I was surprised to find that some of my children's school friends had terrible reactions to having to do the NAPLAN tests at school a couple of months back. For those of you who may be reading this from outside of Australia; NAPLAN stands for National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy. An assessment that all children in Australia do each year when they are in year 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, which cover Reading, Writing, Language Conventions
(Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) and Numeracy.
I am very fortunate that the 2 of my boys who were involved this year actually looked forward to it. They take after their mum - I have always loved sitting for examinations at school and university. What I never enjoyed was the written assignments that hung over me for weeks and weeks before I actually sat down and did them. I like things that happen quickly - I have limited patience for waiting for things in life in general.
What it highlighted to me is that we are all so different and cope differently with challenges in our lives. I think it is such a shame that children who find it so stressful that they are physically ill or begin the year 3 school year with the NAPLAN test as the forethought in their mind, are still mandated to sit the test. Surely that would affect the validity of their results. But it is what it is, so we (and they) in reality, have to deal with it. I love the teachers who make sure the children understand that the school is the 'who' that is being judged because in all honesty that is the bottom line. The test will not affect the child or their life in any way (honestly, do you think at a job interview in 2026 they'll ask whether you were within the average range of students for grammar and punctuation?)
A friend of mine said she would not let her daughter see her results - good on you. If it will affect her negatively then why would you?
I do encourage those of you who have children sitting this test next year (or any year) to let them know it just doesn't matter.
I told my boys to read questions properly, take their time (I have one who thinks it's a race to the end of the paper) and not to leave any answers blank (a guess is as good as a miss). Remind them that this is a test to make sure the school is teaching them everything they need to know, so it's important but not something to be worried about.
I believe in always doing your best - in everything you do, but I also believe that we aren't all meant to fit into the same mould. I've said it before, if there was a drawing component on the NAPLAN I would not feel so happy about the whole thing! Our children will shine in the way they were meant to, but don't let them falter over the "meaningless" things. It's our job to make the big things seem so much more their size.
