To : Senate Committee of Inquiry. The effectiveness of the National Assessment Program – Literacy & Numeracy. This submission recommends that NAPLAN testing be banished forthwith; that any ruinous substitute never ever be inflicted on the school children of this country again; and that the focus of public discussion be directed to LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM and the impact that outside influences have on classroom activities. It has not paid its way. It is impairing educational progress. Schools in Australia are no longer child-friendly places. The removal of play and creativity and love of learning and of the exciting personalised challenge of learning has led to disenchantment with the teaching profession, mistrust of school programs, a fixation with cold testing and a startling increase in bullying. The ideals of compulsory schooling through commitment to the pupilling processes and its healthy teaching/learning contract have been removed, replaced by politically coercive tactics. Worst of all, it removes a child’s natural love of learning and the fun that can provide them with fair-dinkum, intrinsic motivation to achieve as much as possible. LEARNING in context is difficult to comprehend in its entirety, especially when applied to classroom activities. Productive learning as a classroom activity can be mystifying. Observers know that productive learning is going on, but the processes often defy description. A magic classroom is almost impossible to describe. There are so many different learning- focussed exchanges. Since 2008, the prevailing political control of measurement in Australian schools has dominated classroom outcomes to the detriment of useful learning progress. A halt to Standardised Blanket Testing needs to be called as soon as possible. Parents and an interested pubic need to talk about ‘Learning’ in a positive, healthy, politically-free manner. Immediately below is a table of differences between a Joel Klein/NAPLAN testing system, now controlling Australian education, and that of a future system that emphasises learning. This submission suggests that a blue-ribbon, superior education system is possible once the public is given the opportunity to talk about the way we treat our children when they go to school; especially to talk openly about the impact that politically controlled Standardised Blanket Testing can have on classroom routines. Q & A Here is a short Q & A concerning critical issues of present-day schooling. [Questions, on the ABC Monday’s show ‘Q&A’, about NAPLAN are barred, by the way, without explanation. See below.] Q. WHY is it that countries, like Finland, represented on the right-hand side of this table, lead the PISA test results of 70 countries, even though its tested cohort has up to four years less at school by 15 years of age than do those countries, like Australia....and Finnish educators do not approve of Standardised Blanket Testing regimes? Finland concentrates on how to learn about learning; Australia about testing. A. SEE the table above. The answer is SO obvious. When pupils are treated with respect - as ‘pupils’ [rather than as over-testucated frightened ‘students’] with total recognition of their individual differences, their personal attitudes to learning, their natural desire to take their developed learnings to the dizziest of heights - there are no limits to their learnacy [learning HOW to learn] outcomes. NAPLAN and other forms of national testing ruthlessly applied by political appointees, ‘whose knowledge of learning in the classroom can be written on a used postage stamp in large font ‘ according to a former principal [JH], merely standardise learning and teaching; and curb development of each child, each system, each country. Our elected servants have become our masters and there are too many of them who seem to take delight in disrespecting the efforts of our beautiful children and devaluing the tasks of our teaching profession, who love our kids and just want to be able to do the best that they can by them.They have a lot to answer for if NAPLAN persists. Democratic principles have been suppressed by corporate saboteurs in the quest for the mighty dollar. NAPLAN has to be totally destroyed , without modification or substitution. It is a national threat. The interlocked connection between the administrative operations of NAPLAN testing and mega-business should be enough to call a halt and examine the connection. Q. WHY is Australia regarded as the most GERM ridden country, so crazed about testing? A. Excessive federal political control of each state’s education systems, linked to unseemly threats and totalitarian tactics as well as a curious attachment to the mega-rich testing tycoons’ greed for more money have a lot to do with it. Who is to know how the extensive lobby-groups employed by Klein’s ‘Amplify’ and by the UK’s Pearson group of companies perform their duties? [“Why would someone with any conscience think it is okay to degrade the art of teaching in exchange for profit, while denying the love of learning for an entire generation. Sounds like science fiction, doesn’t it? “ BHM] Q. Isn’t NAPLAN useful as a diagnostic tool? A. About as useful as ‘lips on a chicken’. How in the world can results, provided five months after the tests, when the learners are in circumstances far different from the circumstances at the time of testing, be of any help? Fair go! Can it be better that DIY tests on the spot? Can it be better than face-to-face evaluation of effort? Try the other leg. If testucators need assistance to see how well they are going and have to rely on external assistance, there are plenty of sources. A.C.E.R. is a one-stop shop. There’s ‘Google’ to find other providers. There’s books. [As a test-fixated principal, my copy of Sir Fred Schonell’s “Diagnostic and Attainment Testing” became dog-eared and tattered and fell apart from over-use. If only I’d thought about what I was doing. I could have sold it to another foolish testucator in pristine condition.] NAPLAN is a useless, dangerous, frighteningly dark weapon that seriously threatens our country’s future in intellectual, creative, health and fiscal terms. Financially, it represents an enormous waste of tax-payers’ money that can be better used. The danger MUST be totally removed from the schooling landscape before May, 2014. Let’s rescue the unfortunate children presently in Years 2, 4, 6, 8 from assaults on their learning capacity. Let our kids LEARN, for heaven’s sake. More questions are asked on the following clip demonstrating the concern of NY parents enduring the same conditions as Aussie parents. I realise that the clip may not be reproduced on the senate report, but it is essential viewing for anyone who is concerned about their children and able to view it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCfXYwaZBYw&feature=player_embedded o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o Paradigms of social behaviour, such as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs [1954] and French & Ravens’ Bases of Social Power [1959] are worthy additions to empirical knowledge, that summarise what has been obvious to man for thousands of years: 1. ‘Man’ hates to be pushed around. He/she likes to feel appreciated for each and every ‘public’ effort. ‘Man’ much prefers to be valued for his/her own worth and prefers to be self-actualised. [Maslow] 2. The use of coercion and reward power by super-ordinates on subordinates brings resistance. Their use stifles enthusiasm and initiatives. [French & Raven] Why is the Australian system of schooling in the hands of measurement-crazed dinosaurs who believe that fear motivates children to learn? Why are our legislative representatives too timid to stand up for kids? Why do they need this complicated, costly, time-wasting senate inquiry indeed, [sorry Penny] in the knowledge that mostly testucating sycophantic compliers have the time to respond adequately; and our real educating experts are too busy in the classroom and too frightened? It will require a few million anti-NAPLAN voters to convince the present hard-nosed, measurement-biased regime to cease its NAPLAN antics. Our teachers are too scared or too busy. While the intentions of Senator Penny Wright are most honourable, praiseworthy and laudable [I just love the lady for her honest good intentions], the call for such a ‘snap’ inquiry could have a ‘diminishing effect’ [P. Darwin 21-05-13]. The warm, well-intentioned belief - that those who are most concerned about the effects of SBTs [Standardised Blanket Tests] on teaching and learning in classrooms will have enough to say to persuade those in power to change their minds - is admirable. It’s a long bow to draw to believe that some of the 1,030,00 parents of kids whose private learning behaviour was assaulted on 14,15,16 May and the parents of other victims might comment. If the responses are not up to expectations, the testucators will claim that their notions of schooling have been supported. LEARNING REFORM should become an all-encompassing public discussion by talking about what actually happens INSIDE the classroom. The classroom is where our future is. Let’s talk it. There is plethora of reliable information that clearly demonstrates that GERM-based Standardised Blanket Testing is a major threat to productive learning. Thank God for ‘google’ that can provide a guide to productive thinking at the click of a button. Try : Sir Ken Robinson, Prof. Robin Alexander, Diane Ravitch, Yong Zhau, Kelvin Smythe, Marion Brady, Bruce Hammonds, Allan Alach...an endless list. The evidence is so overwhelming and the literature so profuse. Why isn’t any notice taken? There is certainly no reliable or valid evidence that current measurement techniques create intellectual products of worth. None! Try ‘google’ to find any.