NAPLAN 2010 and MySchool

I frankly fail to understand how the education unions continue to support NAPLAN. That the State sector unions sought to cause a hiccup in this year’s implementation due to the inappropriate usage of NAPLAN results on the MySchool website seems to be entirely missing the central concern that teachers in all sectors have had since the inception of standardised testing.

The purpose of this post, however, is more to place hereon what was for a short period on a tab-section on my homepage – something that does not really belong there.

So here it follows, mainly for my own future reference.

how to withdraw from naplan 2010

> withdraw from naplan 2010

The above link is to a blog entry that essentially provides information to parents on to WITHDRAW their child from participation in the NAPLAN 2010 standardised tests.

Official government sites misinform both parents and the general public with comments such as ‘all students in classes 3, 5, 7 and 9’ will undertake the tests. This is, to say the least, a lie, and appears to be mere propaganda and covert pressure to participate.

In Victoria in 2009, nearly 10% of the student population did NOT participate. Some of these students were exempted, many were simply withdrawn (the correct legal term for parental withdrawal of their child).

> WITHDRAWAL forms for naplan 2010

Will standardized tests be reduced in the UK?

A recent report shows the detrimental consequences that standardised tests (SAT in the UK, NAPLAN in Australia) are having. The Cambridge review, for example, found that:

since only reading, writing, mathematics and science are tested at the end of primary school, they squeeze out other subjects like history, geography and the arts.

> Economist: ‘A classroom revolution’

Seems like the Tories are finally waking up to their previous atrocities:

The starting point of the Sykes Review puts it in line with a growing body of opinion, namely the view that students are over-tested.

There is some irony in a Conservative-backed call for a "reduced emphasis on testing". After all, it was a Tory government that introduced the national tests at ages seven, 11 and 14 in order to ratchet up school accountability.

> BBC: ‘Reducing exams is a Tory aim’