In April a report highly critical of NAPLAN was released to the public (‘Towards a New NAPLAN: Testing to the Teaching’). This report was commissioned by the New South Wales Teachers Federation and authored by Les Perelman, research affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. To no one’s surprise, discussion and disagreement, but no clear resolution, followed. Now, as it always is at this time of year, NAPLAN is back in the news.
It can be difficult to know what to make of NAPLAN as a teacher, let alone a parent, when the experts and authorities themselves disagree, often vehemently. My children are too young to sit NAPLAN but I know that as a parent I value all of the information that I am given about their learning. In our English classes we don’t teach to the test and I’m proud of that fact. Still, as a teacher, although we aim to instil much, much more in our students than what NAPLAN tests, I do hope for and expect our students to show improvement in those skills that NAPLAN does assess. I am certainly deeply concerned in those cases where NAPLAN shows inadequate improvement and proud of our students when they achieve outstanding results.
I would encourage parents to be forthcoming in discussing NAPLAN with their son’s teachers if there are any questions or concerns. As Head of English I would also personally welcome any input about NAPLAN from parents. Such feedback will be incredibly valuable in informing our approach to this significant, albeit contentions, tool.
Tim Bibbens (Head of English)