Categories: NewsEducation

‘ANSA’ not the answer to NAPLAN, warns teacher union

The Australian Education Union (AEU) has released a statement this week criticising the government's proposed NAPLAN replacement...

<h3>The recommendations from today’s NAPLAN review &&num;8220&semi;provide little hope that the proposed new Australian National Standardised Assessment &lpar;ANSA&rpar; will be any better than the incredibly flawed and damaging NAPLAN system it is proposed to replace&&num;8221&semi;&comma; warns AEU&period; <&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The review of NAPLAN&comma; commissioned by the Queensland&comma; NSW&comma; Victorian and ACT governments and presented  to the Education Council&comma; recommended an overhaul to NAPLAN but re-endorsed the concept of national census testing of school students&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However Australian Education Union Federal President Correna Haythorpe said the review recommendations fail to address the fundamental problems inherent in NAPLAN&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The NAPLAN review presented to the Education Council has failed teachers and students by recommending the continuation and indeed the expansion of mass census testing&comma;” Ms Haythorpe said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>This review recognises that for more than a decade NAPLAN has failed as an assessment&comma; but it doesn’t take the next logical step of calling for a new sample-based assessment strategy that has students and teachers at its heart&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The published recommendations provide little hope that any replacement national assessment structure being proposed will be any better than NAPLAN&comma;” Ms Haythorpe said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The recommendations tinker at the edges of the problem with a name change&comma; and by slightly altering the schedule and year groups tested&period; However the review completely fails to address the structural problems with NAPLAN&comma; problems that triggered the review in the first place&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;NAPLAN has also been plagued by a lack of credibility with teachers and parents for years&period; ACARA’s own National Report earlier this year admitted that NAPLAN results had been corrupted by connectivity issues which had prevented many students from having a fair attempt to do their best&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This means that the NAPLAN dataset cannot be relied upon by education departments&comma; schools&comma; parents&comma; or the broader community&period; This review calls for a new time series in response to these ongoing issues with the NAPLAN dataset&comma; but merely calls for a reset&comma; rather than a comprehensive new national assessment strategy&comma;” Ms Haythorpe said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Now is the time for NAPLAN to be scrapped&comma;” Ms Haythorpe said&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The &OpenCurlyQuote;ANSA’ proposal fails to address the issues that concern teachers across the country with respect to NAPLAN&period; The Morrison Government must show leadership and act swiftly by scrapping NAPLAN&comma; and engaging in comprehensive consultation with the teaching profession and its union&comma; the AEU to develop a replacement&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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