NAPLAN tests cancelled for 2020 due to coronavirus outbreak

Education chiefs dump NAPLAN tests so teachers can focus on continuity of education amid pandemic.

Education ministers said cancellation would help teachers and principals “focus on the wellbeing of students and continuity of education, including potential online and remote learning”. Picture: istock

Students will not sit NAPLAN tests this year as growing concerns about the impact of the coronavirus prompted education ministers to scrap it for the first time.

Federal, state and territory ministers held an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss whether the test should proceed and decided that it would place too significant a strain on schools while they are also dealing with the ramifications of the virus outbreak.

Most schools remain open despite fervent calls for them to close and high student absentee rates. The government has warned that advice from health experts on the issue could change any day and schools would be forced to send children home.

“The decision to not proceed with NAPLAN in 2020 has been taken to assist school leaders, teachers and support staff to focus on the wellbeing of students and continuity of education, including potential online and remote learning,” COAG Education Council said in a statement issued on Friday.

”Further, the impact of responses to the COVID-19 may affect the delivery of NAPLAN testing, including the operation of centralised marking centres and the implications for nationally comparable data if an insufficient number of students are available to do the test.”

The council also reiterated that Cabinet had agreed, on the advice of the chief health and medical officers, that “pre-emptive closure of schools are not proportionate or effective as a public health intervention to prevent community transmission of COVID-19 at this time.”

The decision to not proceed with NAPLAN will likely lead to a further blowout of the time frame for a nationwide rollout to online testing, which was extended in the wake of last year’s technical problems.

NAPLAN practice testing was due to start next week, with the tests scheduled for mid-May.

NAPLAN, which is conducted annually for students in years 3,5,7 and 9, has been under mounting scrutiny in recent years, with the teachers union calling for its scrapping and several states pushing for an overhaul.

The latest 2019 data revealed that Australian students’ scores in most literacy and numeracy domains had barely budged since the tests commenced more than a decade ago.

Australian Education Union president Correna Haythorpe welcomed the decision to cancel the test for 2020.

Education Council is due to discuss NAPLAN, and its role beyond 2020, at another meeting next week.

Victorian Education Minister James Merlino, who chaired Friday’s meeting, said the decision to cancel NAPLAN was “the right one”.

“These are unprecedented times and our school communities need to focus on the additional challenge of preparing for remote learning,” Mr Merlino said, thanking “the exceptional contribution from our teachers, support staff and principals during these challenging times”.

“They can be assured that we are acting on the very best medical advice.”

Victoria’s chief health officer also moved to reassure schools that the risk of teachers contracting the coronavirus remained low and there was no evidence of any school clusters where infections had been driven by students.

Dr Brett Sutton said community transmission was not widespread “at this point” and levels of COVID-19 illness “are likely to be very low”.

Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan is expected to wmeet with representatives of the Australian Education Union on Tuesday after officers wrote to the Prime Minister expressing grave concerns about the impact of the virus and how the decision to keep schools open would impact staff and students.

The union also rejected “unrealistic expectations that alternative (virtual) learning episodes will be provided for students in the event that schools close”.

According to the AEU, ‘such expectations are inequitable in their impact, particularly for students who come from low socio-economic backgrounds and regional and remote centres and unsustainable in an education system denied basic resource”.

A number of independent schools have already closed their campuses, switching to online classes.