NAPLAN is under fire again. “Outdated” and “inappropriate” are words used to describe the aims of NAPLAN in a recent UNSW study. Many of us parents can relate to the many “negative outcomes” kids experience – like stress and anxiety! ...
More »UNSW’s Gonski Institute says it’s time NAPLAN is ‘ditched’, releases alternative
The Gonski Institute for Education at UNSW has released a report calling for the highly controversial National Assessment Plan for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) to be ditched, not merely redesigned or tweaked. NAPLAN testing, which ended on Thursday and involved ...
More »Alan Jones lambasts NAPLAN as ‘educational dross’
Sky News presenter and former teacher Alan Jones has launched a scathing attack on the National Assessment Plan for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), which commenced this week. Approximately one million students across the country are participating in the test, which ...
More »NAPLAN is back, but should we embrace it?
The National Assessment Plan for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) has commenced today in Australian classrooms, with approximately one million students across years 3, 5, 7 and 9 expected to sit the test. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the national test ...
More »Online interactive program aims to boost ‘alarming’ literacy levels among QLD boys
A new program aiming to improve literacy among boys by engaging them in topics they find interesting is currently being rolled out in schools across Queensland. Called Literacy for Boys, the program focuses on topics including dangerous animals, extreme sports ...
More »Expert group releases report on the ‘language gaps’ in students’ writing
The Oxford Children’s Language Australia group has released a report that highlights declines in Australian students’ writing from Year 7 as well as differences in writing outcomes between male and female students. The group, which comprises experts in language and ...
More »Why we can’t go ‘back to basics’ in our schools
I looked through the window of one of my Year 3 classrooms at my school to see Brayden. He was crying, frozen in a combination of anxiety and pure fear. It’s not what any principal wishes to see in their learning ...
More »Do Australian secondary school students have a ‘problem’ with writing?
Nearly a decade's worth of NAPLAN data and a sweeping review of how writing will be taught in NSW has suggested that Australian students’ writing skills are in a sad state of decline. In a recent Sydney Morning Herald story, ...
More »AEU believes ANSA merely ‘tinkers at the edges’ of NAPLAN problems
The Australian Education Union (AEU) is sceptical about a proposed new form of assessment called the Australian National Standardised Assessment (ANSA) after a review into NAPLAN last week. The NAPLAN review was commissioned by the Queensland, NSW, ACT and Victorian ...
More »New book explores what we can learn from Finland’s education system
A pithy quote sets the tone early in Michael Lawrence’s latest book about the state of education in Australia and why it’s so important: Testing 3,2,1: What Australian Education can Learn from Finland. Penned by English educationalist Sir Ken Robinson, ...
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