Tamworth NAPLAN results map: Macquarie University study shows geography affects education

Timbumburi, Duri, Werris Creek and Nundle Public Schools were all above the national average for NAPLAN results despite the study showing most regional and remote schools don’t fare well in the countrywide assessment of numeracy and literacy rates.

“That was surprising and where it’s different to other places it’s not clustered in the bigger towns,” study co-author Crichton Smith said.

“Once you drive down the Newell Highway, inland of that finding schools above the national average – it’s just not there.

“If we see anything it’s the more you move away from the coast further inland remoteness issues come into play, but some of these schools in the Tamworth region are really punching above their weight.”

The lines between NAPLAN success and failure are far sharper in metropolitan centres, living in Sydney’s west it’s almost certain schools will have poor NAPLAN results.

And, the disparity is just getting worse, with the gap between the two areas continuing to grow since 2008.

Whereas finding a school on Sydney’s north shore that doesn’t pull below average scores is nearly impossible Mr Smith said.

“In non-metropolitan Australia it’s not one story, it’s also not a city versus country thing, there are clearly issues in regional and remote towns that aren’t metropolitan stories,” he said.

Even when students in metropolitan and rural schools start with the same score in Year 3, city kids see far greater improvement through the grades than those in remote schools.

The research looks at 2016 Year 5 reading scores across the country, outside the cities, education rates of participation drop and it appears 50,000 residents is the tipping point for better NAPLAN scores.

A leading education expert called the NAPLAN writing test ‘bizarre’ earlier this year.

MIT University retired professor Les Perelman reviewed the writing test and called it one of the ‘strangest writing tests I’ve ever seen’, arguing it rewarded the use of big words in lieu of correct spelling or coherence. 

Dr Perelman went as far as creating an example essay that shows students how to get top marks by simply memorising the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority’s list of challenging words and mastering the five paragraph form.

His guide tells students all they have to do for a high score is copy plots from television programs, movies or books that fit the writing task and change it slightly, markers are told to ignore any stories they recognise and mark purely on merit as if it were original.

The test itself distracts teachers from catering to individual student’s needs and the curriculum, Armidale Teachers’ Association president Michael Sciffer said.

“When schools are scrutinised so publicly, there’s a lot of pressure to perform in those test results – but they only measure some aspects of the curriculum while others get ignored,” he said.

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“The study overall gives a positive insight into education in Australia, it shows no difference between public and private schools but what matters is where the schools are located.

“It highlighted how much impact disadvantage has on learning and that’s what we’ve been arguing for a long time.

“Overall it’s a frightening message it gives but it’s great that we’ve got that knowledge, now it’s up to the government whether it responds or not.”

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