April 7, 2017
Education Minister Kate Jones confirmed on Friday that Queensland State schools would withdraw from the NAPLAN online testing trial this year.
Ms Jones made the announcement ahead of the Education Ministerial Council meeting held in Hobart.
“I have always said that I would not commit Queensland students to participate in the online NAPLAN tests if they were not ready,” Ms Jones said.
“I simply cannot commit to a system that might disadvantage our students. We need to be 100 per cent certain that the online tests are good to go.
“However, recent trials conducted by my Department and in other States have identified ongoing concerns about the readiness of the online tests.
“My Department identified flaws with display settings in the online testing platform, which may be confusing for students.
“That is why I have withdrawn Queensland State Schools from participating in the trial this year.
“We need to be sure that the system is fully ready so parents and teachers don’t lose faith in the program overall.”
Ms Jones said all Queensland state school students would sit traditional paper-based tests for NAPLAN this year, between May 9-11.
“Around 100 Queensland schools, including 68 State schools, were scheduled to participate in the 2017 NAPLAN online trial,” she said.
“I’ll be informing my Ministerial colleagues that Queensland State schools will delay the trial of NAPLAN online for 12 months to allow sufficient time for these concerns to be addressed.
“The Queensland Government is committed to NAPLAN but we expect the online tests to be of the highest standard.
“Last year Queensland students recorded their best ever results on NAPLAN which reflects the hard work that goes on in our schools every day.
“We believe in the concept of NAPLAN online and the potential benefits it will bring for students.
“We’ll continue to work with our national partners so that we can have confidence in the NAPLAN online rollout into the future.”
Queensland, NSW, Tasmania and the Northern Territory will conduct the 2017 NAPLAN tests as traditional pencil-and-paper tests.
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Queensland Catholic Education also confirmed on Friday that all Queensland Catholic schools would also stick with paper-based tests in 2017.
Executive director Dr Lee-Anne Perry said 22 Catholic schools had originally intended to introduce the test online this year, but this has been delayed so all Catholics schools could deliver the tests at the same time.
