Garrett must intervene in NAPLAN scandals

Schools Minister, Peter Garrett, must investigate the growing number of scandals surrounding national testing that have emerged since Labor began publishing test results on the My School website, said Christopher Pyne, Shadow Minister for Education today.

"Reports suggesting NAPLAN results are being used to vet students applying at a new school is not in the spirit of why the tests were first implemented by the Coalition," Mr Pyne said.

"NAPLAN was designed as a tool for parents and teachers to track student progress within their school and the results were then collated to provide a national picture of education in Australia," he said.

The decision to publish the raw results on My School for individual schools has created a climate of fear and recrimination.

Teachers are afraid of being publicly identified and embarrassed by bad results, and schools are concerned a poor overall performance will lead to less funding.

In this new climate of fear, completed NAPLAN tests mysteriously disappear, teachers are caught cheating and changing answers, struggling students are told to stay home on test day, all these actions undermine the confidence parents have in their child's school.

When a parent drops their child at school, they trust that the teacher will do the very best for their child. The education system is built on trust, and that trust is being eroded by the policies of the Gillard Government.

"Mr Garrett has to stop cowering behind his bureaucrats and take matters into hand," Mr Pyne said.

May 19, 2011

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