BY SHANKARI CHANDRAN
At a recent parents’ drinks, I was asked by a mother whether I had made my daughter do any practice NAPLAN* tests. Naturally, I lied like the relaxed mummy that I most certainly am not.
This week my little Prima (aged 8 ) has NAPLAN. It’s her first brush with standardised education and also mine, as a parent.
More importantly, it’s a reminder to myself that Prima might not make the standards set by others or myself.
You see, I can “do” most forms of standardised testing (except reverse parallel parking tests). All you have to do is tell me what the expected standard is, point me in the right direction, and like a greyhound, I will mindlessly chase after the mechanical rabbit. I can’t help it; it’s some weird Pavlovian reaction.
During the Christmas holidays, I printed off a NAPLAN test from the site and I asked Prima to do it. I returned 45 minutes later to find that she had answered a handful of questions and then illustrated the rest of the exam booklet beautifully.
I’ve had years of life coaching (courtesy of a former employer) to control the over-anxious achiever within me and to “learn a new and more constructive dialogue with myself and others”. For example, I almost religiously repeat the following mantra to my children:
-Your marks are not important;
- It’s about doing your best not being The Best;
- It’s about being the best you can be, not being The Best;
- Mummy will be happy if you try your hardest (alternatively insert “best”);
- Learning and having fun is the most important thing Mummy wants.
I wonder if my children sense I am faking it; that despite what I say, their grades really do matter to me. To put this into context, my (fully extended) family and community (you know who you are) are the kind of people who:
- instinctively want to get “full marks” on all tests, including driving tests, eye tests, apgar tests and blood tests;
- ask “What happened to the other 2%?” when you manage a grade average of 98%;
- don’t really believe doing your best is good enough if Your Best is not The Best, despite what that life coach keeps saying.
I have 4 children, which means that our family will collectively sit NAPLAN 64 times ie. 4 (children) x 4 (Years 3,5,7 and 9) x 4 (subject areas); plus 104 school reports plus the HSC = OMG.
So I need to get a grip now. Prima’s NAPLAN is far more a test for me than for her. Prima may answer her NAPLAN questions, she may illustrate them. Who knows? Together we have a long road of education ahead and I want her to love it. I want her to value herself for her strengths and find her own definition of success, instead of being tied forever to the standard one. She’s not a greyhound and lucky for her, she’s not me.
*This piece is not about the merits of NAPLAN, that debate was held last year on Mamamia and it is an excellent read. Nor is it a discussion about the current education paradigm and whether it’s working well or out-dated. If you’re interested, you should check out Sir Ken Robinson:
It’s 11minutes long and more informative than the things I usually search on Youtube (did you know you can watch Knight Rider re-runs on Youtube?).
Shankari Chandran is a recent returner to Australia after ten years in London. Formerly a social justice lawyer, Shankari chronicles the day-to-day of her family’s return on her blog here.
Do your child’s grades matter to you? Do you tell them it’s just the effort that counts? Are you faking it?
Comments
170 Comments so far
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I’m now doing two courses, a course in Children’s Services and an Associate Degree. Finished my final year of VCE last year and I don’t think that there was anything more stressful than trying to alternate between subjects and even the distribution of studying between them all.
Using NAPLAN tests in Primary and Secondary schools can both have positive and negative educational outcomes. Its positives are that Governments, Education Authorities and Schools and the community can determine whether or not young citizens are meeting important educational outcomes. It helps them to determine where that child may need more help within a certain area, although these NAPLAN tests are stressful and can worry children because they think that they are not smart and that they won’t get a great score. Some parents make their child sit practice NAPLAN while others just tell their child to do their best.
We’re seeing a great deal of stress, anxiety, and concern among kids who are being kept in at lunch, being asked to sit practice tests on weekends and during holidays, and who are under increasing pressure to perform because the teachers and the schools have so much riding on the children’s performance. O’Keefe, (2011).
There are the negatives of the NAPLAN scores being showed on the ‘my school’ website, where it shows where schools are ranked around Victoria. This can put a negative impact on children as if their scores come back and aren’t ranked very high it can make children lose self confidence and self-esteem.
NAPLAN tests can also be discouraging as some students aren’t willing to participate in the assessment or some students may have disinterest and choose to sit there and shade random boxes.
References:
O’Keefe, D 2011, ‘NAPLAN nightmares’, Education Review, retrieved 13 May 2012,
http://www.nap.edu.au/About/Why_NAP/index.html
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A week ago I was helping in class and two children told me that they were practicing hard at home for Naplan. This week I ran into both these parent who asked if we had done work at home for Naplan. I answered honestly no – I work and don’t have time. They both told me that they hadn’t. What I read from this is that parents coach their children and then lie about it. So I am heading out today to purchase the year 5 Naplan books so we can make a start this weekend. Maybe sometime between two games of soccer, swimming lessons, French horn practice and birthday parties we can get a jump start on them all.
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You make me laugh! Thank you for being an honest mummy, I love your work Lynda. x
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I don’t understand the parents who are not allowing their child to sit these tests… It’s part of school. Deal with it.
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As a Mum of a 4.5yr old that is preparing to start his first year of primary school next year, I liked having the NAPLAN results to view. Most of the schools in our area performed well whilst a handful consistently performed well below average. As well as open days and tours it was just another tool for us in selecting a school for him.
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Well done Prima with your creative visual reponse to NAPLAN practise test at home. Hopefully your schools will complement your enriched home life and develop your divergent thinking capacity.We need our Education system to nurture different ways of responding to stimulus material, not standardise it. Maybe Prima will become a great thinker like Sir Ken Robinson? Thank you for sharing his questions with us. And how much the cartoon visuals added to his talk! All of those connections went off like explosions in my brain.
NAPLAN can be used as a tool to inform governments, teachers of areas for focus and improvement and inform parents of where their child is compared to a national benchmark (on the day of the test). Unfortunately individuals, the media and sadly some teachers use it to make judgements about schools. NAPLAN is not Education.
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My daughter has been sitting year 3 NAPLAN this week. She wasn’t worried about it at all but was wondering why the teacher kept telling them not to be nervous, because they actually weren’t! I showed her the my school website and explained NAPLAN to her. She really couldn’t give a toss.
The school she goes to is a top ranking rural private school and always scores highly on NAPLAN. I don’t really see what the big deal is about it, she’s not worried about it an neither am I. Her teacher was the most nervous, it was a little amusing actually.
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I like NAPLAN and use it to chose my kids’ schools. It’s the only way to tell about the academic standard, there is no other way, as every school will tell that they do well. I know that there are lots of other measures of a good school, and those I can find out for myself. But not the academic standard.
I don’t care that the kids get stressed. Big deal, it gives them exam practice and the parents an insight into their resilience (or lack thereof). And kids in other countries are currently walking two hours a day for water with thier sibblings on their backs.
I do care that teachers don’t like it though, and am concerned that they say it means that they teach to the test instead of teaching what matters.
My daughter was in year 1 at local public primary school, which i had thoroughly researched, except for looking at NAPLAN. We were v unhappy there, for many reasons, most of which were academic. When NAPLAN came out that year, it confirmed what we knew to be wrong w the school. Now we had proof that our expectations of homework, home-reader etc.. were not too high, and that our daughter was missing out on education. So we moved her to another public primary school whose ranking was 300 points above the initial one, and are much happier.
Meanwhile the original school has a new principal and extra funding and is doing better. How can this be bad???
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I cannot believe how many people do not understand what Naplan is for. By all means there are reasons to withdraw your child from it, and there are certainly both a range of criticisms of it. HOWEVER, Naplan is NOT about your child’s individual progress, nor should it be about heaping pressure on them. It is a way for the government to look at the overall progress of the school, region, state, data about achievement among various groups – indigenous, different socio economic areas, regional versus metropolitan.
It is about collecting data, and if you withdraw your child you are contributing to the picture being incomplete. It is not about individual scores, except for the teacher being able to evaluate and guide his/her planning and teaching in the future dependent on areas of identified weakness.
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Those might be the intended purposes of NAPLAN, but it also used for many other purposes as well. Children are given individual scores and rankings, which parents receive, and many high schools are now asking for copies of NAPLAN reports before offering places to prospective students. I support the original purposes but not the rest.
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We had this discussion at a morning tea yesterday. Some mother’s of kids doing NAPLAN were saying that the kids were quite anxious about it but they have not made a big deal about NAPLAN to the kids (which may not be the total story after reading your article). I have a Year 1 child and whilst I have seen the sign outside the school I have no idea what is happening to the older kids. In time I shall I suppose. Great article.
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I am a teacher. When I have kids, I pray that NAPLAN (napalm, as we call it), will be gone so I don’t have to actively withdraw my children from it.
Since my husband began his Masters degree in the US, never have I become so actively involved in another person’s learning style. He is extremely practical. He can apply things he understands to what he does, and he is very musical. But he has taken a few classes where he has had to learn a lot of facts (he has just started a language for the first time ever – German). He is a rote learner, and it is a slow process. He has to be able to relate back to what he already knows. He sometimes struggles to apply the rules to new things unless he does it many times.
He is fantastic at his job. He is a hard worker and an advocate for whatever he is passionate about and any employer would be glad to have him. I am fairly sure he would score below the benchmark in most NAPLAN tests, particularly maths.
As an aside, in relation to the role that parents play, I am of above intelligence. My mother, bless her heart, is a teacher, and was the parent who would say, “98%? Where’s the other two?” I have grown up now (and I don’t think this is my nature, as if I am very interested in something, it doesn’t apply – I am still a perfectionist for what I deem to matter to me) to think that I don’t need to try. I can achieve half decent results without trying too hard, and if I am going to get that response no matter how hard I try, I might as well not put the work in. I hope that makes sense! Of course, not every child with that kind of pressure will wind up the same attitude, but just be aware of the effects you can have.
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Thank you, thank you. As another ladder climbing, rabbit chasing Type A personality it is nice to know I am not alone.
Somehow I always thought my kids would be like me. Instead, so far, I have one very laid back and one artistic soul.
When my son was in prep he told me he didn’t need to learn how to read any more words as some of the other kids in the class knew how to read and he could just ask them what stuff said. Nearly broke my heart.
I just keep talking the talk about doing your best and hope that by the time they realise how clenched my teeth are they are old enough for therapy or I have chilled out somewhat. Therapy seems more likely!
Hope Naplan was uneventful for your daughter.
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Hey doneanddusted, thank you right back. I am so glad it’s not just me. I too assumed my children would be like me (for better and for worse I suppose, I was just more focused on the better). I hope now that they will grow up to be much better than me! One is super focused, then we have Prima my little artist, and the other two, well it’s too early to tell. Think of me when you clench, I’ll be doing the same and hoping for their sakes’ that I chill out. Thank you re: NAPLAN, I hope so too – she’s been hilarious about it (“It was awesome mummy, we love NAPLAN….”).
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NAPLAN is stressful for lots of people involved; students, parents and staff. The sheer logistics in organising lots of students to sit a paper, whilst lots of others do not, is often the reason behind students from other year groups sitting “practice” tests. Basic test taking skills, even to the extent of correct bubble coloring, impact on a school’s results. As time progresses and the ways in which the broader community uses the information evolves, more emphasis is being placed on this snapshot and it really is being given more credit than it is due.
Given that universities are moving away from ATAR etc systems my suspicion is that in the next dozen or so years when my kids may be going down that path their standardized test scores will mean diddly squat.
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NAPLAN is a waste of school time- especially before the test- a waste of paper and a waste of money. The only thing NAPLAN has going for it, is that the results can drive my teaching for the rest of the year. It can show me what the children need. That’s it. There are many kids out there who do not test well. They may have an off day, read a question incorrectly or suffer anxiety over the expectations placed on them. Get rid of it!!!
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I will just use Prima’s idea of getting that test beautifully decorated when it will be my daughter’s turn to sit the test
I just love the thought of it!!! That will definitely continue to promote her creativity!
I honestly do not fake it when I say it is not the grades that matter to me, it is really the learning process and all that goes with it (a sense of belonging (or not), enjoyment, disappointment, excitement, boredom…). I am one of those who thinks it is all about the path and not the destination (so uncertain at his time of her life anyway). I want her to find what works for her to ultimately be an independent and motivated learner forever and ever. That, to me, means she needs to find what she enjoys doing, what she finds exciting, and how she can get where she would want to get (which will most likely be constantly evolving). I want her to not stop being curious, to not be afraid to take risks or make mistakes.
So, in this big picture, standardized testing does not seem to play a big part.
I certainly do not want her to believe these tests will define her and / or will determine the course of her life in any meaningful way.
That is how I hope we will both approach it when the time comes to “have to do it”…
Thanks again for getting me to think about these things ahead of time! I feel relieved it is so clear in my mind
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Thank you as always for your thoughtful comments Kati, I love reading your responses and I feel like they often remind me of what is important. Beautifully said y muchas gracias como siempre.
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I am a teacher from a long line pf teachers (both parents, brother) and my children will not be doing naplan. If i want to know how they are doing i will ask their teachers.
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I wish ANY other topic related to schools and education could generate this amount of interest!
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Sometimes these Government tests do serve a purpose. My youngest didnt do very well at primary school, I could never undestand why since as a teacher i could recognise a very bright person, i kept thinking i was just bias.
His teacher, who he had in 1, 2nd and 3rd class ( a plan they followed at his school) assured me he was”doing his best”. So i tried to support him with comments (when those times cropped up ) that not everyone was academically successfully; didnt mean he wasnt bright in his own way etc
3rd class he was tested by some gov’t test, they found he was in the top 2% in mathematical ability, top 3% in solving problems and the bottom 20% for reading.
lots of tests later and different specialists and we found he had a “reading/memory” problem.
So the test proved to be a plus for us.
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As the years have gone by, schools have put more pressure on the kids to perform well so that they look good. In theory, the idea is to see which schools need additional resources. However, principals are under pressure to show value for money and be able to demonstrate that they have achieved results with that money. It is not about your child! I get very angry about pressure being put on children like this because it is not in their interests. If you are an interested parent and have high (but not unrealistic) expectations of your child, then they will live up to them and achieve well.
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My daughter is yr 5, I cant believe how much time has been spent at school practising for these tests!
Yr 3 she attended a different school and they did very little prep, this year they have been studying since the start of term 1.
Miss 10 is a high acheiver, I’m the same as you Shankari, I tell her to just try her hardest, but I hope (and generally get) the best. Is it bad to be proud we have a smart kid? I’m just as proud that she is kind and helpful to others in her class.
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Hi, long-term reader, first time poster.
My son is in Year 5 and going through NAPLAN and the best way for me to interpret the testing is that it’s just a SNAPSHOT of a child’s progress. This is how I have explained it to him. Of course, I want him to try his best, but as a responsible parent I can not allow him to get stressed and worked up over it. But as a snapshot, things change and the concepts he didn’t get at the beginning of the year are likely to make sense later (those ‘aha’ moments).
The results are not a case of ‘that kid’s smarter/dumber than me’. It’s a case of ‘what concepts do I need to revisit that I didn’t quite get’.
My son also has Asperger’s and dysgraphia (a writing disability) so his results are not going to be wonderful and we are prepared for that. He knows that writing, spelling and grammar are not his strong points (low muscle tone!) and I am more than sure if he was assessed orally he would score much higher (Aspies are quite intelligent). However, there are limitations to NAPLAN and it will not fit every child. I, myself, LOVE exams and tests, but I also understand this is not for everyone, especially children like my son.
We will use the results to decipher what aspects of his learning need to be focussed on. And no, the school has never asked for him to sit out the tests even though it is likely he would bring down the class average. This would be discrimination, illegal, morally wrong and soul-destroying for both the student and the parent.
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Hi fifi-lulu, thank you so much for taking the time to comment and for your honesty. It sounds like you’ve explained it really thoughtfully to him and that you and the school will use NAPLAN in the way that it was intended, with the perspective and sense of balance that it was also intended to have. With very best wishes to you and to your family, Shanks
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I absolutely adore Ken Robinson!
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I am a recent convert (I am always late to cool stuff). A family member showed this to us recently and I think it will serve as a necessary perspective-restorer for me. The RSA site has some other really thought-provoking pieces.
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We tried to fit him into an assignment for uni. Will keep trying though! There are some great people around speaking a great deal of good sense with regards to education and teaching at the moment. One I did use, which surprised the hell out of me (for liking it so much!) was Rupert Murdoch!
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My son is not at all stressed about it, in his mind it is just another test, no better or worse then another test.This is his first Yr 3 ones. I haven’t really said much about it and while the school has given them a couple of test runs so they can get a hang of the format I don’t think they have made a big deal about it either. I didn’t think they were that important ofr the individual. I am hoping it may give me some perpective of how my son sits nationally as in his small school he is working a few years above his grade.
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I teach secondary school (though am on leave this year, yippee, no NAPLAN interrupting my classes or boring supervision to do!!) and recently we have started doing a practice test in the lead-up to the actual test. This is primarily because the curriculum at year 9 does not (or did not, last year) cover the particular style of writing that the NAPLAN asked them to do. The practice tests were simply to make sure that the kids understood what was actually required of them. The tasks were discussed by not marked – we didn’t want to skew the results. It gave them good time management practice too.
The kids find the whole thing boring and tedious (OK, so do the teachers!) but we seem to have gotten through to them that this is government-mandated and simply a way of gauging where everyone’s at – a form of data collection.
One student asked, “if we all get bad grades, do you lose your job?”
I’m still not sure if he was fearful or hopeful of that happening!
I can understand completely for some children that tests are daunting, and if the school makes a big deal out of it, this can increase the anxiety levels.
My school does not exclude students who struggle academically, or those who have learning or intellectual disabilities, though at times parents have asked for their child not to participate, for various reasons.
Whoever commented that the MySchool website started all the NAPLAN anxiety was exactly right. No one was bothered by it until it became a way of publicly comparing schools and measuring teacher effectiveness.
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When she came home today I asked year 9 daughter what she and her friends thought of naplan and her response was exactly what you’ve said – boring, tedious, something they have to do for the government.
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Just as an aside, I think it’s pretty cute that from a young age they are using those adjectives for things they have to do for the government!
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She’s not that young ?? year 9 (14), not 9 years old? I’ve probably said it to her to explain what it’s for, and judging by the teacher’s comments above, perhaps that what teachers say too. I remember on one trip to school explaining it to my (the 15 year old) son who was a bit annoyed to go to school on naplan day because he knew a lot of his peers weren’t going to bother going.
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This year is the first year of NAPLAN for my 8 year old daughter, and she was quite relaxed about it. I like to think that is partly due to us as parents not making a big deal about it, and also I have never printed any NAPLAN test for her to do at home. Her school do it enough, she doesn’t need additional pressure.
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I think there are a few things teachers, parents and students need to remember about NAPLAN.
The NAPLAN test is only a snapshot of where your child was at on the given day they sat the test. Their results could be easily influenced my factors such as health, how anxious they get about change in their routines, or the unusual format of the test (though teachers do introduce it to them.
Also, NAPLAN is only a measure of your child’s Numeracy and Literacy skills. This is not a holistic overview of their skills, there is no oral component, no place for artistic, musical or kinaesthetically skilled to show their chops. No history, civics or citizenship, science or environment, all areas that are assessed in some combination by the teachers. In regards to Numeracy, your child’s results may be influenced by any Literacy difficulties they have as it make it had to understand worded questions.
The NAPLAN is best used as a tool for schools to judge their overall ability to deliver successful Lit and Num programs and to target areas such as Space or Number, where the test showed a weakness across the peer group. It is also useful over a number of years to see what areas schools are improving outcomes.
Teachers looking at an individual NAPLAN score, wouldn’t take that result as a complete assessment of ability. What occurs in the classroom every other day of the year is far more important.
If a parent has high behavioural and academic expectations, their child won’t fail. In every educational study done, a parent’s expectation of school success is the most important factor in determining school success. By high expectations I don’t mean pressure, I mean setting the expectation that they participate in all activities, try their hardest, the parents show interest in their work and support it at home with shared reading (and demonstrating that you as adults read and do maths!) and celebrate their school successes. These things will mean more to your child’s school success than NAPLAN, or practice tests etc. To me it sounds like you are setting up your children to be happy successful students.
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I wish I had read your post before I wrote mine.
These are all my sentiments exactly!
Your perspective is spot on.
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Hi there, thank you so much for your comment. I really appreciate the time, effort and the perspective. The last paragraph was particularly reassuring for me, thank you. Shanks (PS.I still read but gosh is my maths declining)
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A very eloquent and level-headed response to NAPLAN. Coming from the uk we have our own equivalent, SATS. These are preformed at 7 and 11, they may have scrapped the test for 14 year olds. My eldest is doing SATS (aged 11) right now. Her school has a somewhat unusual approach and does them as a kind of aside that needs to be done to tow the party line. There is very little build up, in fact we were hardly aware they were happening at all at 7! They are expected to do well in exams and are prepared well but the exam period itself is very low key. Coming from the “where did the 0.5% go?” brigade I was surprised by the attitude, but it seems to have formed a group of achievers who take exams in their stride without getting too stressed.
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I adore Sir Ken Robinson’s thoughts about education – thank you for sharing. NAPLAN takes children so far away from wisdom, from the human side of education. It is a classic example of bad communication, which unfortunately takes time and focus away from differentiated education and equitable teaching and learning.
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My 8 year old is not worried about the Naplan testing because she loves a challenge but her friend who is not as clever as her is very worried. My child is more worried about having to go to sports day, because she’s not very sporty. I was disappointed in the school sending home homework this week while they have their heads in the Naplan tests at school.
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I just want to say that my 8 year old boy child was so stressed, angry, teary and worried that he did not want to go to school. After school and the first day of the Naplan test he told me he wanted to scream his head off before, during and after the test. This to me is not cool and breaks my heart, end of story.
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Please let the government know about your child’s response (you can google Julia Gillard or Peter Garret). Apparently they only get good feedback from parents. I guess people whose children do well in tests like them doing tests. I hate the extra stress that the test, and the publication of the results, puts on schools. Learning should be a holistic experience. I am also concerned about the quality of the marking of NAPLAN. Markers are under enormous pressure to get through papers quickly.
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Is this a common reaction from him to stressful situations?
My child is still to experience this test but if he reacted with that much stress I’d want to find out why. Was it comments from his teachers, other students or parents that scared him so much? For an 8 year old they should just think it’s another day at school but with a long boring test.
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You should blame the school an not the government. As a secondary teacher (although I think it might be different in primary) our students had no pressure and were given a test just so they knew what to expect. Schools shouldn’t place any pressure on kids and I’m quite saddened to know that schools place a lot of emphasis on it.
If you feel that your son’s school is placing too much pressure on him then say something. My son’s only 4 but I know I’ll refuse to allow him to participate in anything that is unreasonably stressful for his age, which seems the case for some kids.
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Many years ago i came across a scientific research about happiness, two of the conclusions the author had were the following. I printed them up in large letters on the wall of my classroom. They were very apprecited by those students who enjoy school and feel “nerdish” .
THOSE PLEASURES THAT REQUIRE NO EFFORT TO PRODUCE OR ENJOY, AND HAVE NO WIDER MEANING , RESULT IN THE MOST SUPERFICIAL SATISFACTION, WHICH SOON FADES
Dr Anthony Daniels ( researching happiness )
WE FORGET – WITH THE NOW COMMON INSISTENCE THAT EDUCATION SHOULD BE AN ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCE, AT ALL TIMES – THAT THE ABILITY TO TOLERATE BOREDOM FOR THE SAKE OF A GREATER OBJECTIVE IS ESSENTIAL TO ALL REAL ACHIEVEMENT OR SATISFACTION
Dr Anthony Daniels ( researching happiness )
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Hi Kateb, thank you for reading and commenting. I find that second quote particularly interesting. I agree with it and have a philosophical difference with a family member on that one – she is a proponent of the polar opposite idea. I suspect it will be a life-long disagreement for the two us but I really feel that there are times when we do have to just suck it up and get on with it. My dad used to always say to us that “you can’t just do the things you love, you have to love the things you do”. We would laugh at him and roll our eyes but I think like with many things he and my mother were right. I am grateful for that “skill” of tolerating boredom (or the understanding that it is necessary at times) that they gave us – I wouldn’t have finished uni, or survived my first years as a lawyer (there was a lot of photocopying and schlepping), or some days as a senior lawyer even. I’m grateful because by hanging on, the rewards were well worth it. Any way, nice quote and I will think of it the next time I go head-to-head with my philosophically opposed family member!
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I love tests. Love exams. Hate having to do assessments through the term/semester/year. My ideal is doing an exam at the end of each term or unit of work rather than having to do assessment tasks all through that you do at home. I’ve been on prac in classes that are sitting NAPLAN now, and the only mention has been in a lecture at uni that the grades sitting it are doing exposition writing so they are probably learning how to do that right now. Which they were. But I haven’t heard any mention (apart from on the calendar in the staff room) at school at all.
Rather than stressing out or pushing, I look at tests to just see how things are going for me and for everyone else doing it.
I don’t like to get too stressed out about something I can’t really change, and I think maybe that’s why I like exams – I don’t really have the opportunity to change stuff too much and second guess myself to change it because it’s all done in a couple of hours and you just don’t get the time to sit and go over and over stuff. And you can leave and leave it behind you when you’re done!
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I am totally the opposite! I love assignments, HATE exams. I find them too stressful and because I work better under pressure. I can leave assignments until the last minute and you just cannot do this with exam study. OH THE STRESS!
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I’m so with you Emma – 100% exam would be my worst nightmare!
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You like working under pressure but find exams stressful?
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I thought I was the only weirdo who preferred exams to assessments!
I would be quite happy to have a 100% weighting on my final exams every semester. I once said this to someone at uni, who looked at me like I had 2 heads!
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Hi MMers,
I couldn’t log in..LONG time no comment..but I had to on this one. Last night I watched twitter with some interest as people recounted their kids’ experiences from Day One of NAPLAN. But the one which really got me fired up was when I heard of a school’s practice of NAPLAN for the grade before… grrr. And to top it off I read that some Kinder & Yr 1 parents get their kids to do practice papers..Oh dear. I blogged…I could not NOT blog (yes, very poor use of language)…and here’s my take
http://www.denysewhelan.com.au/writing-for-you/is-n-a-p-l-a-n-now-p-a-n-i-c-time/
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What schools should be testing is the basic level achieved at the end of every year. Don’t pass? Can’t go onto the next year! Too many HS kids don’t work at all at school and couldn’t give a stuff about achieving any kind of result on a test once every few years. They know they automatically go into the next year regardless of whether they are working at that level. Give them a final test every year that has the consequence they don’t go up with their peers and I bet teachers like myself will see a sudden increase in attendance, work completed and attitude! There has to be accountability and consequences. Naplan isn’t for the students- it’s for the department, schools and parents.
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Shankiri, Now that I’ve read more of your comments I understand more of where you’re coming from.
Here’s my attempt at something..
Son consistently gets high results in naplan maths and not as good in reading, just like his school reports.
Daughter1 was getting middle of the line naplan results, just like her school reports, until she suddenly started to enjoy reading fiction and her reading naplan went up, as did her school reports. She spends much of leisure time drawing but this isn’t tested.
Daughter2 got off the top scale results in every area in her first naplan year, and I had previously asked her teacher to please STOP giving her homework, because she is an over-driven individual, won’t go to bed until she’s done everything and gets really cranky.
i.e. The children are all different, I have very limited power to change any aspect of them or create different interests which shape their lives, my attempts to ‘be better than my own parents’ have probably not produced the outcomes sought in any great measure, in fact after 16 or so years at it I just leave them to their own gods. Whatever it is with the high achieving desires for your children you’ll probably get over it before they finish school.
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Great post!! Thanks!
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Hi,
I read a great article yesterday (Illawarramercury.com.au) where University of Wollongong psychology fellow and father of five Justin Coulson said not everyone felt so relaxed (abouit NAPLAN) and he would not be sending his daughter in Year 7 to do her NAPLAN test.”We’re seeing evidence, anecdotally and scientifically, that children who are being asked to do these high stakes tests are being put under more and more pressure and that is being manifested in genuine physiological symptoms,” he said.
He said children as young as eight were reporting headaches, nausea and vomiting because of test-related stress.
“I don’t want my kids to go to school feeling like they’re going to vomit,” he said. He was also concerned that NAPLAN results gave young children a score indicating whether they were above or below average.
“If this is used the wrong way, parents and teachers may end up believing that a student with a particularly low number is simply incompetent or incapable of learning and isn’t going to do well,” he said.
I totally agree with him.
What I didn’t realise was that as a parent you can opt for your child to be exempt or withdrawn from sitting for these tests.
I also have a friend whose child was having learning difficulties in Year 3 at school. The Private School asked her if she’d like her daughter to ‘sit out’ the test. After all they want their results to reflect what a great school they are and don’t want them being brought down by children who can’t achieve high results.
Standardised testing can be manipulated and what was seen as a positive government iniative is now being questioned by many parents who know how the sytem works.
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I would say the problem there is not the test itself, but how it is being handled either by the school, the parents or both. It is ludicrous that children should be feeling that degree of anxiety about a data-collection exercise. What will they do when they approach any other test they need to sit on their school journey? There are many of them to come. Kids should be taught good “exam hygiene” from the earliest age – skills in how to handle sitting and/or preparing for the test, but without massive stress and expectations placed on their performance.
Also, I hope we give teachers more credit that to pigeon-hole a child on the basis of one “snapshot” test. They have our kids in the classroom five days a week – I think they have a broader understanding of their abilities than the results of a few hours’ testing.
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No-one gave a rats about NAPLAN results (other than their own child’s results) before the creation of the MySchool website.
Now we have the urban myth of certain schools encouraging poor achievers to have a ‘sick week’ for NAPLAN. Given one of my children is a gifted underachiever (particularly in maths) I can vouch that that particular school isn’t doing it, nor can I find anyone who says their school does it.
Standardised testing I have no problem with. Publishing the results in a format that invites bun-fights between parents of School A and School B (or even School Z) sends me into a tailspin.
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I used to teach in a learning centre where we had high school students attend Language/Maths classes as they were many years behind their same age peers. When the dreaded Naplan was on they watched DVDs usually with a relief teacher while their peers were tested fully aware why they weren’t included. Because we’re dumb….
I really felt for these kids- more exclusion and another tick on the difference/low self esteem stigma scale.
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Well, there you go. I stand corrected. What state are you in, Janed?
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I was in the ACT at a Government high school. I’m sure it’s different for every school- hard to check. There may have been a special exemption too for some students in learning centres.
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In VIC it was the AIMs test. Don’t think grade 3 did it- not sure about grade 5 but definitely done in secondary.
Definitely more emphasis is being placed on Naplan though.
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I’m sure I will do a terrible job of hiding my hopes that the children will do well on tests, but hopefully they will take as much attention as they do when I ask them to sit at the table/ turn off the tv/ etc etc!
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Yes, Nafflan, ooh sorry Naplan. I don’t think these tests should be taken too seriously. It is a very narrow area of the children’s overall abilities they are testing. My son likes the change to routine that these tests bring and my daughter went off saying it is a practice test Mum….
BIG fan of Sir Ken!
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Back when i was in primary school it was called WALNA. I remember looking forward to it whenever it came around because it was the EASIEST TEST EVER.
And mostly because nobody gave a shit. Because I think the point is not to give a shit. I always thought it was a test that was intended to be ‘sprung onto you’, not something you study for, because the aim of it was to test where you are in comparison with the national average. It’s supposed to be HELPFUL to students and parents so parents know if their kiddies need extra help!
Who cares if the kids are having a little bit of extra stress every 2 years for one day (at the most) because of NAPLAN. Get. Over. It. Australia.
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NAPLAN is 4 tests over 3 consecutive days.
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The tests don’t go for the whole day though.
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true, but for the disruption they cause they might as well.
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The tests are only 40 or 50 mins each. Less than a lunch break!
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A great article, and yes I think school tests are often more about the parents (and of course the school) rather than indication of the child’s future success and happiness. Yes I expect my children to try, but until common sense, creativity, determination and motivation are measured I am not going to get overly worried. The pressure on school children is horrendous. Funnily enough in my current role at work I see the product of this style of education, university graduates who got the great marks but are unable to apply theory to practical work, have no analytical skills or common sense. Is this the outcome we really want for our children??
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My kids go to an independent school which downplays the Naplan and de-emphasises grading and competition in general. I am yet to see how this will pan out. However, I myself come from a family like yours, Shankari.. being the best was the expectation.
I went to a school which had a “top class” and entrance exams and all that jazz. Like you, I became a good little test-taker. Not especially creative or self-determined or original (that’s speaking for me, not you) but hey..good at getting good marks.
So yeah, while I secretly itch for my daughters to top their class I am aware that its my problem, not theirs, and I remind myself that good grades actually contributed very little to my current quality of life. When self-worth is tied up with academic acheivement, its never pretty in the long-run.
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Kaz – so well said!
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My sister was/is a super-achiever. She was the dux of a top school. She has a top job, lives in a top area and makes to tops money. Is she happy- no way. As miserable as they come. She agrees with you Kaz, and so do I, you shouldn’t judge your self-worth by acacademic success. Or whose has more friends. Do you best, be a nice person and do what makes you happy. Tops!
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Thanks, Kaz… as one who grew up linking self-worth to academic success, completely agree. I have always been great at tests and exams… doesn’t always bring what you need in life
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I care about them moving forward, making progress, but happy for them to do it at their own pace, not mine.
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I asked my child how he went in his test. His reply was I don’t know. They haven’t marked it yet.
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My 11 yo did the Naplan in year 5 last year and of course in year 3, both times I have been amazed at his results.
In year 3 when he talked about the writing assessment (not his strong suit) he admitted to not trying all that hard.
Love his attitude, he will have a go but realises the results are not life changing, and will have no impact on his future.
Hopefully his sister will have the same attititude when starts next year.
As parents we don’t talk about Naplan with the kids, except as a ‘how was your day’, and to praise his results.
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these tests are not a very good indication of ability in years 11 & 12. I remember it being focussed more on general knowledge & basics like grammar, not actually what we were learning at the time. A friend of mine simply did not care about marks at all through high school, and just scraped through to the next year. Then in year 11, he started studying & surprised everyone by getting 98 UAI!
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My eldest is in year 3, and I’m quite keen to see the results. It’s the first time we’ll be able to get an idea of how he’s going compared with other kids, as you don’t really get that from report cards these days.
That said, I am really happy that the NAPLAN is a bit of a non event at his school. From what I can understand the kids did one practice test in each of the subject areas and that’s it. No extra homework etc.
I know when I was doing the HSC my mum was pretty disappointed that I spent most of year 12 socialising and dating, although I did pay attention in class (mostly). I definitely did not do my best, but looking back, I am glad I did it this way. I did well enough to get into any of the courses i was interested in, and to be perfectly honest I had a lot to learn socially, so I’m glad I spent some time on that and not achieving a TER of 99.9
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My partner and I would like our child to be average, maybe above average if push came to shove but above all we want her to be happy, helpful, well adjusted and liked by herself and her peers. She’s only in Yr 1 at the moment so NAPLAN is a couple of years off. We won’t be stressing about it, practising for it, or giving it any more attention than any other ‘test’ or ‘piece of assessment’ she does. It is one small part of her education.
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Sitting on the bed with my daughter who explained how she argued the affirmative for ‘everyone should learn to cook.’ Well it would be very boring and unfair if the person at home (her dad) had to do all the cooking, they would feel like a slave. Daddy is so lucky that you help him sometimes and on the weekend but imagine if there was a family where it was just one person ALL the time.
Besides cooking if fun – so I argued that too.
PRICELESS
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Or….”if you got lost in the jungle you could fashion a frying pan out of leaves and bark and cook some berries so you don’t die”. My daughter,year 5. I reckon the people marking the persuasive texts are going to have a good laugh!
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“Mummy, you do spell vegetable, v-e-g-t-a-b-l-e,” my youngest said yesterday after her first ever Naplan test. Every A-type cell in my A-type mind seized.
“No darling, it has another “e” after the “g”,’ I told her. “But you have a long life to learn things and you don’t need to know it all now.”
So she skipped home happily. And, once again, on this great road of mothering I came to terms that good enough is good enough.
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I love your response ‘you have a long life to learn things & you don’t need to know it all now’ that is one I will remember to use on my kids.
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I have two kids doing NAPLAN in yr 3 and yr 5 this yr. I have done practice tests with them over the last few months sporadically and have given them personal coaching on how to achieve the best results from the tests. I know that this is more than a lot of mums at my school have done and I have been told that it was “a bit over the top”. Believe it or not, I am not super fussed about their marks. I know that their results does not dictate the direction of their lives at this age (despite what some mum above seems to think). Why do I place an importance on preparing for the tests? A few reasons:
A) they are 8and 10 years old and haven’t had a lot of experience sitting exams. Small things like learning to manage your time, understanding what the question is asking you, knowing how to move on if you don’t understand a question without it bothering you then coming back to it again at the end, checking your answers and controlling your nerves can make a huge difference to your marks.
B) getting a good result boosts their self confidence and affects their self talk about how smart they are and what they can achieve.
C) my daughter will set a selective high school test soon and I want her to have the best chance she can of sitting that exam well so she can maximise her options, since we can not afford to send our children to private school.
My kids went into their exams feeling confident, knowing what to expect and I feel like their marks will be a result of their ability, not just nerves from the day.
Not all mums who care about their kids marks are anxious, helicopter parents who make their kids study for hours a day after school. My kids are well balanced, bright, social and have a variety of activities to enrich their lives. There’s a lot of grey in this area too.
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Hey Jo, those sound like very good reasons for helping you children and I couldn’t agree more. And I think there is a difference between preparing them (your approach) and hot-housing them. Hot-housing for NAPLAN seems ridiculous to me as it skews the outcome and defeats its diagnostic purpose of identifying the schools and the children who need more help.
Prima came out of her first NAPLAN exam yesterday beaming that “it was awesome”. I was pretty proud of her for enjoying it and so happy the school seems to be creating that kind of culture and attitude towards testing. She and her little girlfriends all looked like they’d just been to see High School Musical on Ice!
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I’m like you Jo – I did practise tests with my son (yr 5) for the last 3 weeks for the same reasons you did. I also think it’s important to teach children to prepare for exams and aim to be the best they can be. I said to my son that he “had to do the exam, so he may as well do it well”
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I actually, really, truly don’t care about my children’s academic results. They don’t necessarily measure much that’s important. I want my children to be happy, resilient, and to be good citizens.
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Hi Kim, I feel like I learnt later rather than earlier in life that part of being happy is finding my own definition of success and achievement, instead of chasing the one that was often foisted upon us from a young age. I would really like my kids to learn this earlier, and for me the challenge as their mummy is to make sure I don’t load my own definitions and expectations on them but hopefully help them work it out for themselves; and of course support the choices they make.
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