NAPLAN.

 NAPLAN stands for the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy. It is a yearly assessment for students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9, (ACARA, 2011).  NAPLAN’s aim is to assess and measure the fundamental set of skills crucial for a child’s development throughout their educational experience both in schools and general life. The tests encompass four specific regions of assessment that are incorporated as major aspects of the school curriculum; reading, writing, language conventions (grammar, spelling, punctuation) as well as numeracy, (ACARA, 2011).  It depicts the performance of both the students and their schools as it is collected and marked nationwide.

There is ongoing debate on whether NAPLAN is the right test for Australian students. Since the implementation of NAPLAN, numerous factors have miraculously introduced themselves as legitimate reasons for poor achievement, (Job, 2013). Some have made an obscure connection between NAPLAN and health problems, (Riddle, 2013). Listening and reading these discussions both in the media and several education classes, the internal eye roll almost makes itself visible.  Are we really standing by these excuses for primary school  teachers? Are our standards that low for our students?

The well projected excuses begin and end mainly with the primary school teachers. There is an argument that teachers are pressured to teach…

No, not exactly, though the front argument is that the NAPLAN forces teachers to focus and revolve their curriculum around only a narrow field of reading, writing, language conventions and numeracy, (Bantick, 2012). This is a well-rounded argument if you take the presumption that students were learning that aspect fittingly with other subjects such as HSIE, music and art prior to this assessment. The students obviously have not reflected that learning in this assessment, hence the sudden panic, which concludes that they have been lacking the bare basics which reflect terribly on the teachers.

There is the almost cliché response that music, art, history, geography and sport are just as essential for students as literacy and numeracy. I disagree. Literacy and Numeracy are not on the same level plane. It is absolutely crucial for students to excel in literacy as it is incorporated in every other field of study, (Gibbons, 2009). Take music or art as an example, both these subjects do not merely entail the hour long percussion time primary school teachers set for their students nor the half hour intervals of title pages and finger painting. These two subjects in high school, university and one’s career require in depth written expression of the piece that is played or painted. How is that ever to be achieved lacking the basic skills in literacy? As for numeracy, there isn’t an expectation for students to find eigenvectors; it is the basic numeracy central to existing in this society, (Gibbons, 2009).

Sure, students vary in their level of conception and learning, although that should not be an excuse but merely a little challenge for teachers.

I find that it is frustrating that primary schools have become seven years of mere day care. One article illustrates the nature of the NAPLAN in a ridiculous tone by, “Students as young as seven are made to sit in a room up to twice a day over three days, 40 minutes at a time and use pencil and paper to complete tests with about 40 questions on them”.

Asked to sit and work for one quarter of the school day.

Deprived of their childhood, really.

Resources:

ACARA. (2011). Naplan. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/naplan.html

Bantick, C. B. (2012, November 27). Naplan: it's all about jumping hoops for number crunchers. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/naplan-its-all-about-jumping-hoops-for-number-crunchers-20121126-2a3iv.html

Gibbons,P.(2009).English Learners, Academic Literacy and Thinking: Learning in the Challenge Zone, Portsmouth NH: Heinemann.

Job, P. J. (2013, May 15, ). Naplan is driving our students backwards. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/naplan-is-driving-our-students-backwards-20130514-2jk5p.html

Riddle, S. (2013, May 15). Stress, anxiety and vomiting lead naplan concerns. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/national/tertiary-education/stress-anxiety-and-vomiting-lead-naplan-concerns-20130515-2jliz.html