Diane Ravitch is a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education and also a former advocate of the Bush Administration's "No Child Left Behind" Act, which is the template for NAPLAN.

She is no longer a supporter of such "innovation" and has written a book outlining the failure of No Child Left Behind, stating as one of her biggest concerns, the law requiring standardised testing.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124209100

It is also interesting to note that many department stores are now advertising "NAPLAN Style Testing Kits" so that parents can further pressure their children as a precursor to the actual tests.

I've mentioned before that as a home educator I was able to choose simply not to register my child for the tests. In our situation "learning" is not a competitive proposition - it's something that unfolds naturally and spontaneously in the normal course of each day.

Thanks Phil and Poirot,
I enjoyed both postings.

Poirot is right. Dianne Ravitch has done a 180 degree U-ey turn in educational ideology. She used to be the poster girl for The Australian's team of neo-con educational commentators (Kevin Donnelly, Justine Ferrari, Janet Albrechtsen, et al), but since her conversion they don't mention her much any more. I was hoping she would convert them too. Not much hope of that I suppose.
Cambo

Test the student and the teacher is also being tested.

There has been no opposition from teachers regards the billions of dollars of taxpayer funding given to US companies to install US computers and US software in Australian schools.

There was no opposition from teachers in QLD when the teachers themselves wanted US only software placed on their laptops.

There has been no opposition from teachers regards the amount of US texbooks now in schools and universities.

But there is opposition to US style testing of students in Australian schools.

Something is odd, and I would think that the teachers are afraid that they themselves will also be tested.

Apologies for the confusion under the GERM section. It was meant to be in columns with the beliefs of GERM advocates {Australia etc.] on the left and the contrasting Finnish belief on the right. Please let me try it this way.
GERM advocates believe...
1.Testing core subjects only.
2.Standardisation.
3."Race to the Top" [i.e. competition between schools & states]
4. Ranting Reform Ideas.
Adopting education reform ideas from the corporate world and the scientific movement. Hiring private sector experts as leaders.

Finland's beliefs are...
1. Broad and Creative Learning.
2. Customizing.
3. Slow Learning.
4. Owning a dream.
Building a shared educational vision of what a good educaton system, schools and teachers look like. Appointing educational professionals to leadership positions.
Thank you
Flip

A great start to the new year, Phil. This idea can be considerably expanded, along the 'Dag's Dictionary' concept successfully run by Richard Glover on ABC702, Sydney.

Somethimes we miss the potential in dismantling silly ideas by simply making fun of them. I've done this at various times, with mixed results - but it has always made me feel better.

But with the Gillard governments foray into education the possibilities are endless. Thanks for making a start.

Thank you, Chris. I do agree with you. There are so many articles, comments and, probably, jokes about the whole stupid [recognising title of your great book] notion of blanket tests and its evil effects, that they should be shared more by those who care about kids at school.
I have recently started to send out items that, I think, colleagues and friends might enjoy. The last was from an old-time journo: "The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to down dissent and originality. That is the aim in the U.S., whatever the pretensions of politicians, pedagogues and other mountebanks, and that is its aim everywhere else...Their purpose, in brief, is to make docile and patriotic citizens, to pile up majorities and to make John Doe and Richard Doe as nearly alike, in their everyday reactions and ways of thinking as possible."[Mencken]
I don't mind adding names to the list of addressees.