A number of people have asked me ‘what are you doing your PhD in?’ Sometimes, ‘education’ is enough but many who know me better or are a little more interested in what I do deserve a more thorough answer but without giving out my 12,000 word proposal to read – that may be unkind. You can skip straight to the slideshow but the outline below will give a lot better idea.
National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is the annual high-stakes standardised testing of children aged between 8 and 14 in every Australian school in literacy, numeracy and grammar conventions. NAPLAN is a major part of the Federal Government’s education reform (no wait, ‘revolution’). Publishing of NAPLAN results and detailed school data on the MySchool website aims to encourage parents to hold schools accountable for student performance. MySchool is there to empower parents with data (NAPLAN, school profile, finances, staffing, socieoconomic indicators to name a few) about the school their children attend. Our current PM has publicly and repeatedly hoped that NAPLAN and MySchool website ‘encourage robust discussions between the parents and the schools’. Her predecessor (equally) famously claimed that ‘if parents vote with their feet [if schools aren’t performing] that is exactly what the system is designed to do’. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Makes sense? I mean, schools have to be accountable, everyone is these days… And while the policy unproblematically attempts to empower parents, there is a serious lack of research on how they respond to the challenges and opportunities created by NAPLAN and MySchool.
This push for accountability and business-like application of neoliberal market principles in education (‘GERM’; Sahlberg) runs hand in hand with another powerful manufacturer of ‘common sense’ – performativity. While performativity is nothing new, it has intensified over the past two decades in its influence on both educational policy development and parental responses to it. This intensification has been fuelled by the ascendancy of the mentioned neoliberal market-based ideology and proliferation of technological tools of measurement and surveillance.
Central to the functioning of performativity is “translation of complex social processes and events into simple figures and categories of judgement ” (Ball, 2003, p. 217). This transforms the view of education and its complexities into a set of indicators we can use to name, differentiate and, importantly, compare individuals, organisations, even entire educational systems in a seemingly hyper-rational, objective, unproblematic way. Constructed metrics encapsulate and represent the worth, quality or value of an individual or a school. Their reified and strategic use normalises and regulates what is valued and desirable as ‘quality’ and directs human effort towards what seems, in economic sense, a perfectly desirable, logical goal – a series of calculated performances to achieve the targeted outputs efficiently and with minimum of inputs. Schools, students, teachers have been getting in on the act and/or avoiding it in a myriad of ways. Much has been written about it. But we don’t know much about how this plays out with the parents, the increasingly important ‘educational consumers’.
Which brings me to the third ‘force’ in play here – parenting. Just how does NAPLAN feature, play out in parents’ lives? What do they (not) do about it? Anything differently? How well do the lofty goals of parent power envisaged and spruiked by our leaders really play out on the ground? And just how does NAPLAN and associated MySchool play out with parents coming from different socioeconomic, cultural backgrounds and experiences, rewards of schooling? How much or do the parents fear NAPLAN or do they see it as an opportunity? You see, the questions are … endless.
So, for the next three years I will be deeply interested in what happens at the intersection of policy, performativity and parenting in the context of NAPLAN by the parents of kids in three public primary schools.
In the early 2013, I will be visiting parents of kids in three very different primary schools – one comfortable middle/upper class pushing for and publishing NAPLAN results prominently, one middle-of-the-road with great focus on arts (area that, with sport, usually suffers first in the rush to prepare for NAPLAN), and one … what label shall we use: working class? lower class? struggling? disadvantaged? The kinda school I had worked in most of my career (if you’ve read any of my posts tagged ‘teaching’ you’ll get the idea). I will go there to talk to parents and learn, collect and interpret stories.
No, I am not trying to work out “what Australian parents think of NAPLAN”. The aim of my study is to optimise understanding of the case rather than generalise beyond it. My study (a case study of parents in three very different primary schools) will not seek to represent all responses to NAPLAN by Australian parents. It will seek to capture, interpret and compare the cases of parents at each of the three proposed research sites and gain valuable local, regional, contextual knowledge Foucault speaks of.
At the same time, this may help us advance understanding the broader issue of NAPLAN, high stakes testing, performativity, and parenting and serve as a stimulus for other work in the area. A case study like this can be usefully seen as a small step toward grand generalisations or perhaps signal limitations to the existing grand generalisations.
I am fascinated by parents (well, I am one) and pressures, expectations, stresses they are put under as well as their ingenuity, commitment, understanding and sometimes plain rudeness and cold ruthlessness. While I have necessarily narrowed and deepened my PhD project, I think it is important to keep an eye on the broader trends, events and incidents that affect parents of school kids here in Australia and beyond. If you see any useful posts, tweets, sites, projects etc that have something to do with parents and education please do ping me on Twitter, here or otherwise. Many thanks.
Here are the slides … (link if the slides don’t show for some reason)
Enough to keep me busy for three years at least 😉 !
Ball, S. (2003b). The teacher’s soul and the terrors of performativity. Journal of Education Policy, 18(2), 215-228.
Tomaz.
I am interested that we are so quick to make judgements about children and schools, using visible numbers alone. What if we stopped paying attention to test scores and paid attention to children – how they learn, what drives them to be interested in learning, why they should care about learning. I am interested in knowing more about parents, the differences in their understanding for, value of, and connectivity to their children’s schools. I once had a wonderful counselor remind me that parents care deeply about their children even when they struggle to negotiate school themselves. I was just talking today with our coordinator for non-native language learners and the challenges their parents face to often just ask a simple question in the school office or on the phone. I look forward to your unfolding your work this year as you go through the process of diving deeply into your research.
Tomaz.
I am interested that we are so quick to make judgements about children and schools, using visible numbers alone. What if we stopped paying attention to test scores and paid attention to children – how they learn, what drives them to be interested in learning, why they should care about learning. I am interested in knowing more about parents, the differences in their understanding for, value of, and connectivity to their children’s schools. I once had a wonderful counselor remind me that parents care deeply about their children even when they struggle to negotiate school themselves. I was just talking today with our coordinator for non-native language learners and the challenges their parents face to often just ask a simple question in the school office or on the phone. I look forward to your unfolding your work this year as you go through the process of diving deeply into your research.
Thanks for the ping.
As I can’t even imagine myself doing PhD, I am already impressed 😉
I wish you well in this endeavour and hopefully your ‘product/s’ will better inform the policies and parenting regarding NAPLAN….I could mention performativity but that would be lying because I don’t really understand what it means….maybe I should keep following your PhD journey, eh? (hint: keep blogging)
As a teacher and parent, I’ve not really given it much thought or importance – always looking at it as a snapshot in time, possibly informative, hardly definitive, another piece of data in an increasingly large and complex body of data we “collect” to inform our practice as teachers and parents. I know it matters to some parents more than it does with us and parents’ attitudes affect the kids; including parent perspective is a wise move on your part.
I’m glad it’s going along nicely for you. I hope it stays that way.
cheers,
Malyn
Thanks for the ping.
As I can’t even imagine myself doing PhD, I am already impressed 😉
I wish you well in this endeavour and hopefully your ‘product/s’ will better inform the policies and parenting regarding NAPLAN….I could mention performativity but that would be lying because I don’t really understand what it means….maybe I should keep following your PhD journey, eh? (hint: keep blogging)
As a teacher and parent, I’ve not really given it much thought or importance – always looking at it as a snapshot in time, possibly informative, hardly definitive, another piece of data in an increasingly large and complex body of data we “collect” to inform our practice as teachers and parents. I know it matters to some parents more than it does with us and parents’ attitudes affect the kids; including parent perspective is a wise move on your part.
I’m glad it’s going along nicely for you. I hope it stays that way.
cheers,
Malyn
Hi Tomaz,
in line with your studies; this is a story from aconversation with a Mum who has a child currently in year four. The school is one of lower economic status and the mother is involved and cares about her childs education.
When the child was in pre-primary she loved working with numbers and applying the learning to everyday events. When she got to grade one she continued to engage with maths and thought it to be the ‘funnest’ thing in school. Year two was the same and the mother believed that she would not have to push at all when it came to maths and that her child would continue her love affair with numbers. In year three the child sat the NAPLAN and did not reach the prescribed level of achievement.
For the rest of year three she began to disengage with numeracy and stopped talking about numbers at home and ceased to apply numeracy to everyday experiences. Now at the end of year four she has deteriated so badly that when the word ‘maths’ is mentioned in class, she puts her head on the desk and cries.
The mother is now at a loss as to how to find the natural curiousity that her child once had for numeracy and is thinking of paying (something she can’t afford) for a tutor. In grade four! As an enducator I found this story to be sad in the extreme. There are always a lot of factors which influence a childs development and the NAPLAN testing may not be solely responsible for the child’s decline. But what if it is responsible? What are we doing to our kids? More importantly, does anyone know anymore why we are doing this?
Just one of the many stories which I am sure you will hear during your research.
Ronnie.
Hi Tomaz,
in line with your studies; this is a story from aconversation with a Mum who has a child currently in year four. The school is one of lower economic status and the mother is involved and cares about her childs education.
When the child was in pre-primary she loved working with numbers and applying the learning to everyday events. When she got to grade one she continued to engage with maths and thought it to be the ‘funnest’ thing in school. Year two was the same and the mother believed that she would not have to push at all when it came to maths and that her child would continue her love affair with numbers. In year three the child sat the NAPLAN and did not reach the prescribed level of achievement.
For the rest of year three she began to disengage with numeracy and stopped talking about numbers at home and ceased to apply numeracy to everyday experiences. Now at the end of year four she has deteriated so badly that when the word ‘maths’ is mentioned in class, she puts her head on the desk and cries.
The mother is now at a loss as to how to find the natural curiousity that her child once had for numeracy and is thinking of paying (something she can’t afford) for a tutor. In grade four! As an enducator I found this story to be sad in the extreme. There are always a lot of factors which influence a childs development and the NAPLAN testing may not be solely responsible for the child’s decline. But what if it is responsible? What are we doing to our kids? More importantly, does anyone know anymore why we are doing this?
Just one of the many stories which I am sure you will hear during your research.
Ronnie.
I hear you Veronica. And you know what? There are many, many stories like this out there. Sadly.
Thank you for sharing this gem, appreciated. So much for the policy makers telling us ‘it’s not high-stakes’ and happily walloping the duty donkey around – the teachers. Another reason why I want to collect some parent stories too.
Cheers and have a great holiday break.
I hear you Veronica. And you know what? There are many, many stories like this out there. Sadly.
Thank you for sharing this gem, appreciated. So much for the policy makers telling us ‘it’s not high-stakes’ and happily walloping the duty donkey around – the teachers. Another reason why I want to collect some parent stories too.
Cheers and have a great holiday break.
Thank you Malyn. You know we will stay in touch one way or hundred others 😉
And this old nut of an issue won’t go away in a hurry, don’t worry.
Cheers
T
Thank you Malyn. You know we will stay in touch one way or hundred others 😉
And this old nut of an issue won’t go away in a hurry, don’t worry.
Cheers
T
Thanks Pam. Interesting you say that about negotiating school. The other day I did a quick readability check of documents about NAPLAN and MySchool provided to parents via website and flyers. The reading age required to fully understand the documents meant that at least half the population would NOT understand it. Talk about systemic …
Thanks for you comment, as always – wil stay in touch!
Thanks Pam. Interesting you say that about negotiating school. The other day I did a quick readability check of documents about NAPLAN and MySchool provided to parents via website and flyers. The reading age required to fully understand the documents meant that at least half the population would NOT understand it. Talk about systemic …
Thanks for you comment, as always – wil stay in touch!
Is the NAPLAN really only once a year?
Is the NAPLAN really only once a year?
Yep. Every first full week in May. Some schools prepare for it for weeks, months even. More info http://www.naplan.edu.au/ Cheers Dan
Yep. Every first full week in May. Some schools prepare for it for weeks, months even. More info http://www.naplan.edu.au/ Cheers Dan