Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Education Department's Saeed Amin says students in years 3 and 5 have significantly improved in reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation in the latest NAPLAN tests

Transcript

NT Education Department's Saeed Amin says students in years 3 and 5 have significantly improved in reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation in the latest NAPLAN tests · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: But the latest naplan results are in and they were
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  Speaker 1: quite stable for Northern Territory students. It might be a
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  Speaker 1: surprise to some people that after all the COVID interruptions
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  Speaker 1: in previous years, things have remained pretty steady. To shed
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  Speaker 1: some further light on those results is the Education Department's
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  Speaker 1: Deputy Chief Executive said, I mean, good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Katie, good morning and good morning to you're listener.
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  Speaker 1: Great have you on the show now said how did
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  Speaker 1: our students perform across the various categories?
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  Speaker 2: Do you know what, Katie, You've some very really well.
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  Speaker 2: They actually perform really well in particularly in three and five,
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  Speaker 2: which are the early years. I do want to acknowledge
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  Speaker 2: the teachers. You've said it's been a couple of tough years.
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  Speaker 2: It certainly has. But the work the teachers have done
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  Speaker 2: in ensuring that our students are still moving ahead has
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  Speaker 2: been exceptional. So our students have actually done really well.
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  Speaker 1: And so obviously it tests our students, you know, with
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  Speaker 1: their reading, their spelling, their grammar and punctuation. It can
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  Speaker 1: be a bit of a stress full time for kids
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  Speaker 1: in some cases, can't it when they've got to do
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  Speaker 1: those nap planned tests.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, And look, I think every jurisdiction doesn't teach
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  Speaker 2: to the test. The test is an assessment to see
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  Speaker 2: how students are going, and it's also an assessment to
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  Speaker 2: see what differences we need to make in our teaching.
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  Speaker 2: So it's a really good test as a point in
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  Speaker 2: time to see how things are going. And we certainly
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  Speaker 2: take the results quite seriously, both from students' performance as
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  Speaker 2: well as what we might need to do differently.
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  Speaker 1: And so across the year three, five, seven and nine,
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  Speaker 1: can you talk us through some of those numbers in
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  Speaker 1: terms of how we've gone in those different areas.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, certainly, you know there's been no major shift
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  Speaker 2: up or down in seven and nine, which has been terrific.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we've we've managed to stay the course in
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  Speaker 2: those in those growth scores for those students. The significant
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  Speaker 2: improvement and great gains have occurred in years three and
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  Speaker 2: five and particularly in reading, spelling, grammar, and punctuation, which
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  Speaker 2: of course is critical because the early years of education,
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  Speaker 2: and if we're able to provide students with a really
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  Speaker 2: good foundation in the early years, two things happen once
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  Speaker 2: we start to close the gap. And secondly, of course
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  Speaker 2: we give students a really good footing and that just
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  Speaker 2: you know, exemplifies the investment and teaching and quality that's
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  Speaker 2: gone into those early children years. Absolutely critical that students
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  Speaker 2: are given the very best opportunity. So earlier, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: some of the scores have been quite outstanding. Look, we
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  Speaker 2: don't really compare to national roles, but I'm about to
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  Speaker 2: because obviously the NT is a little bit different. But
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  Speaker 2: some of our mean scaled scores improvement, you know, thirteen
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  Speaker 2: points above Australia in a year year nine spelling, up
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  Speaker 2: to nine points hiring year three, up to fifteen points
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  Speaker 2: hiring in year five. Just outstanding results in some of
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  Speaker 2: our schools.
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  Speaker 1: Are You're right? Is that the best that we've sort
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  Speaker 1: of that we've gone before.
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  Speaker 2: Look, there's been there's been really good improvement, you know,
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  Speaker 2: nap Plan and our testing started around two thousand and
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  Speaker 2: eight when we've been comparing our means, and the NT
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  Speaker 2: has stayed increase its scores every year. Now, let's not
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  Speaker 2: get carried away about scores. It's about individual students, but
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  Speaker 2: overall it's a jurisdiction. You know, we can say that
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  Speaker 2: our teachers are just working really hard in this space
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  Speaker 2: and again it's not necessarily about the test. As you said,
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  Speaker 2: it's about understanding where students are and then what we
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  Speaker 2: need to do to keep them progressing.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and look, I think that you've touched on something
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  Speaker 1: that's a that's a you know, it's an interesting point.
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  Speaker 1: You know, kids can sometimes get a little bit stressed
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  Speaker 1: about these tests when it comes to napline. It's probably
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  Speaker 1: a bit of stress on teachers as well. I'm assuming
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  Speaker 1: to make sure you know that everybody performs quite well,
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  Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, if a kid
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  Speaker 1: is struggling, I would imagine that you know that we
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  Speaker 1: want those teachers really focusing and helping them out in
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  Speaker 1: the classroom, regardless of napline results.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely spot on it. You know, as I said earlier,
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  Speaker 2: it's just a one test in time to give us
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  Speaker 2: an indication. There has to be a sestlement in schools
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  Speaker 2: that of course, to see how we're going and how
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  Speaker 2: students are going, but it just provides another rich source
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  Speaker 2: of data to see what we need to do differ
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  Speaker 2: or better, or more of or even less of. And
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  Speaker 2: absolutely what we found is that from three to five
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  Speaker 2: to seven to nine, which is the national testing times,
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  Speaker 2: what schools do is that they track students, So even
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  Speaker 2: if you haven't performed that well in year three, we
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  Speaker 2: want to see how you've gone in the next couple
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  Speaker 2: of years, the next couple of years, next couple of years.
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  Speaker 2: And what we find is that just because you haven't
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  Speaker 2: performed in a particular test doesn't mean that you're not
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  Speaker 2: going to perform well in the next test. So there's
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  Speaker 2: always time to catch up, which some of our kids.
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  Speaker 1: Do and said, how do we go in some of
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  Speaker 1: our more remote areas.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's always the challenge is in a kadi And
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  Speaker 2: of course the NT is characterized by a number of
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  Speaker 2: schools in our remote more than any other jurisdiction in
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  Speaker 2: this country, which is why it's always a little bit
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  Speaker 2: difficult to compare the NT to other states. It's a
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  Speaker 2: lot easier to compare Queensland to WA and Victoria to
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  Speaker 2: New South Wales, but we are in a different position.
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  Speaker 2: It's always been a challenge in our remotes for a
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  Speaker 2: whole host of reasons. Certainly there's been some good growth
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  Speaker 2: in our remotes, but it continues to be a challenge
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  Speaker 2: as something that has a department education. We're very focused on.
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  Speaker 1: Now said, I understand that there is also at the
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  Speaker 1: moment an Education Leaders Summit happening today. What exactly is
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  Speaker 1: that going to be focusing on.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, the theme of the fabulous opportunity to bring
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  Speaker 2: our leaders together from around the NT. It's the primary
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  Speaker 2: event of the Department of Education and a really great
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  Speaker 2: opportunity for all of our leaders both in schools in
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  Speaker 2: the department to connect. The theme is one sky Many Voices.
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  Speaker 2: It's really about voice. So there's a whole bunch of
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  Speaker 2: opportunities over this day and tomorrow where teachers are encouraged,
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  Speaker 2: principals are encouraged to talk about voice, their own voice,
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  Speaker 2: other people's voice, and connect voices together. We've got some
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  Speaker 2: outstanding speakers Jemmy Penn who's just outstanding that encourage their
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  Speaker 2: listeners to google Yemy, doctor Jenny Donovan who's the CEO
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  Speaker 2: of ERA, which is a national organization. And then tomorrow
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  Speaker 2: there'll be showcases where principals will talk about the work
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  Speaker 2: they're doing in school. So it's all about connecting. Katie.
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  Speaker 2: An absolute primary event, and I'm really delized is about
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  Speaker 2: three hundred people in the hall here today and it's
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  Speaker 2: already started to be a great day.
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  Speaker 1: About three hundred people who exactly is attending principles or
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  Speaker 1: others as well.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, principals and then invited guest. We've got leaders from
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  Speaker 2: our regional teams and from our department teams. We've got
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  Speaker 2: about one hundred and sixty seventy principles in the room
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  Speaker 2: and when delighted say, most of them been able to come.
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  Speaker 2: And it's really important, of course that we're able to
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  Speaker 2: connect people. We obviously haven't connected for a couple of
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  Speaker 2: years yep, through the pandemic. So it's a really really
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  Speaker 2: great thing. Principles love it because it's a chance to
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  Speaker 2: come together, and we find in education that when you
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  Speaker 2: put people in a room together, then that's when the
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  Speaker 2: magic happens. So we do want to create those times,
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  Speaker 2: and it has been something that's been messed over the
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  Speaker 2: last couple of years. So I'm delighted that we've been
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  Speaker 2: able to pull it together this year.
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  Speaker 1: Well said, I mean, the Education Department's deputy chief executive.
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate your time this morning. Thanks very much for
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  Speaker 1: having your chat with us.
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  Speaker 2: You're very welcome, Tekie, thank you, thank you.