NSW: NAPLAN boycott "professional and ethical" issue - NSWTF

AAP General News (Australia)
04-16-2010
NSW: NAPLAN boycott "professional and ethical" issue - NSWTF

SYDNEY, April 16 AAP - The decision to boycott national literacy and numeracy tests
is a professional and ethical issue, says the NSW Teachers Federation.

The union unanimously voted on Friday to ban teachers giving the National Assessment
Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests next month.

It defies a recommendation by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) on Monday
which could be upgraded to an order, making the boycott potentially illegal.

The vote follows a similar decision by the Australian Education Union, raising the
prospect of education department staff or other replacements being put in charge of conducting
the tests.

"The (boycott) decision means that the tests will not proceed unless the federal government
takes action to prevent the misuse of student data to create and publish league tables,"

federation president Bob Lipscombe told reporters in Sydney on Friday.

"While NAPLAN tests are useful, teachers will not support them while the federal government
allows the results to construct damaging league tables.

"No other tests or reports will be affected.

"This is a professional and ethical issue for teachers. We cannot stand by while our
students are harmed."

He says league tables detailing individual school performances in England have devalued
education and shouldn't be replicated in Australia.

Mr Lipscombe says teachers support transparency in the reporting of test results and
providing teachers, parents and students with meaningful information about educational
performance.

He says teachers aren't opposed to the federal government's controversial My School
website, provided the information on it is "accurate and not misleading".

Mr Lipscombe believes the vast majority of teachers across Australia will boycott the tests.

He urged the federal and NSW governments to end the stand-off by introducing measures
which prevent publication of simplistic league tables.

The federal government indicated on Wednesday that in the event of a teacher boycott
the tests could go ahead by drafting in education department staff and other replacements
to administer them.

But Mr Lipscombe says replacing teachers will mean the tests have little or no credibility.

AAP mdg/evt/it

KEYWORD: SCHOOLS NSW UPDATE

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