Schools across Australia have been ordered to “pause” Naplan testing for more than one million primary and secondary students on their first day after widespread technology issues with its online platform.
In a statement on Wednesday morning, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (Acara) said it was “aware of a widespread issue affecting students who are able to log into the online platform to complete their Naplan assessments”.
“This issue is being urgently investigated by our technology provider, Education Services Australia, who manages the platform,” he said. “Schools have been advised to suspend testing while this is investigated.”
Acara said schools are receiving support and advice to minimize the impact on students.
Around 1.4 million students are expected to complete this year’s Naplan tests, which moved fully online in 2022 after off-paper testing began in 2016. Year three writing tests are still completed on paper.
In 2019, computer glitches with the Naplan tests led the Victorian government to allow schools to revert to paper-and-pencil assessments.
Sign Up: AU Breaking News Email
Late Tuesday morning, several schools posted on social media informing parents and caregivers that testing would be delayed as a result of the outages.
Erskine Park High School in western Sydney said on Facebook: “Due to technical issues with the Naplan online server, several schools, including ours, were unable to access Naplan today. An updated schedule will be shared.”
Rooty Hill Public School in Sydney’s west said it would postpone Naplan assessments until Wednesday due to “state-wide” issues.
The New South Wales Education Standards Authority, responsible for running Naplan in the state, said Acara had reported that “some schools are experiencing slowness on the platform” and that it was investigating the delays.
“ACARA recommends continuing open testing, if possible, but not starting new testing. NAPLAN directors and coordinators will receive more information by email,” he said.
Before testing began, parents were sent a 35-page guide to installing a blocked browser for testing, which prevents students from using other apps or websites during testing.
The document said that the browser would be installed by the school’s technical support officer. But students with their own devices would need help setting up their device for assessments.
According to reports on social media, during testing an error saying “communication with server was lost” was displayed on students’ screens.
