Radio Brisvaani
MORE than 1800 students from 83 Queensland schools will have to re-sit the NAPLAN test following technical glitches with the online version of the test this year.
Now the Queensland Education Minister, Grace Grace, has called on the Federal Government to reconsider the 2020 target for the full implementation of online NAPLAN testing following the nationwide technical issues, meaning thousands of pupils around the country will have to re-sit the controversial standardised test next week.
Queensland has always taken a cautious approach to the implementation of online testing for NAPLAN and the issues experienced by students in the past fortnight justify that approach,” she said in a release.
States were reassured by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) that issues experienced with the online test in 2018 had been addressed, however we saw more issues this year.
“The Federal Government needs to delay the full rollout of NAPLAN online until further testing and enhancements can be made.”
In Queensland, 1850 students from 83 of the 481 schools that participated in NAPLAN will have to re-take the test.
This includes 1610 pupils who will have to re-sit the writing test, 230 students who will have to re-take the reading test and 10 children who will have to re-sit the conventions of language test.
Ms Grace also renewed a call for a comprehensive national review of NAPLAN.
After more than a decade of NAPLAN testing, the time is right to have a thorough look at what’s working and what could be done better,” she said.
The Queensland Government had commissioned its own review of the standardised test, with about 7500 parents and carers and 3000 students having so far responded to the first stage of the review.
Ms Grace said about 5800 teachers and principals and 200 education stakeholders had so far responded to the second stage of the review, conducted by the Australian Catholic University.
“The review identified that NAPLAN had played a role in supporting improvements in Queensland’s educational outcomes,” she said.
However, many parents reported that testing caused their child to experience anxiety and stress; that there were a range of unintended consequences stemming from the now high-stakes nature of the testing; and that there were differing expectations about the purpose of NAPLAN.
“Educators expressed concern at the growing amount of time and pressure in preparing for testing; examples of teaching being tailored to NAPLAN, resulting in a narrowing of the curriculum; and that NAPLAN data was being misinterpreted as the sole indicator of a school’s performance.”
Ms Grace called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to listen to parents, students and teachers and to commit to a national review of the test.
“Queensland’s work in this area means we are ready and able to contribute our findings to a national review,” she said.
Dr Stewart Riddle, a senior lecturer in the University of Southern Queensland’s School of Education, told the Courier Mail last week that huge issues with students accessing the test online was just another reason to instigate change.
About 500 Queensland schools took the test online this year, but the results will still be released at the same time as the pencil and paper tests.
The lag in the release of results has been an often criticised part of the national literacy and numeracy tests.
One of the benefits of NAPLAN going online which was spruiked by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) was speeding up the delivery of results.
An ACARA spokesman said a faster turnaround of results for schools would be possible once all schools were online, due to occur next year.
