NAPLAN times are here again…

With NAPLAN testing due to start on the 12th of March, what should be a harmless part of the regular rhythm of the school year can sometimes become a divisive touchstone of discontent.

It’s a subject that can rile people up more than any other  – both as a campaigning point for activists and politicians – and as a cry of ‘could do better’ for those that want to have a go at our schools, teachers and students.

And yet it’s our kids that carry the weight of expectation in this media driven bubble, together with the teachers that support them in their learning. It should never have come to this.

The best advice I can give, with three children that have all been through every stage of NAPLAN across years 3, 5, 7 and 9, is to encourage them to have a go with what they know, and no worries either way – with no expectations whatsoever as NAPLAN makes no difference at all to their school grades. 

Please ignore the high-stakes stories that come out in the media, don’t prepare your child other than to keep them well fed and rested, and definitely don’t waste any money on any NAPLAN study guides. It’s a low-stakes test they might actually enjoy – and so much the better if they can and do. 

Thinking more widely, it’s an experience that can help give your child the confidence to take on what will be the far more important tests, assessments and exams that will come later on in years 11 and 12.

So, what’s the real point of NAPLAN – or to give its full title: ‘The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy’ – as education policy is full of long acronyms that often don’t make sense to those of us in the world outside of education. 

Put as simply as I can, it’s a once a year point in time check for schools and education departments to see where students are in their learning. More specifically, and to quote the NAPLAN website, it’s to check reading, writing, language conventions (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy skills according to the Australian Curriculum.

The key phrase in this is the Australian Curriculum, which is the range of subjects and capabilities that must be taught in every Australian school in the 11 years from Prep to Year 10, and it’s the same for every system be it public, Catholic or private. So far so good you’d think, and yet how many of us really know what’s in the curriculum.

For teachers, it’s the many hundreds of pages of text and tables defining learning expectations, and measurable outcomes, for every subject and age group. For students, it’s the next topic or task they have to master before the next one comes along. For parents, the closest we get to it, unless we really want to dive in, comes in student reports with a series of subjects and comments on our child’s progress – often described in education speak – that then becomes a focus for the following parent-teacher interview sessions. Sessions where we as parents often struggle to understand the lingo. We mostly want to know if our child is happy and content in school, going well, the teachers know and like them and with no dramas going on behind the scenes.

Thinking of the problem of helping parents to understand what’s actually in the Australian Curriculum, its website has a set of parent information sheets as downloadable PDFs for each year group. They give a straightforward and visual explanation of the curriculum, and everything in it. 

Think of it as a very handy cheat sheet to work out what a school is all about. It’s also a handy guide for a general chat with your child’s teacher, or in a parent-teacher interview session. I’d recommend taking a copy with you as teachers love them too, as they offer an easily understood record of what a student will be learning over a school year. 

To find them go to www.australiancurriculum.edu.au and click on the ‘Parent Information’ button on the front page of the website – or better still, encourage your school to have them on its website or parent app.

Going back to NAPLAN, the various tests are now all done online and earlier in the year. The reasoning is that the results can come out far quicker and allow teachers to interpret and use the data to best support the students in their schools. That’s the crux of NAPLAN – the only nationally consistent check, done on the same day, that gives teachers information about the students in their school, their progress and any gaps there may be in their learning – and how this fits with other schools in Australia.

The information that comes back to schools is far more detailed than what goes to parents and you’ll often see the Principal’s comments about the school’s NAPLAN results in the school newsletter. Yes, there are a variety of other tests schools use to keep an eye on how students are progressing on an individual basis, but it’s NAPLAN that gives an objective line in the sand on the school’s  progress from year to year – and one that can be directly compared to every other school in Australia.

The comparison part is another key element as it gives a school the chance to see how it’s going when compared to similar schools. If you find a school sector that’s vehemently opposed to NAPLAN you have to ask why, what is it afraid of. What does it want to keep hidden? 

The most inspiring educators will take an objective look at their school’s NAPLAN results to see if there’s anything they can observe, an emerging trend or an opportunity to make a difference. The best of these are revealed in the top 300 or so schools in Australia that are achieving exceptional outcomes in both attainment and student progress. Both together. Although I would say that student progress – or a student’s growth in attainment between two NAPLAN tests is the true measure of a school’s potential. It’s worth noting that lots of these exceptional schools are in our poorest communities.

These are schools where almost all have examined their data and put a long-term focus to improve, almost always led by an inspiring Principal, or school leader with a dedicated staff team that are fully behind them. There are very few quick-fixes in education, despite what politicians and the media tell us. It comes down to school leadership, motivation and culture over an extended time period – not necessarily due to endless funding and wealthy parents.

As a note to self, please  ignore the media articles about the ‘best’ schools as these almost always focus on attainment scores and ignore student progress. I would say that the best school for you and your family is one where you fit just as you are, and not as the school expects you to be – and one that welcomes your informed input into the school’s core activities of teaching and learning – as there’s no one that knows your child better than you do.

If you want to know more the My School website gives a breakdown of every school in Australia, its funding and how it’s going. Your school will have far more information on its strengths and opportunities to improve and I have yet to meet a Principal that didn’t want the very best for their students and staff. 

Like everything in life, NAPLAN can be taken seriously, but in my view that’s a huge mistake. It’s a point in time check that allows a school to see how it’s going in delivering the core elements of teaching and learning – and with time to adjust its approach – if needed.

The most important thing we can do as parents is to encourage the love of learning and the confidence to try new challenges in life – and maybe to reflect on our own approach to these points, as our children always take note of how we are in guiding their own developing view of the world.

If your child hasn’t done a NAPLAN test before, I’d strongly suggest looking at it as a new experience with no pressure whatsoever, simply as a normal part of a school year – just like a sports day, a school excursion, learning to swim, school camp or a school assembly. Better still, just ignore it and carry on as normal and you child probably won’t even mention having done it.