Aotearoa Educators Collective (AEC) has raised concerns about low uptake for the Government’s newly released assessment tool.
The free SMART Tool is described by the Ministry of Education as a “bilingual digital tool designed for twice‑yearly assessment and aromatawai in Years 3 –10.
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“It supports teachers and kaiako to monitor learner progress in reading, writing, maths, pānui, tuhituhi, and pāngarau, aligned with the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.”
However, the AEC say that less than 60 percent of schools have signed up for the SMART Tool, which Education Minister Erica Stanford unveiled in February.
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They allege that “a number of principals” have told the AEC that they have signed up for the tool, but do not intend to use it.
Liam Rutherford, AEC spokesperson, said: “This low take-up of the SMART Tool is a clear sign that the education sector rejects the standardised testing of children. It was rejected during the National Standards era and is being rejected now.“
“Schools need support with more resources to meet the needs of individual children, not 75 million dollars being spent on a tool that will tell us that schools need support with more resources.”
“The low number of sign-ups is connected to the lack of confidence teachers and principals have in the Minister’s overall curriculum agenda.”
“Teachers and principals don’t feel like they are being listened to regarding both the direction of the curriculum and the speed at which the Minister wants it implemented. They strongly reject a curriculum that is built on the Minister’s assertion that all brains learn the same.”
Lynda Knight, AEC Spokesperson and principal in Wellington, says: “I understand many principals are wary about using an Australian standardised assessment tool which has hurriedly been adapted to our context.
“Unlike NZCER’s PATs [New Zealand Council for Educational Research’s Progress Achievement Tests], which have been refined over 50 years to provide a consistent, evidence-based measure of progress, the new SMART tool lacks this established history of validation in New Zealand.”
