Teaching writing in the NAPLAN era : the experiences of secondary English teachers

While there have been various investigations into the impact of standardised testing in Australian schools over the decade since the introduction of NAPLAN testing, few of these have focused on the extended writing component in particular or on the experiences of secondary English teachers. These teachers are of interest because, despite cross-curricular claims for NAPLAN, they are the teachers most often identified within secondary schools as having responsibility for teaching writing. This paper reports the results of a survey of secondary English teachers piloted in two Australian states in late 2018. As well as their experiences of NAPLAN in their schools, teachers reported on their own writing practices, their knowledge and beliefs about writing, their professional networks and training related to writing, and how they taught writing within a selected class and unit of work. This paper concentrates on what the teachers had to say about their experiences of NAPLAN in their schools, and the extent to which NAPLAN results are reshaping their work.