SCHOOLKIDS could be put through a new personality test to decide which classes they are given and so teachers can tailor lessons to their individual students' character quirks, researchers say.

For the first time in Australia, education experts are asking for information from parents and teachers as a step towards introducing a ``Five-Factor Model'' personality test, which they hope could be used in local schools as early as 2015.

Overseas studies using the same model have previously explored links between children's personality types and various behaviours, including the likelihood a student will become a bully or a victim of bullying, as well as their tendency to get involved in risk-taking activities.

Monash University academics are calling for responses to an online survey about children aged between three and 14, with people asked a series of questions such as whether the child liked "going the opposite way to others" and if they went "laughing through life".

Laura Hopkinson, one of two researchers working on the project, told the Daily Telegraph current personality tests tended to focus only on childrens' behavioural issues, such as hyperactivity, attention-deficit problems or anxiety.

"With this model, it doesn't matter if you are high or you are low on the scale," she said.

"Being either high and low in different traits can be positive, in different ways."

media_camera Georgia Hawkins with sons Leo, 10, and Ned, 8.

The test is used to assess the "big five" personality characteristics - openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.

Once a version of the test has been properly developed for Australian children and an "inventory" of results are available for comparison, researchers say it will be a powerful tool for teachers, parents and psychologists to use in schools.

"There's potential there to be administering it to a class and making judgments on how to teach that class, or making judgments on what classes to put children in," Ms Hopkinson said.

The model could also be used to work out which students should be put in early-intervention programs as some personality types diagnosed with the test were linked to specific "vulnerabilities" and even mental-health problems as they got older.

But Sydney University lecturer and child psychology expert Marc de Rosnay said while personality tests could produce "interesting" research, it was "bordering on ridiculous" to use that data for important choices about kids' schooling.

"I can't see any empirical basis for believing, yet, that we have a sufficient understanding of this thing called personality that we can use it to make decisions about childrens' lives," Dr de Rosnay said.

Mum Georgia Hawkins said she wouldn't necessarily object to her sons Leo, 10, and Ned, 8, being given a personality test for school, but she would be wary about how the information was used and who had access to it.

"If it was something that was put on file about a seven-year-old, when kids are just starting to take shape, I would have some serious concerns about that," she said.

"But I guess it's not that different to a summary at the end of a school report about their behaviour in class."

An Education Department spokeswoman said the department didn't use personality tests in schools and there were no plans to introduce them in this state.

She said education officials already used a number of tools, including academic and other assessments, to decide which were the best classes and approaches to use for students.

Researchers are looking for at least 600 people to take part in the nationwide survey, which can be accessed via Facebook on facebook.com/ChildPersonalitySurvey.