Helping your Child Prepare for NAPLAN

Preparing is the act of getting ready for some purpose or to get into the right state of mind to tackle a task. Preparing for NAPLAN, the National Assessment Programme for Literacy and Numeracy, is challenging.

The challenge comes with the fact that there is no real curriculum to prepare for.  There are no notes to learn or textbook scripts to absorb. The reward comes with being part of a national movement to highlight students’ progress in learning skills, based on two key aspects of education:

Numeracy and literacy

This could sound very daunting, but if skills are the key to the NAPLAN assessment, then learning the right skills will equip the student for the test. Learning skills is the empowering part of education and NAPLAN aims to asses the children in years 3,5,7, and 9.  There are past papers to look at to get an idea of what is expected, but the focus to prepare for the test should probably be more about the emotional aspects of testing and how to cope in a test environment.

What to focus on without the stress involved in learning:

• Doing your personal best is important
• Be a positive caring parent
• Listen to concerns about a test environment and empathise
• Share relaxation ideas like deep breathing and good posture
• Help with planning and doing the topics that are easy first.
• Read over work to check for errors.
• Keep a healthy perspective in mind, these are assessment tests to diagnose skills and improve areas needing upliftment.
• Share your own experiences if they are helpful – positive affirmation.

How to help academically:

• Liaise with your child’s teacher to find out if there are any skills you can work on at home.
• Focus on the skills to be tested and see how you can assist with any specific area your child is struggling with.
• Practise reading and answering questions based on the passage as well as building up vocabulary.
• Talk to your children about different topics to broaden their horizons
• Listen to your children to improve their spoken language.
• Continually be aware of the skills being taught and meet with your child’s teacher whenever you feel your child is struggling with basic concepts.
• Be supportive of homework and don’t do the homework as that will intimate that your child understands concepts and skills that they need to practise.

The overall message of the NAPLAN assessments is really one of support and communication via tests that are addressing the skills taught to your children at school.  The support of the child comes from school and from home as the tests are taken and the results received.  The communication is part of the process as the school and the parents express the need for increased awareness of the academic skills being learnt at school.

Being prepared is the state of mind that gets your body into gear.  Having to sit formal tests is another means to prepare for the rest of the academic year.  Preparing for any situation that challenges your child is a life skill.  Parents can be of great assistance in preparing for these tests and assuring their children that they are worthwhile and add value to their academic progress.