 Hello and welcome to part two of the assessment edition of my video log, Fanning the Flames of Wonder. In part one I described how NAPLAN could be part of a comprehensive and balanced assessment system and called attention to the fact that it should not be seen as the be all and end all of assessment and certainly should not be seen as measuring overall school quality. In this part I'd like to talk about why NAPLAN's focus on literacy and numeracy is so important. I'd also like to let you know about some work we at Akara are doing to improve NAPLAN. So why do we focus on just these two general capabilities of literacy and numeracy when it comes to nationwide standardised testing? Very simply because literacy and numeracy are fundamental to further learning and to being able to participate effectively in society. However, as part of a legitimate attempt to encourage debate about how to best prepare students for the jobs of the future in the context of rapidly changing technology, some well-meaning advocates are downplaying the importance of literacy and numeracy. For example I recently read an article entitled Preparing for Industry 4.0 by Chris Goldspink and Robert Kaye. It included the following sentences and I quote, Are the traditional goalposts of the three Rs, that is reading, writing and arithmetic, otherwise known as literacy and numeracy, still appropriate and if not what should they be? How can schooling prepare children to thrive in the non-routine cognitive roles it appears will make up the bulk of the future workforce? Of more concern is that if we need to change the education system to properly address these issues we don't have much time. So while the football field and goalposts analogy is useful, describing literacy and numeracy as the goalposts under the current system is wrong. They are not the goalposts, rather they are the gateway onto the field. Without literacy and numeracy you don't get to play at all. You don't get to be included in the game. You don't get to make the choices you'd like to be able to make about what to learn after school and what career path to follow. You are excluded. And that is why we need to ensure all our children, particularly those who are most likely to be excluded from the life of society due to other circumstances, are empowered by education to make the practical choices about their lives that they need to make. That's why we need to know and why parents have a right to know how our school system is performing in delivering for those children. And that is why NAPLAN is necessary. But that is not to say that NAPLAN can't be improved. The NAPLAN reporting review that was presented to Education Ministers in June this year made recommendations that should address many of the negative and unintended consequences of putting the NAPLAN data on the My School website. And we at ACARA are currently consulting widely on what changes should be made. The review found that the way NAPLAN data is currently presented on the My School website is encouraging inappropriate and unfair comparisons between schools. And this in turn is driving some suboptimal practices in some schools. For example, it can lead to an excessive focus on teaching students the skills being tested in NAPLAN, which can take valuable teaching time away from other aspects of the broader curriculum. Improving the My School website should help everyone keep NAPLAN in perspective. ACARA is also about to review the way writing is assessed in NAPLAN. Notwithstanding the fact that this year's writing results showed an improvement across all year levels and all jurisdictions, we need to be sure that the way writing skills are assessed has validity not just from a technical viewpoint, but from an educational viewpoint. For example, we've had feedback from teachers that the fact that NAPLAN only assesses persuasive and narrative writing genres does not reflect the breadth of the curriculum and may narrow instructional practices. We're also looking into whether the way writing is marked can be improved, do the criteria that are used need adjusting, and what more could be done to ensure consistency in the way writing is marked across the country. So, at ACARA, we are committed to continuous improvement in the National Assessment Programme.