Australian schools have been rocked by yet another blow. 2017 NAPLAN test results reveal poor performance across the nation. Early indications from the data are that students’ writing skills have gone backwards over the last 6 years.
No surprises here. Below is a 16-point list of issues that contribute to Australian students’ poor performance in writing.
1. NAPLAN reviews student performance, not teacher performance.
2. Teenagers are moving out of secondary school into University with writing skills that are less than adequate for them to become teachers.
3. University courses do not ‘bridge the gap’ in English for trainee teachers.
4. Course content in Universities is too broad, leaving graduate teachers ill prepared and more likely to demonstrate poor performance in the workplace.
5. The English language has been enriched and developed for centuries; the teaching of English, however, continues to be ‘watered down’ in Universities and consequently in schools.
6. Many schools over rely on ‘reading levels’ to claim students’ development in English.
7. Many schools do not have accurate tools to assess spelling, grammar or writing.
8. Most teachers do not trust the results their colleagues provide in relation to students.
9. Teachers use their judgement to assess student performance; there are no agreed skills or knowledge criteria, however, to validate their judgements.
10. After qualifying, teachers are not required to undertake any further professional development in English.
11. There is an endemic over reliance on, and investment in, products that offer prescribed lessons.
12. Support staff increasingly take on teaching roles – particularly with students who have fallen behind year level expectations.
13. Schools invest too heavily in technology; they invest more in technology and books than in pen and paper.
14. There is more profit for businesses in promoting technology and books than in pen and paper.
15. Insufficient time is spent on learning to write.
16. Most teachers do not themselves regularly practise the writing genres in which students are expected to excel.
To improve student performance, there is one immediate step we can take. We must demand an acceptable standard of skill, and insist teachers reach it, as a minimum requirement. Until such time this is achieved, no amount of school funding or spending will be enough to break out of the slump.
copyright © Cheryl Lacey 2017
Cheryl Lacey is an educationist and advocate of agitating change in Australian education to face global challenges facing Australia and Australians.
cheryl@cheryllacey.com www.cheryllacey.com
