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The teaching profession is indicating that the NSW public education system is far from being ready to offer NAPLAN testing online.
Those closest to the conduct of the Department's NAPLAN Online Readiness Trial - teachers and principals - recently shared their experiences with Federation's NAPLAN Hotline.
The union has conducted a qualitative evaluation of the many hundreds of responses, revealing that while a small minority of respondents reported the trial went well, overwhelmingly, teachers had poor experiences.
NAPLAN Hotline responses revealed that preparing for the trial represented a significant demand on schools' time, money and resources from the outset.
The initial response of the profession reveals:
* Prior to and during the testing, significant and widespread disruption to the normal functioning of schools was reported.
* Principals and teachers in executive positions commonly remarked on the reality of the trial being conducted on the backs of school budgets and many were not pleased to note the passing on of these costs to schools. The figure for teacher relief costs borne by the school communities were commonly in a range from $1200 to $4000 per school. No offers were made from authorities or the private company behind the trial to meet the...