By PEACE IJIYERA
LAST Wednesday marked the beginning of NAPLAN testing for around 1.4 million year three, five, seven and nine students nationwide.
On the first day of testing, examining writing, significant technical issues occurred when the website used for testing crashed.
Some students were able to log in and begin, but abruptly lost connection a few minutes into the tests.
Slow and frozen loading screens were reported to be displayed on computers.
Many schools and students nationwide were affected, with some schools having to postpone the testing to the following day.
This created major issues with timetabling and interfered with other scheduled classes. Schools were made aware of the glitch at around 9.31am. Technical issues resolved and testing resumed around 11.30am.
As Year 3 students do their writing test with pen and paper, they were not affected.
Locally, it was mostly happy days for schools who were relieved to not have been affected by the technical faults.
One local principal highlighted the difficulty issues like these create for both students and staff.
“It just causes incredible stress for staff who have put a huge amount of work into the organisation of it, and really the students,” they said.
“NAPLAN is quite stressful for a number of students, and to be sitting in the room having to wait, the computers are on and off, they’re in and out, it is quite stressful.”
General issues with set up and technology saw delays of up to 30 minutes. This draws to the bigger issue of government schools not having adequate technological resources available.
NAPLAN transitioned to online testing in 2022. With the recent glitches and technology known to fail, the question now is, should testing go back to the way it was?
“There’s certainly an argument for it. I’ve got a number of teachers who feel that way. I’m sure if you asked our NAPLAN coordinators and our IT team; yes, the answer would be yes. They’d certainly prefer it to go back to being written,” the local principal said. Many others online agreed, with multiple users commenting their reservations about online testing. Some even questioned the need for NAPLAN testing at all.
In a statement prior to testing, the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) explained the purpose of NAPLAN.
“NAPLAN is the only national assessment that helps teachers, parents and carers see how students in years three, five, seven and nine are progressing in literacy and numeracy over time,” they said.
“Once again, students in years five, seven and nine will be completing a second NAPLAN cycle since the annual test changed to being held in March instead of May and since the introduction of the new proficiency levels.
“This will give teachers, schools, education authorities and governments more data on how these students are faring as they progress through their schooling. For parents and carers, NAPLAN is an important tool that allows them to see how their child is progressing in literacy and numeracy against the national standard and compared with their peers throughout Australia. It also offers some key insights into where their child is on their own individual learning journey.”
Following the glitch, ACARA Chief Executive, Stephen Gniel said the issue continues to be under investigation.
“Our NAPLAN technology provider Education Services Australia (ESA) is currently conducting a full and thorough investigation of the issue,” he said.
“Once this has been completed, we will have a fuller picture of the incident, including the number of students and schools impacted.”
