State and territory education officials have raised concerns about marking discrepancies between online and written tests

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The education minister, Simon Birmingham, has accused the teacher’s union of running a “scare campaign” over Naplan testing after reports the test scores of more than a million Australian students could be delayed due to concerns with comparing online and written results.

State and territory education bosses met with the national testing authority in Canberra on Wednesday to discuss how or if scores will be shared publicly.

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It came after state education heads raised issues with comparing scores from new online tests, sat by one in five students in years three, five, seven and nine, with the traditional handwritten assessments.

On Wednesday the ABC reported that preliminary Naplan results of one million students were due to be published on Wednesday, but were delayed because of disagreement between some states and the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (Acara) over how scores should be reported.

Victorian education minister James Merlino confirmed the issue on Wednesday, saying he was “extremely concerned” that the results may not be comparable.

“It reflects extremely poorly on Acara,” he said. “Acara’s management of Naplan online from go to woe has been appalling … simply not good enough.”

But Birmingham said Naplan results will be released this month, and said Acara had merely taken “extra precautions” over their release.

“It’s been disappointing to see some people try to mount scare campaigns about Naplan by taking advantage of the extra precautions and consultations in place to ensure the first year of Naplan online results are rigorous and ready for public release,” he said.

“Australians should see through the scare campaign being peddled by the union as little more than cheap opportunism from those who have always opposed parents receiving transparent and accountable information on student and school performance.”

Guardian Australia understands that the issue relates to the scaling of online Naplan scores. Because students who undertook the test online received harder or easier questions depending on how they were faring in the test, there are issues comparing the bell curve.

It means that for states such as Victoria that only introduced the online test to some students there are issues comparing data across year groups.

In the ACT – where online tests were used across the territory – there is a fear that results will artificially appear lower compared with other states.

A number of options are reportedly being considered for releasing data including one combined report, two separate reports or no report at all.

Preliminary Naplan results are usually provided between mid-August to mid-September, and on Wednesday the head of curriculum authority, Robert Randall, issued a statement denying the release of the results had been delayed.

“Parents, schools and educators should be assured that the 2018 Naplan results are on track to be released soon,” he said.

“Acara is prepared to release the results and expects this will be within coming days. Contrary to media reports, the 2018 results are not delayed. In previous years, results were released in mid-August.

“As in previous years, the normal process of working with education authorities in states and territories to review the data prior to release has been followed. As this is the first year of online assessment, extra attention has been given to reviewing the data and ensuring it is comparable with previous years and between online and paper test modes.

“Acara’s data analysts and measurement advisory experts have advised the data are valid and comparable.”

But the concerns about the rollout of online testing will reignite calls for a broader overhaul of Naplan testing.

On Wednesday Queensland education minister Grace Grace called for a national review of the testing regime.

“We believe after 10 years, before we move to fully implement Naplan online by 2020, that a comprehensive national review should be undertaken to ensure that Naplan is meeting its original objectives,” she said.

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The federal president of the Australian Education Union, Correna Haythorpe, said it was a “disaster” and repeated the AEU’s earlier calls for online tests to be scrapped.

“Naplan online is fundamentally flawed and must not be implemented,” she said.

The union claimed the federal education minister, Simon Birmingham, was repeatedly warned online and traditional test scores couldn’t be compared.