The results from this year’s NAPLAN tests were released this week, showing one in three Australian children are not meeting numeracy and literacy expectations.
Although more than half of primary school students fell into the 'strong' and 'exceeding' categories, there are still those falling behind.
But what do teachers and parents – the ones who ultimately deal with our children’s anxiety and stress about NAPLAN – think about the test?
Here are 11 parent’s and teacher’s opinions.
Francesca – "It was a waste of time."
With children that are now adults who did their NAPLAN I still feel strongly that it was a waste of time, with undue pressure on children and their teachers who were encouraged to change the curriculum and review review review so the school would then rank well in NAPLAN.
Laura – "I hate it and the kids hate it."
Teacher here, I hate it and the kids hate it. It’s not an accurate reflection of their learning. The school freaks out and starts doing NAPLAN prep which takes time away from the already overloaded curriculum.
Kate – "It’s just a test."
I’m a parent and I don’t put any emphasis on it for my kids. I say it’s just a test to see what you know, some questions you’ll know, some you won’t. Just try your best. The last results I didn’t even show my son, he didn’t ask about it and I didn’t see the need to tell him. I just filed them away. I’ll do the same this time, though my middle son will want to know his results but I won’t make a big deal about it.
Yaël – "As a school ranking tool, it is useless."
Having put three children through it, taught at all levels of schooling and done NAPLAN marking courses, I can truly say that as a school ranking tool it is useless. As a diagnostic tool it can be useful for schools but as a measure of skill in writing (creatively or persuasively) it is very formulaic. I don’t agree that testing equals teaching and would love to dump it, to give teachers time to teach in a deep immersive way.
Top Comments
If it wasn’t for naplan we’d have no way of telling if our child was either being over emotional about finding reading and spelling difficult, OR if there was a genuine issue to address. School reports yielded no useful data. Teachers’ would day she’s doing well and the “she’s a pleasure to teach”, and “ just read more” comments showed no insight, or direction . NAPLAN, the blunt instrument that it is, showed improvements in all other areas except spelling and writing, which stalled over three successive tests. We sought other non- education professional advice and had the issue addressed and child is in top 5 of top year 10 English class. Finally comparable to performance in other subjects and confidence is improved. We NEED standardisation of some sort- our society runs on it and there is chaos if we don’t have it. So you don’t like naplan? Find something to replace it so parents can be informed and professionals can be held to account.
As a teacher I find NAPLAN completely useless. All it does is put undue stress on the anxious kids and the low stress kids don't care. My own children will be withdrawn from the tests if it is still running when my eldest gets to Year 3, in 2 years time.