From March 13, NAPLAN testing for 2024 will begin. Over the next two weeks, all Australian students in years 3,5,7 and 9 are expected to sit down tests in literacy and numeracy.
Results are then aggregated for schools and other demographics and made public. Students also get their individual results.
For students in Year 3, this might be their first experience of a proper test. For others, they might be sitting the test amongst school and media hype concerning the “importance of NAPLAN”.
The NAPLAN debate
Since it was introduced in 2008, NAPLAN has polarised the community. Some education experts see it as counterproductive (with an excessive amount of emphasis on test performance slightly than learning). Others emphasise the importance of the info collected, and the way this informs teaching practice and faculty funding.
One of the prevailing concerns pertains to the impact on student wellbeing.
While many students don’t feel any anxiety, one 2022 study of greater than 200 highschool students found 48% felt apprehensive about what the test can be like and the way they might perform. A 2017 study of greater than 100 primary students revealed as much as 20% of kids had a physical response to the test, corresponding to feeling sick, not sleeping well, headaches or crying.
For parents, the stress and anxiety their child experiences within the lead as much as NAPLAN could cause them to fret and even withdraw their child from the assessment.
But test anxiety shouldn’t be inevitable. Here are some easy things parents and teachers can do to support students, not only for this assessment, but into the longer term.
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1. Talk concerning the purpose of the test
NAPLAN shouldn’t be nearly individual student results and whether you’re a “good” at maths or “bad” at reading. It’s about informing teaching and learning.
The results help teachers do their jobs by identifying areas of reading, writing and maths that need more attention. This may help individual students, classes or entire schools.
When the outcomes are collected at state and national levels, in addition they help tell governments where to place more efforts and funding to assist support students.
2. Talk about how the test is a journey (not a destination)
Children learn from experience. This enables them to predict what might occur in similar future events.
Talk about NAPLAN as “practice” for future tests. So in the event you sit NAPLAN test in your younger school years this can make it easier to handle other tests in senior school or possibly even university.
Emphasise that sitting the test shouldn’t be about a specific consequence or result. It’s about embarking on an experience and learning what it’s prefer to do a standardised tests. In this manner, NAPLAN may help students construct resilience.
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3. Teach your child to administer anxiety
Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to be successful in addressing anxiety symptoms in children.
Mindfulness can teach children to recognise anxiety symptoms corresponding to a quick heart beat, shortness of breath or racing thoughts. By encouraging children to concentrate on the current moment, mindfulness may help children through improved concentration, higher emotional regulation and fostering a way of calm.
Smiling Mind is an Australian app designed to show children to be mindful in a developmentally appropriate and guided way. The app is free to download and use. You could sit or lie down together with your child and do a “body scan” (where you scan your entire body and spot the way it feels) or a listening practice (where you concentrate to the sounds around you).
If your child is experiencing significant test anxiety, corresponding to headaches, tummy pains or a racing heart, there could also be more to it than simply concerns about NAPLAN. For children aged 12–18, Headspace – Australia’s mental health foundation for young people – offers a spread of services.
For younger children, or in the event you are still concerned, speak to your child’s teacher, the varsity counsellor or your GP.