Importance Of Naplan To Shape English Teaching And Learning

The issue that I’m exploring in my assignment is that the usage of standardised testing such as NAPLAN to shape English Teaching and learning is putting pressure on students and teachers. High risk testing is creating a “teacher centred instruction” Barret (cited in Thompson & Harbaugh, 2013) that promotes a less inclusive classroom, which in turn lowers student’s motivation and engagement. The consequence of NAPLAN is also raised in the article ‘Naplan: number of children opting out of national tests hits all- time high’. The article states that these “tests put undue pressure on children and teachers” because of the school results being published on the MySchool site and teachers are starting to teach to the test. The article goes on to state …show more content…
Thompson (2012) argues, “Teachers are required to change their teaching style and strategies” this means teaching to the test which impacts on students creativity and high order thinking skills. This also means that teachers will pull away from their constructivist’s pedagogy’s and aspects of a behaviourist practice will be reintroduced into the classroom. If this happens the students will lose their individualised learning opportunities and the reward vs. punishment system will be left to motivate students. This type of learning would be detrimental as students would be extrinsic motivated to do well and only surface learning would be accomplished. Students wont feel encouraged to go beyond what they need to know and they will lose their creativity. Playback, a national conversation on the future of English (2005) also mentions that teachers are “focusing on meeting the requirements of the tests”. He means that teachers aren’t willing to introduce challenging texts that would indeed benefit and create students who are capable of understanding what they have learned from particular activities and how they have learned …show more content…
I am convinced that teacher’s will forget about the students as individuals and see them as a collective. Teachers feel pressured to make sure their students are ready for the test unhealthy competitions mean that teachers are unwilling to share ideas that could benefit the students. I don’t like Naplan as it only measures a small part of that student. It doesn’t know if they are musical, or a drama expert or how fast they can run or even their socio economic background. Students already come to school from a rundown community and the extra pressure of NAPLAN would be stressful for them. Schools are even telling these low performing students to stay