NAPLAN is doing its job in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education
Dr Zane Ma Rhea
By Zane Ma Rhea
As NAPLAN testing begins again, concerns will be raised about these tests from a variety of sources. I want to focus on a positive aspect that is emerging from a system that is understandably fraught with worry. NAPLAN is providing crucial information to us about the educational achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and this is adding to our understanding of what is working and what is not in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education. The successes must be taken into account before everyone again decries what is happening, or worse, again uses the results of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to discredit the job that NAPLAN does.
At the end of each year, while most people are thinking about Christmas and relaxing for the summer break, those of us in education begin the task of poring over NAPLAN, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) reports trying to understand what these sets of data are telling us. For the most part, they are doing the job they were designed to do – that is to provide the education system and education researchers with information about what is happening across Australia and in comparison with the rest of the world.
NAPLAN tells us what is happening. For all the criticisms of what it measures and what it does, it provides a common lens by which to view the majority of students in the system. The results may not be good, they may not be pretty, but they allow us to compare like with like. This has been very important for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education because historically no distinct measures have been available to view what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families knew was happening – their children were not succeeding within these systems.
NAPLAN is a blunt instrument for telling us why the gap exists but
it is doing a good job of saying where the gaps are. It provides clear evidence of the gaps in educational achievement and directs education systems to the parts where resources are needed. Many experts have speculated about the failure of the education system to provide high quality, high expectations education to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and much of the more credible commentary and research has been taken on board by governments and education departments, both federal and state-level. Is education disadvantage entrenched in our system? Of course it is. Is education also the most important pathway to ameliorating social disadvantage? This is also true.
Given this conundrum, NAPLAN results are only ever going to reveal where the sites of disadvantage are, as long as these instruments keep asking the right questions. Thankfully, the data about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educational achievements are revealed for all to see, as are the gaps. But so are the improvements.
I take heart in the longitudinal data provided in the final section of the NAPLAN Report that show that across all years tested (Years 3, 5, 7 and 9) in both reading and numeracy between 2008 and 2012 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children gained in reading and numeracy achievement at a higher rate than the total Australian student body. This is a notable achievement for the children, their parents, caregivers, communities, teachers, schools, systems, policy makers, and Ministers of Education. Why are these findings not being celebrated? For me this says that over the past four years, the concerted measures that are being put in place by the federal and state levels are moving in the right direction.
Australia is now a signatory to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which addresses individual and collective rights, cultural rights and identity, focusing on rights in education. For those of us in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education, the Declaration provides a much needed framework of a rights-based approach by which to read NAPLAN data, which in turn provides crucial information to guide concerted plans and research focus needed to improve the quality of education provided to Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
The biggest obstacle to consolidation of the gains in achievement would be in failing to recognise that the partnership of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education experts, families, and communities with education services providers is beginning to bear fruit. For all the seemingly insurmountable reasons that might account for education failure, such as structural racism, poverty, social disadvantage, quality of schools, teachers, or systems, things are moving in the right direction.
I see a future where Australia takes to heart its commitment to the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. NAPLAN is helping us know how we are doing.
Dr Zane Ma Rhea is Coordinator, Indigenous Education and Leadership at Monash University, Australia.
A version of this article has appeared on The Conversation.