NAPLAN boycott grows among poorer students

A third of school students with jobless parents are skipping ­NAPLAN exams, thwarting efforts to test and boost their maths and English skills.

One third of low-income students were no-shows for the Year 9 NAPLAN test in numeracy.

A third of school students with jobless parents are skipping ­NAPLAN exams, thwarting ­efforts to test and boost their maths and English skills.

As 1.3 million students start sitting the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy tests on Tuesday, one in three children from the poorest families will stay home.

Well-heeled parents are paying tutoring companies $74 an hour to improve their children’s results, as academically selective and private schools compete to enrol high-achieving students.

But poorer classmates are failing to show up for the tests, sabotaging attempts to compare results and improve their progress at school.

While struggling students sometimes skip school for fear of failing the exams, some principals encourage them to stay home to avoid dragging down their school’s results.

Year 3 children with unemployed parents were three times more likely to skip the NAPLAN reading test last year, when compared to classmates whose parents are professionals, senior managers or public servants.

The gap grows in high school – 27.8 per cent of year 9 students with unemployed parents skipped the NAPLAN reading test last year, compared to 7.8 per cent of classmates with professional parents.

One in three students from jobless families failed to show up for the year 9 numeracy test, compared with just one in 10 classmates from the wealthiest families.

Across Australia, 8.5 per cent of all year 3 students were absent, withdrawn or exempt from the NAPLAN test in numeracy, while 7 per cent were no-shows for the reading test in 2022.

Among year 9 students, 16.1 per cent skipped the maths test while 13.5 per cent were absent for the reading test.

The fresh data, from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, reveals a disturbing trend for more struggling students to boycott the exam over the past 10 years.

It also indicates Australian students’ average NAPLAN achievement is lower than reported, given the higher absence rate among low-income students who are statistically most likely to struggle with literacy and numeracy.

ACARA chief executive David de Carvalho on Monday called on the nation’s 9800 schools to stop making students sit “practice tests’’ for NAPLAN.

“There is no need for students to undertake extra practice for NAPLAN and they should not feel apprehensive about the assessment,” he said.

“It doesn’t measure overall school quality. It’s not meant to tell us everything about a student or their achievement.

“NAPLAN tests literacy and numeracy skills that are being developed in the classroom every day with questions based mostly on what students have been taught from previous years of schooling.’’

Tutoring companies are charging up to $74 per hour to prepare kids for NAPLAN tests, claiming the results will influence a child’s placement in future classes.

Alchemy Tuition charges $59 an hour for online tutoring, or $74 an hour face-to-face, to improve NAPLAN results.

“The NAPLAN test is an excellent indication of your child’s performance against other students their age and can be used as a benchmark should they want to enter an OC class (an opportunity class for gifted students in NSW), selective school or accelerated streams at high school,’’ its website states.

Perth-based Scholastic Excellence states that some schools consider NAPLAN results when interviewing new students, or when streaming them into ability-based maths and English subjects.

Cluey Learning offers a “prep program’’ for NAPLAN, while Kip McGrath offers tuition in NAPLAN.

This year’s NAPLAN tests of reading, writing, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy are the first to be held – in March, two months earlier than usual – with all questions online.

Every child in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 is supposed to sit the tests, unless exempted on medical grounds or due to a disability.

Mr de Carvalho said teachers would receive results earlier, giving them more time to consider what support students might need for the rest of the year.

He said NAPLAN was “invaluable as a national assessment that allows us to see whether young Australians are developing critical literacy and numeracy skills for learning’’.

“It helps governments, education authorities and schools see whether Australian children are reaching important literacy goals, and allows parents and carers to see how their child is progressing against national literacy and numeracy standards,’’ Mr de Carvalho said.

This year’s NAPLAN tests will also include a simpler “report card’’ for parents, and will flag when a student “needs additional support’’.