"Jimmy was a 12 year old student of mine who had the label of the naughty boy who couldn’t read or write and therefore couldn’t learn. In our Science class, we were beginning a topic on pulleys and gears. The equipment was sitting on the table in front of the children as I was discussing the upcoming topic. Jimmy, grabbed the kit and took it to the back of the room."

"Other teachers may have asked him to stop and listen but I knew he had had a difficult morning, he had fought with his father before coming to school, then he had spent his lunchtime in detention for misbehaving in class with another teacher earlier that morning. I could see that he wasn’t hurting anyone with what he was doing so I let him be."

 

"After I’d set the task for the lesson, I went over to Jimmy to see what he had done. The structure he had made was incredibly intricate and showed a deep knowledge about pulleys and gears and how they work. At the end of the topic, the children were required to do a written test. His test results showed limited understanding of the topic, but his creation that day showed me the that Jimmy had the potential to be a brilliant engineer! He knew how these things worked better than any other kid in the class!"

"How would a reading and maths test in Year One have helped Jimmy? It wouldn’t have. As it was, Jimmy had spent most of his school life being tested. And these tests always told Jimmy that he was a failure. That he was ‘behind’. Which, to Jimmy and all the other children who are not meeting National Standards, is basically a polite way of saying that these children are dumb."

 

"Formal assessment is schools such as NAPLAN and this ‘light touch skills check’ (as per Simon Birmingham’s words on his interview with ABC News) is often justified by the idea that it helps teachers to understand what children know and what they need to be teaching. However, when formal assessment processes are relied on, they end up labelling instead of enabling our children."

Lara adds:

 

"Children already have skills tested before they get to school in an interview. This additional testing would simply be a waste of time for teachers and a waste of tax payers money. Teachers need resources and training to be able to support children in developmentally appropriate educational practices for the early years of formal education. They don’t need another test."