Driven by Data
The annual NAPLAN tests, which were conducted this week, attract strong support from many parents and educators and vehement condemnation from others. At St Peters, we value the tests because of their capacity to inform teaching and learning and drive our school improvement agenda. However, we also recognise that our students can never be reduced to a set of statistics.
As a lover of mathematics, I have a deep appreciation for numbers and the use of data. The effective gathering, analysis, and use of data is a powerful tool and we certainly draw on data to ensure responsible and effective management and governance, to track learning and measure performance.
Data, however, can never fully capture nor describe St Peters, me, you or our children. It cannot capture the fullness and complexity of the relationships we have, the life we live or our spirituality.
I am pleased that in our community we maintain a healthy perspective about the significance of NAPLAN. While we want to see our students achieve well and demonstrate what they know and can do, we do not place undue performance stress on them. We appreciate that NAPLAN results do not define our children any more than their elemental constitution of 65% oxygen, 18% carbon and 19.5% hydrogen does.
Last year, staff articulated the qualities, attributes and capabilities we seek to develop in our students and I have shared these with you. Recently, I discussed our graduate tree with an educational leader outside our community and they asked how we would measure each of the elements. Of course, some can be measured but many cannot. Yet, is something which cannot be dissected, measured and monitored of no value, purpose or worth? Should we not inspire our students to be brave even though we cannot accurately measure and quantify their bravery?
We need to maintain a balanced view of data. We need to recognise its limitations and capacity to incentivise unhelpful behaviours. In the world around us, we constantly see examples of the manipulation of data. How do we reduce the number of people in poverty? Change the definition of poverty. Have we addressed the issue? No, but we now have data to support the argument that the number of people living in poverty has been reduced.
I lament the scrutiny and elevation of performance statistics to such a level that school decision-making becomes driven by the public profile of data rather than what is best for students. Last year 23% of our OP-eligible Year 12 students received an OP 1-5. We could easily have raised that percentage by encouraging students who were not considering a university pathway to become OP-ineligible. Suddenly, our statistics would have been closer to 35%. Doing this, however, would not have served our students. Some students like to keep their options open, others find a sense of accomplishment in obtaining their OP. One student last year was adamant he would not go to university but still wanted to get his OP. At the end of the year he changed his mind and is now studying at university.
At St Peters, we value the young people in our care for who they are. We support them as they travel many and varied pathways in pursuit of their dreams and aspirations. We are dedicated to helping our students in their learning and nurturing their gifts so they can grow into extraordinary young men and women. When data can illuminate our path and help us achieve these purposes, we seek it out and embrace it wholeheartedly as a good gift from God while always recognising that each and every student is far, far more than a set of statistics.
Craig Schmidt
Principal
