This week, children in years three, five, seven and nine sat NAPLAN. This three-day test examines skills in literacy and numeracy and offers a snapshot of how schools are faring across the country. This information is valuable in informing school resourcing decisions, but it is being misused in a number of ways.

For one, the results have now become an informal selection test, taken into consideration by schools when accepting new students. For another, schools and parents have come to regard the test results as an absolute measure of education delivery. Everybody concerned is responding rationally but perversely in focusing on these public KPIs. Teaching to the test and learning to the test are promoting convergent thinking among children at the expense of creative problem solving.

Where does this leave them as adults? Could it be that, just as we are reaching another employment revolution with the rise of unknown digital careers in the future, we are discouraging the skills that will allow tomorrow's employees to innovate? Creativity is now recognised as central to success in the workforce, but we are systematically stamping it out with "one size fits all" thinking like NAPLAN.

As a volunteer I teach creative writing at the Redfern Sydney Story Factory, which helps children from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain confidence in expressing themselves. Each new cohort starts out so terrified of mistakes that they are resistant to even trying to write a story. The three Rs are important as an underpinning discipline, but the way the tests are being used is jeopardising children's ability to learn in other disciplines.