Following a COAG Education Council meeting today, the nation’s education ministers have decided 2020 NAPLAN testing will be cancelled, as the COVID-19 situation continues to escalate.
The next round of NAPLAN testing was scheduled to take place from 12 to 22 May. Education ministers decided not to proceed with NAPLAN in 2020, announcing it would be cancelled to assist school leaders, teachers and support staff so they can instead focus their attention on the wellbeing of their students and on the continuity of education, including potential online and remote learning.
It was noted that the impact of responding to COVID-19 may affect the delivery of NAPLAN testing, including the operation of centralised marking centres and the implications for nationally comparable data if an insufficient number of students are available to do the test.
Education ministers also reiterated that the National Cabinet has agreed on the advice of chief health and medical officers that “pre-emptive closure of schools are not proportionate or effective as a public health intervention to prevent community transmission of COVID-19 at this time.”
The decision to not proceed with NAPLAN 2020 testing means scheduled testing of the NAPLAN Online platform, known as the Coordinated Practice Test (CPT) will not proceed either. This was due to commence on 23 March.