In a letter to its members, the QTU called on its members to send a “clear message” that the test needed to be changed.
“Widespread disengagement from Naplan sends a clear message that parents and teachers don’t value the test in its current form and oppose its negative consequences for students and school communities.”
QTU president Cresta Richardson said the union had recently conducted a survey of their members, and found they overwhelmingly believed Naplan was “broken” and that it needs to be “overhauled.”
“Basically, the test is not fit for purpose.
“When the test came out 12 years ago, it was supposed to be a low-stakes diagnostic test, apparently. And now, 12 years down the track, it hasn’t been revisited, hasn’t been reframed, hasn’t been revised, it’s just the same old thing every year.”
For people who experience racism, the pain sometimes comes as much from words as it does from actions. Indigenous people like Adam Goodes and Latrell Mitchell have spoken of the hurt they feel when they’re subject to racist slurs.
Words and actions used to demean people on the basis of race or colour can be found throughout everyday society and may even be seen as innocuous. Recent government bans on Australian citizens returning from India highlight one way non-white people can be excluded from society.
People of Indian or African heritage who were born in Australia or, as in my case, the United Kingdom, often face questions like, “Where are you from?” The answer is regularly met with some disbelief.
by Stephanie Bennett
Premium Content
Subscriber only Scared kids and stressed teachers have prompted intense calls to scrap NAPLAN as the controversial testing regime gets udnerway across the nation this week. Costing millions of dollars every year, education experts have told The Courier-Mail NAPLAN is outdated, misused, and causes undue angst to kids, parents and teachers. Queensland Teachers Union president Cresta Richardson. Queensland Teachers Union president Cresta Richardson said the majority of teachers loathe the test and most feel the testing method is broken . The message from members is clear - NAPLAN in its current form needs to go, she said.
Interview
The Mission: Dr Emma Lee On Proposed Changes To School Curriculum To Learn About Colonisation As Invasion For The First Time
Dr Emma Lee is a
trawlwulwuy woman of
tebrakunna country, north-east Tasmania. She is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research Fellow at Swinburne University. She talks with host of
The Mission Daniel James about a proposal by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority to give school children right across the country the chance to learn about the impacts of colonisation and invasion in their classrooms for the first time under proposed changes to the national schooling curriculum.
European Colonisation Taught as an Invasion
Olivia Day, Daily Mail, April 29, 2021
Proposed changes to the national curriculum will see school students taught that First Nations Australians experienced European colonisation as an invasion.
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) also advised the terms Aboriginal and Indigenous be replaced with First Nations Australians or Australian First Nations Peoples.
In a report released for discussion on Thursday, ACARA said it found a lack of ‘truth telling’ about the experience of First Nations Peoples since European settlement, and raised concerns about the ‘accuracy and adequacy’ of the current curriculum.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures is a cross-curriculum priority, meaning the topic must be taught across all disciplines including maths, science and history.