There has been a lot of debate over the merits of the MySchool website. It is my belief that it provides parents with the opportunity to establish, at least in the basics of education, how the school their children are attending is performing. This is particularly important for parents who are paying exorbitant fees for private schools so as to determine whether this significant investment is paying dividends for their children.
Why the uproar, I ask, especially from the Australian Education Union? Vested interest is sometimes thinly disguised, is it not?
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If the Union continues to threaten to boycott the Naplan tests, they risk being exposed as defensive and resistant to change.
ReplyDeleteFor those that argue the site's focus is too narrow, that's an argument to broaden the information on the site, not to abandon it. Let's include: school improvement levels, finances, parent opinion surveys, bullying levels etc. The Rudd Government will do this if re-elected.
Some special needs children really benefit from Naplan tests. An often forgotten "special needs" child is the gifted one. There is no funding allocated for them and the Naplan results are one of the only ways parents can demonstrate their child is gifted.
Many of these kids would slip through the cracks without it, because the kids can be hard to interpret in class-rooms.
Finally,look at how many people join groups on Facebook like, "I am not a grammar Nazi but you suck at spelling"! The real world WILL discriminate against those with poor literacy skills so isn't it kinder to identify and remedy problems in school? You can't fix a problem if you don't find and expose it...