Student voice: Student feelings as they journey through National Assessment (NAPLAN)

This study explored students’ feelings during the Australian National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy. It features student voice depicted as self-drawn images accompanied by words as they journeyed through four phases of the NAPLAN process: preparation, participation, completion and results. The 34 students in Years 3, 5 and 7 attended one of two Queensland primary schools with divergent approaches to National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy. One-hundred and thirty-six images accompanied by 372 words were collected. School A allocated considerable time to test readiness and emphasised the importance of National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy while School B engaged in minimal preparation and did not highlight National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy as important. We explored similarities or differences in how students from each site reported their feelings. Our exploration reveals an overall trend of negative images and words during the preparation and participation phases followed by more positive depictions when the tests are complete and results are received. Furthermore, School A participants reported more negative feelings in the preparation and testing phases across all year levels