Kids ‘urged to miss tests’
PARENTS of kids sitting NAPLAN tests have accused schools of suggesting they stay home instead to boost overall results, a Queensland review of the national system has revealed.
More than 7500 parents, 3000 students and 6000 teachers, principals and education stakeholders from across the state took part in the review released yesterday – the first of its kind in Australia.
Contained in the report was the revelation some parents believed schools were suggesting “low-achieving” children stay at home on test days “to improve the school’s NAPLAN results and protect the school’s reputation”.
Education Minister Grace Grace said she was aware of such reports, along with the rising number of parents opting to remove their kids from sitting NAPLAN tests.
“That percentage is growing and that’s what we want to stem,” she said. “We want to better communicate, so that it isn’t seen as a last resort of what needs to be done in order to stop your child having anxiety.”
She also said the Queensland Government would continue to push for a national review of the controversial tests, a move backed up by multiple education bodies. More than half of all parents surveyed said their children were anxious or very anxious about NAPLAN, and more than 45 per cent believed schools spent too much time preparing students for the tests and kids missed out on other things as a result.
Others expressed concerns that high schools were using individual NAPLAN results as a “de facto entry test”.
Meanwhile, teachers were also demonstrating high levels of stress and anxiety over the tests, with the “high stakes” leading to a range of “negative consequences for schools, teachers and students”.
The review, which began in June last year, found the delay in receiving NAPLAN data meant it was often largely ineffective for teachers and schools.
Minister Grace said “not a week goes by without someone raising a concern with me about NAPLAN”.
She said educators had “expressed concern at the growing amount of time and pressure in preparing for testing; examples of a teacher 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”.