National tests in primary schools on again

By Theresa Garner

The Government appears to have backflipped on national testing of primary pupils, reviving an unpopular plan to test them in English and maths.

Yesterday, the Minister of Education, Nick Smith, announced a two-year pilot scheme testing literacy and numeracy in nine and 11-year-olds from 10 per cent of schools, starting next year.

Six months ago he dropped the plan of his predecessor, Wyatt Creech, to introduce tests for 8, 10 and 12-year-olds in the second term of this year.

Dr Smith said then that he did not want to create a bureaucratic monster which would take away from teaching time and told the New Zealand Herald, "I am saying 'no' to standardised national testing."

Since then, education officials have issued reports that say current tests are a waste of time and claim schools are hiding underachievement from parents.

Dr Smith now says that he was never opposed to national testing, and had since been influenced by public opinion on the issue. "Basically, I was flagging the concerns and saying we needed to do our homework carefully, rather than ruling it out."

Under his proposal, there would be no league tables which rank schools. Parents would receive results showing how their child compared to others in New Zealand.

Teachers are dismayed at the idea, and Labour has called it "pre-election preening."

The Government's position is unclear as Dr Smith is insisting on having the results of the pilot before committing to national testing.

The minister replied to suggestions he had come up with a clever compromise by saying it would be foolish to commit without "detailed work to ensure it helps, not hinders, educational achievement."

He said other Western countries had national assessment, and New Zealand was behind the pace. "We need to have reliable benchmarks [to] measure progress."

The primary teachers union rejected Dr Smith's claim that parents are demanding national testing. It said there was already dependable, high-quality information about student achievement from the time they started school.

The tests would not show how well a school performed or measure how much children had learned. "Teachers are opposed because the tests are not educationally sound."

Under Labour, schools would be asked to ensure they had clear systems of reporting on student progress on literacy and numeracy at least twice a year.