“There is no question that ‘what works’ in different schools should be shared, especially when it comes to critical areas like literacy and numeracy” said Independent Education Union of Australia Federal Secretary Chris Watt.
“All students, regardless of their background, deserve the highest quality educational opportunities and outcomes across this nation.”
“But we must not forget that the central purpose of student assessment in schools is to gather, analyse and reflect on evidence in order to make informed and consistent judgments aimed at bringing about improvement in student learning” he said.
“Consequently the use of national testing data should be contained to the purpose of informing teaching and learning in the classroom and individual reporting to parents” said Chris Watt.
“Data collected for one purpose is often inappropriate for another purpose.”
“IEUA remains concerned that international and national research shows that practices such as the public ranking of schools and students leads to a lowering of the quality of education, narrowing of the curriculum and the a decline in the overall level of student achievement’ said Chris Watt.
“IEUA believes that parents should have access to timely, meaningful information about their children’s progress and are entitled to comprehensive and accessible reports.”
“However, the primary purpose of reporting must be to provide meaningful information so as to improve student learning”
“IEUA does not believe that student cohort ranking/quartile reporting provides appropriate and meaningful information about a student’s performance or achievement of learning goals and outcomes.”
“The current expectations in relation to student assessment and reporting are already leading to excessive testing, data collection and reporting. This is reducing the time available for teaching and increasing the stress and workload of teachers” said Chris Watt.
“It is time to take stock of the situation, before greater expectations are placed on schools and ensure that student
learning does not suffer.”
Contact
Chris Watt 0419259143
Federal Secretary 02 6273 3107