Queensland teachers told to withdraw own children from Naplan tests as union pushes for reform
NAPLAN #NAPLAN
The Queensland Teachers’ Union is encouraging its members to withdraw their own children from the annual Naplan tests as they push for it to be reformed.
The call to the union’s 47,000 strong member base comes as testing begins on Tuesday and after an extended campaign to have the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (Naplan) changed.
The test is given to students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 since 2008, and is intended to reflect how well students were learning essential skills like writing, reading and mathematics.
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In a letter to its members, the QTU called on its members to send a “clear message” that the test needed to be changed.
“Widespread disengagement from Naplan sends a clear message that parents and teachers don’t value the test in its current form and oppose its negative consequences for students and school communities.”
QTU president Cresta Richardson said the union had recently conducted a survey of their members, and found they overwhelmingly believed Naplan was “broken” and that it needs to be “overhauled.”
“Basically, the test is not fit for purpose.”
“When the test came out 12 years ago, it was supposed to be a low-stakes diagnostic test, apparently. And now, 12 years down the track, it hasn’t been revisited, hasn’t been reframed, hasn’t been revised, it’s just the same old thing every year.”
Richardson said the tests were causing students unnecessary levels of pressure, anxiety and fatigue.
“What’s happening is that some schools are preparing for the tests in term four of the year before.”
“So a kid in year two might be doing planning and preparation material for Naplan when they’re not even going to sit it until May in year three.
“That’s a lot of pressure, and also distracts from the Australian curriculum. It’s diabolical.”
The campaign comes after the tests were cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, but the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (Acara) is encouraging all students to sit the exams this year.
“With the cancellation of Naplan last year and the interruption of schooling because of Covid the community is eager for information about the impact on learning in literacy and numeracy and the effectiveness of remote teaching and learning,” a spokesperson told the Guardian.
Acara, which manages and administers the annual tests, said the tests provide information on how well students are doing in school. They indicated that some reform of the tests was currently being considered.
“Acara is currently looking at ways to improve Naplan, with a particular focus on writing, as directed by education ministers.”
The campaign by QTU comes after an extensive review of Naplan was organised by the state governments of the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.
The review, led by a panel of experts, released their report in 2020 and made a raft of suggestions for reform, including moving the test from its May date to sometime earlier and having the test in Year 10, not Year 9.
But Dr Venesser Fernandes, a lecturer in educational leadership studies at Monash University, said there didn’t seem to be any indication the changes were being considered.
Related: Indigenous children among those making best gains in Naplan testing over decade
“In both these recommendations, it would seem that the review was focusing on how the diagnostic nature of this test could be further strengthened, unfortunately, both recommendations have not been implemented in 2021’s run of the test.
“The last review was extensive and multiple stakeholder recommendations were brought out. What do we now see as the next steps moving forward. Clarity around that would be what best serves student learning in Australia.”
Fernandes called for a dialogue on the issue, saying that the tests were seemingly here to stay, and that parents, teachers and schools needed to be in discussion about how it can be changed for the better.
“Whether the Naplan is right or wrong is perhaps not the right question. It should be focused more on how can an assessment such as the Naplan be used to bring about actual active dialogue and improvement at student, school, sector and system level?
“More understanding and shifted thinking around the use of the results from the Naplan needs to be built into the conversations of this test if it is going to stay as a prominent process for improvement within the discourse of Australian education.”
Fernandes didn’t believe a test was inherently a bad idea, but that it was important to rethink how they are approached.
“I don’t think any test in itself will ever be the answer, it is the rationale behind why we need to have these checking mechanisms and how best we can use them for the greater good of the more than one million students who sit for these tests.”
Richardson said that the data gathered by the Naplan tests would be better replaced by data gathered from teachers and schools from day-to-day teaching.
“We think there should be a new assessment framework, and that should be based on sample testing, in consultation with the teaching profession and the union.”