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What do the 2023 NAPLAN changes mean for teachers ?
By Emilie Lauer
Schools will have to navigate the recent NAPLAN changes carefully if they want to take advantage of the new testing window and reduce the emphasis they have previously put on the test , an education expert has said .
This year ’ s NAPLAN testing window will move from May to March , reducing the previous 10 bands results system to four .
Senior teacher education researcher at the Australian Catholic University , Jessica Holloway , said the new changes could be beneficial for teachers and schools .
“ The new testing window definitely has the potential to reduce test prep time and therefore teaching to the test ,” Holloway said .
“ However , there will be a risk that these new results will be taken as overgeneralizations about what students and teachers are doing .
“ I ’ m afraid teachers will be once again taking the blame if students ’ results show a decline .”
Holloway joined Education Review to discuss the NAPLAN changes .
ER : The testing window has been moved to term one , how will this impact test prep ? When the test is so early in the school year , teachers won ’ t necessarily have the time to prepare for it in the same way that they have previously and that ’ s a good thing .
Some principals put a lot of pressure on teachers to make sure that they spend those first months doing test prep so that students are not only prepared with the test content but are also familiar with its format .
This can take away time from the curriculum and other educative matters .
Historically , across national contexts , when two main subjects like numeracy and literacy are tested , other content areas get sidelined . With the test being in March , NAPLAN will be over early in the school year , which will give teachers more time to work on other content areas .
The concern that I have is does this actually then lead to prep having to be done in previous years , or would a grade two teacher need to be spending time on test preparation for year three ?
If that comes with the caveat that we push test prep in the years prior , we might see a similar problem as we have previously .
Schools will have to be careful to not push back the test preparation and only use that first month for it .
When things change or don ’ t go as people expect , educators are blamed .
How beneficial will it be for students and teachers to receive NAPLAN results early ? Having the results earlier is going to please a lot of people who have previously and rightfully said that teachers don ’ t get test results early enough to actually action them within the same school year .
If teachers get those results earlier in the year , they can respond to those in a timely manner which will be beneficial to schools , students and teachers .
If students ’ results are not considered proficient and fall below achievement level , it gives the school an opportunity to think about what strategies they can put in place to support their students .
Schools can contemplate changing their pedagogy , hiring teachers ’ aids , and providing professional development or additional coaching .
It will be up to the school to decide what strategies they put in place , but it
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