As part of Federation’s campaign to have mandatory introduction of the Computer Skills Assessment test deferred, Rooty Hill High School Fed Rep Dean Newbold, Lambton High School head teacher information technology and the computer coordinator Ian West, Federation President Maree O’Halloran and Federation Senior Vice President Bob Lipscombe spoke to the Upper House crossbenches as a group and the Lower House independents as a group on March 28.

Computer test ban lifted

By Bob Lipscombe

Following developments in State Parliament, undertakings given by both the Department of Education and Training and the Education Minister, and feedback from schools, the Federation Executive has lifted the ban on the Year 10 Computing Skills Assessment (CSA) test.

This comes after considerable activity by Federation to pursue the issues that gave rise to the ban. Media coverage has been generated by the Federation, all parliamentarians have received a parliamentary brief on the CSA, and Federation officers and members have personally lobbied parliamentarians who sit on the cross benches using information supplied by schools. This has been supported by a series of newspaper advertisements calling on Members of Parliament to represent their schools and students and support a deferral of the test. As a result of Federation's campaign, legislation seeking to defer the mandatory CSA test was introduced into the NSW Legislative Council by the Greens and has the support of the State Opposition.

In making the decision Federation Executive stated, in part, that: "having raised concerns in the public arena and given that a bill to defer the mandatory CSA test until 2007 is to be debated in State Parliament, the Federation determines that it is appropriate for the ban on the 2006 CSA test to be lifted. Federation believes that it is the responsibility of the Members of Parliament to represent the interests of their constituents, including those enrolled in their local schools, and support a deferral of the CSA test. Without such a deferral, many students, particularly in already disadvantaged areas, are at risk of being further disadvantaged."

Federation continues to be critical of the failure of the Education Minister to satisfactorily address problems related to the failure to ensure that there were sufficient numbers of operating computers in schools for the four years the mandatory Information and Communication Technology (ICT) competencies were supposed to have been taught, failure to embed the mandatory ICTs in the syllabus documents until the current year 10 students were in years 8 and 9, and failure to provide professional development to teachers to enable them to properly teach the competencies.

However, given that both the Minister and Department of Education and Training (DET) have made a commitment to discuss resource issues that may be identified in particular schools, Federation is encouraging principals of schools where students have been disadvantaged in their preparation for the 2006 CSA test to make submissions to the DET for additional support and professional development in ICT competencies.

In discussions with the DET, Departmental officers indicated that 'misadventure' applications could be made for students whose preparation for the CSA test had been significantly affected by lack of resources and similar issues. Federation believes principals should consider lodging misadventure application for students with the Board of Studies where they believe such circumstances exist. Federation Representatives and principals will be provided with material by the Federation to assist with these.

Bob Lipscombe is the Senior Vice President.

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