fully and
successfully transitioned to online,” he said.
But other states disagreed.
Victorian Education Minister James Merlino said as NAPLAN had been running for a decade, it was “not only timely but common sense that this happens”.
He said despite the call being rejected by Mr Tehan, “we are keen to take a leadership role on this issue”.
“That is why the Victorian, New South Wales and Queensland governments today agreed to join together and undertake the review,” he said.
“We’ll always need a standardised test to examine how we’re tracking as an education system but we need to consider what form that takes to get the best results for our kids.”
The Andrews Government has advocated for a formal review of NAPLAN in the past.
Meanwhile, Mr Tehan said all education ministers at the meeting agreed to a one-year extension of the transition towards NAPLAN online, to 2021.
More than one million Australian students sat NAPLAN online this year, where major glitches plagued the rollout.
Connections dropped out, leaving students stressed and unable to complete the test.
Mr Tehan confirmed that 97 per cent of tests were unaffected — meaning more than 30,000 Australian students were.
The transition to online testing would depend on findings and recommendations of an independent review, currently underway.
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Mr Tehan also reiterated the Morrison Government’s desire to see mobile phones banned from schools “to remove distraction and reduce the incidence of cyber-bullying and other inappropriate usage”.
“We have told all states and territories we will invite experts from France and Ontario,
Canada, where phones have been banned from schools, to provide advice about their
experiences,” Mr Tehan said.
It comes after Mr Merlino this week announcedall Victorian public school students would be forbidden from having a mobile phone on them between the first bell and the last bell, from term 1 next year.
Phones will have to be kept in students’ lockers, or kept secure under plans yet to be determined.
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