Page 4714 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 19 October 2011
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amendment. Indeed NAPLAN testing can be a valuable tool for monitoring the progress of our students and ensuring that they continue to develop their skills and get the most out of our education system. As the motion notes, it provides important feedback for students and parents. As a parent myself, I know that my children have sat a number of NAPLAN tests, and it certainly is useful to see how they are developing throughout their schooling.
The NAPLAN tests are an important and useful tool for feedback, but it is very important that we keep the value of the tests in perspective and do not over rely on the results. They are, of course, just one part of the monitoring and reporting of our students so they can continue to improve. The more important factor, as we know, is the ongoing relationship between parents and teachers and, of course, students so that there is constant and ongoing feedback, and this should be our primary focus as a means to ensure we are delivering for our students and that we are just not looking at those biennial test results.
There has been some criticism of the NAPLAN testing, for example Professor Margaret Wu of the Melbourne university has said that NAPLAN tests have a high degree of measurement error as well as sampling and equating errors and are too inaccurate for the determination of individual student improvement over time, changes in school performance from year to year or differences in educational effectiveness between different schools. This is, of course, just one view, but it is something we need to be mindful of in the constant evolution and improvement of the test. As I said, it is that relationship between students and their families and teachers that is the most important one.
The NAPLAN data gives us the opportunity to address particular weaknesses, and the Greens support the tests and further refinement of not only the test but the way we teach our teachers to use the results and better tailor their teaching to those students in their classes who have demonstrated that they need some extra assistance.
I note that, under the improving teacher quality national partnership, the professional experience committee has been established with representatives from both the University of Canberra and the Australian Catholic University to improve the use of standardised testing by our teachers. Of course, this was the first recommendation in the achievement gap inquiry, so I am pleased this is being progressed. I note that the minister has previously spoken about this issue and that the smart tool kit has been developed to address this issue.
It is very important that we use NAPLAN data well and make sure that our teachers have the tools they need to interpret and apply all the learnings that come out of the test and, equally, that those learnings are kept in perspective and add to the tools we have to assist our students rather than just shifting our focus.
NAPLAN gives us the opportunity to address areas of weakness for individual students and schools. While this certainly is the case, the Greens are cautious and have consistently raised concerns about some of the uses of the NAPLAN data. Of course, I am particularly talking about the use of leagues tables and the publication of results pitting schools against each other. It is very important that we provide the most
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