Tasmanian students were set to start the tests from next Wednesday, with the testing window open from March 11 to March 23.
The NAPLAN ban includes not administering or supporting NAPLAN assessments, no NAPLAN practice or preparation and no covering of any classes to help facilitate them.
Other bans in place at present for AEU members include no identifying, recording or reporting of staff participation in industrial action, principals not monitoring, recording, or reporting industrial activity and no assisting in the creation of or distribution of Department promotional activities.
The union said the bans have been put in place for a number of reasons, but mainly to ensure members are protected against unsafe workloads, they are creating public awareness of the harm being done by the Rockliff Government, they apply pressure on the government, while minimising disruption to students and they allow for further escalation, if necessary.
AEU Tasmania Branch president David Genford said the escalation is a “message to the government that we’re serious”.
“He (Jeremy Rockliff) needs to put an offer on the table that matches what the police got, and whilst the premier and the treasurer stand in front of parliament yesterday and say that they have done that already, that is not true,” Genford told Hobart’s The Mercury newspaper on Tuesday.
He said the ban is intentionally not going to impact student learning, but instead is designed to put pressure on the Government.
AEU Tasmania Banch president David Genford says union members won’t support or facilitate NAPLAN testing in any capacity, nor will they conduct or facilitate NAPLAN tests for 2026 or 2027.
“This is an example of extra workload that is put on staff, for the benefit of the government and the data that they want, [NAPLAN] doesn’t have a real impact on students,” Genford told ABC News.
“We’re going to see it vary from school to school, but I think it’s quite possible that you’re going to see students not sitting the tests at all,” he said.
Naturally union members, Genford explained, would prefer to be teaching.
“The effort that goes into NAPLAN simply isn’t worth the workload that’s been put on our teachers and even the pressure that’s put on our students,” he said.
“We hear stories of students being stressed out about NAPLAN when really all it was ever meant to be is a snapshot of where your school is at and even where the state is at.”
The union said it has been buoyed by “overwhelming support from the Tasmanian community” for the ban on NAPLAN.
“Tasmanians understand public education is in crisis. Something needs to change,” a post on Facebook stated.
“It’s time for the Rockliff Government to start working with educators to deliver real change, instead of sticking their heads in the sand.”
