HOME SCHOOLING QUESTIONS ANSWERED: “Should my child do NAPLAN testing?”

One of the most common questions I’m asked by families new to home education is this:

“What about NAPLAN? Should home schoolers do the literacy and numeracy tests?”

My answer is simple: we don’t recommend standardised testing. And there’s a very good reason why.

What Is Standardised Testing Actually For?

Standardised tests, like NAPLAN, were designed to provide a national measure of student performance in key areas such as literacy and numeracy. Introduced under Julia Gillard’s government, NAPLAN quickly became the cornerstone of a testing culture that sought to compare, rank, and report student achievement across the country.

Unfortunately, that’s all it really does — compare and rank.

It doesn’t drive meaningful learning.

It doesn’t support struggling students.

And it certainly doesn’t nurture curiosity or a love of discovery.

A Confession: I Helped Write the Practice Tests

In the interest of full disclosure: I once published some of the first commercial NAPLAN-style practice tests in Australia, through Blake Education. Those tests became bestsellers and were used in classrooms all over the country.

So if your child sat through mountains of practice booklets during their primary school years — some of that is my doing. It was before I knew any better!

But over the years, I’ve come to see how deeply flawed this approach to learning really is.

What’s Wrong with Standardised Testing?

Where do we begin?

It reduces learning to a snapshot in time. A child may have a “bad day,” misunderstand instructions, rush answers, or be affected by stress, temperature, classroom tension — all of which distort their performance.

It rewards conformity, not creativity. These tests aren’t interested in what your child loves, what they’re good at, or what drives their learning forward.

It teaches students to fear failure. And worse — to believe that their worth lies in a score or a band level.

And let’s be honest — the primary beneficiary of all this testing isn’t the student.

It’s the bureaucracy. And perhaps the data collectors.

The Finnish Model: No Testing, Just Trust

Compare this with Finland, one of the most consistently high-performing nations in global education rankings. In the early years of their school model, students had no standardised testing at all.

Instead:

• Students stayed with one primary teacher for six years.

• Progress was monitored personally and holistically.

• Parents simply met with the teacher to discuss their child’s development.

• It was built on trust, expertise and professionalism — not bureaucracy.

But Don’t You Need Testing Sometimes?

Of course. Some external assessments make sense. A driver’s licence test ensures safety. A university entrance exam might determine preparedness for a field of study.

But using external, one-size-fits-all tests to:

• Place students in arbitrary year levels

• Create school league tables

• Or “motivate” students to do better

…is neither helpful nor ethical.

How Coach House Approaches Assessment

At Coach House, we take a very different approach.

• We never force standardised tests.

• We never assess under time pressure.

• And we never rank your child.

Instead, we offer optional placement tasks to identify gaps in knowledge and help us understand your child’s learning history. These are:

✅ Private

✅ Unpressured

✅ Followed by a real conversation in a personal online meeting with you and your child

We treat assessment as a tool for learning — not a tool for labelling.

The Takeaway?

If you’re transitioning out of school, it’s vital to let go of the old mentality that your child needs to “measure up” against others. At home, your child can flourish in a system that values growth, not grading — curiosity, not competition.

So the next time someone asks, “What about NAPLAN?”, you can say:

“No thanks — we’ve moved beyond that.”

Learn More About Our Approach

At Coach House, we create fully customised home education programs aligned to the NSW curriculum — without the rigid pressure of tests, deadlines or busywork. Every program is shaped around your child’s strengths, interests and needs.

Book a Call

Download a Free Sample Resource

Let’s rediscover the joy of learning — no score required.