To assess problem-solving, creative and critical thinking skills on NAPLAN would fit with broader movements in education internationally, but there are some questions to address first.
The recently released Gonski 2.0 report focuses on overhauling core aspects of curriculum and reporting, and proposes a move away from the industrial model of education towards individualisation.
Using equivalent year levels provides us with a clearer picture of the gap for Indigenous students, who can be up to an equivalent of 7.7 years behind their non-Indigenous counterparts in writing.
NAPLAN is great at tracking changes over time and between demographics, but not so great at measuring what factors effect change, engagement or creativity.
The latest round of NAPLAN results show Australia’s school systems are not good at reducing the influence of a student’s background on their academic achievement.
Sue Thomson, Australian Council for Educational Research and Peter Goss, Grattan Institute
The Productivity Commission has said that education spending has substantially increased over the last decade but student achievement has shown little or no improvement. Is that true?
There is plenty of evidence to show Australia’s Indigenous people had ways of counting big numbers, yet the myth persists they couldn’t count more than a handful of things. Why?