Distribution caused by teachers boycotting national standards testing in Australia may provide a signal to New Zealand teachers and parents as to how the situation may develop here, a University of Otago education lecturer has warned.
The Australian Education Union voted this week to boycott next month's national assessment programme and numeracy (Naplan) tests, arguing the results would be used to create damaging league tables.
Australian teachers were worried about their schools being unfairly named and shamed.
"But the Australian Government has vowed to use Education Department staff, exterior exam supervisors and even parents to conduct the tests if teachers will not."
University of Otago College of Education senior lecturer and professional education services manager Dr Darrell Latham said the Australian Government's plans to use parents as strikebreakers had left parent organisations throughout New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia outraged.
"Parent groups feel it is not the role of parents to supervise tests, and such action can only lead to the driving of a wedge between the key partners of teachers and parents in a child's formal education experiences."
Dr Latham said the concerns expressed by teachers and parent groups in Australia were similar to those experienced in New Zealand and had fallen on deaf ears.
"In Australia, the crux of the matter is how data collected can be misused to generate unfair league tables to be reported on a national My School website.
"Results of a recent national poll show that 54% of public school parents believed that a ban by teachers on implementing next month's proposed Naplan testing could be justified."
Dr Latham said media reports indicated the Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Julia Gillard had refused to meet and discuss proposals to improve the My School website and to protect pupils and schools from the damage of league tables and improper ranking of schools.
To suggest the debate was all against national assessment would be stretching the truth, because there were those who believed the Education Minister must stand firm in the face of the teacher opposition to releasing test results, Dr Latham said.
However, parents and the community did seem to be getting the message that the stand teachers were taking to boycott the tests was not an industrial issue, but one of professionalism and educational values.
He said Australian and New Zealand teachers and communities were experiencing similar issues, and the concerns related to national standards testing.
"Australia faces federal elections this year and there is a feeling in Australia that Education Minister Julia Gillard is prepared to stare down any argument or debate related to national testing, despite support for her to negotiate her way through the crisis."
Dr Latham believed the Australian and New Zealand ministers of education had chosen to ignore the wealth of international research evidence related to national standards testing and to plough on regardless.
