Australia: NAPLAN results could shine a light on the impact of the pandemic
This year’s NAPLAN results might tell the story of 2020, teachers say.(ABC News: Elise Pianegonda)
Teachers are warning parents to temper their expectations about NAPLAN results.
Key points:
- NAPLAN results could shine a light on the impacts COVID-19 had on students
- Students who experienced more severe lockdown measures may not perform as well others
- Intervention strategies based on the results could be developed to help students who have fallen behind
Flinders University associate professor David Curtis said this year’s results were expected to highlight the impact of COVID-19 on students.
“It will give us a bit of information about the progress students have made over the past two years, given that one of those years was highly disrupted,” he said.
Albury, New South Wales teacher Simon Goss said he expected the transition to remote learning to effect student outcomes.
“Everything happened so quickly,” he said.
“The expectation was only just to ensure your children are reading, they’re engaged in things like counting money and the stuff that you would do at home, like cooking.”
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New reality
Mr Goss said parents were supportive and tried their best to keep their children informed and entertained, but it was not easy.
“It was a reality they hadn’t ever had to deal with,” he said.
Stawell Secondary College principal Carlos Lopez agreed.
“I wouldn’t be surprised [if the results are lower],” he said.
He said the results could help to identify the areas where students had fallen behind during remote learning and help teachers implement early intervention strategies to support them in the long term.
Worse for some
Victoria experienced a much more extensive lockdown compared to any other state, with students in metropolitan areas required to learn remotely for a longer period of time, which Dr Curtis said could be reflected in the results.
“If there is an effect of lockdown you’ll see it much more pointedly in Victoria than elsewhere,” he said.
He anticipates poorer performance in students who are from disadvantaged homes or attend schools that do not have good digital resources.
“We know children from affluent homes who have good connectivity and who go to schools that were well set up with good IT systems prior to COVID probably would have had minimal disruption,” he said.
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Will remote learning pay off?
Mr Lopez said he was hoping the hard work teachers and schools put into the remote learning transit would be rewarded.
“We’re all fairly anxious to see what the report card shows and to our effectiveness and the students’ ability to learn during remote learning,” he said.
He said any improvement in NAPLAN results could be attributed to the work of staff.
“For many of those teachers, it wasn’t an easy thing to do on short notice,” Mr Lopez said.
“Our remote learning changed as the period increased.
“We moderated and reviewed the way that we delivered our lessons and moved into a more relational approach to teaching and learning.”
Doing it tough
Mr Goss said the results should not be a reflection of teachers.
“If we have a good year the feedback is, ‘Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it,'” he said.
“Then the following year results dip because you’ve got a completely different cohort of students and the leaders say, ‘Whatever you’re doing you have to change, because it’s not working’.
Mr Goss was concerned that the backlash from poor performance could negatively impact morale among teachers who say they are already feeling overworked and under appreciated.
“If we can build the morale back up it would certainly go a long way in ensuring that education remains a thriving and positive experience for everyone,” he said.
