School News
NAPLAN Online
Privacy Notice
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) takes place each year for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 and has been an everyday part of the school calendar since 2008.
NAPLAN helps parents, carers and educators to see if children are meeting important numeracy and literacy standards.
Collection of personal information
Schools are required by law to collect personal information about you and your child, irrespective of whether your child participates in NAPLAN testing.
The purpose of this notice is to advise parents and carers of how your child’s personal information will be used for NAPLAN testing (both online and paper tests) in 2021 and, as part of NAPLAN Online, readiness activities scheduled at various times leading up to the test in May 2021 and May 2022.
Paper-based NAPLAN testing
Since its introduction in 2008, NAPLAN testing has been conducted using paper-based tests for students in all year levels. NAPLAN paper tests are administered every year across a 3 day test window in the second full week of May.
Most schools in South Australia will conduct NAPLAN testing online in 2021. However, some schools will conduct paper-based testing in 2021.
Moving to NAPLAN Online in 2021 or 2022
In July 2013, Australian education ministers agreed to guiding principles for national online assessment. The move to NAPLAN Online started in 2018. Moving online means NAPLAN is transitioning from paper-based tests to computer-based assessments.
Online testing brings many benefits and opportunities including providing better assessment, more precise results and faster turnaround of information.
More information on NAPLAN Online is available at: www.nap.edu.au/naplan/parent-carer-support/.
Readiness testing activities
A critical step in preparing for NAPLAN Online is schools’ participation in readiness testing activities.
The purpose of readiness testing activities is to ensure your child is familiar with their device and the online test environment, as well as to test school and national infrastructure systems and processes.
Readiness testing is not another NAPLAN and will not formally assess students who participate in the test. Any reports generated will be used for testing purposes only. Readiness testing activities may involve students who are participating in NAPLAN in 2021 or who will participate in 2022.
Disclosure of personal information
For every student participating in NAPLAN Online testing readiness activities, personal information will be uploaded by the Department for Education, as the Test Administration Authority (TAA), to the NAPLAN Online Assessment Platform (‘assessment platform’).
The information marked with an asterisk (*) is also provided by the department, as the TAA, to Fuji Xerox Business Force Pty Ltd for the purposes of printing paper test materials and reporting student results, and uploading to the Student Participation System which includes the Student Participation Website (SPW). The SPW is used by schools undertaking paper-based tests.
- Student name*
- Jurisdictional and local school student identifiers*
- School name, class and year level*
- Gender*
- Date of birth*
- Disability adjustments (where applicable)*
- Country of birth*
- Language background other than English Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander status
- Parents’ occupation, education and language background
The personal information for students who are exempted, absent or withdrawn from NAPLAN testing is collected and used for reporting purposes.
Data security - Security and privacy are key requirements for the delivery of national testing.
NAPLAN Online
The online assessment platform has been designed to comply with relevant national data security policies and guidelines, as well as data encryption standards.
The assessment platform is managed by Education Services Australia (ESA). ESA is a not-for-profit company jointly owned by the Australian education ministers. ESA is subject to rigorous information privacy and data security obligations under its contract with the Department for Education.
ESA only has access to personal information from a relevant school, TAA or the Australian schools list for the primary purpose of fulfilling ESA’s role in supporting the operation of the assessment platform.
ESA’s privacy policy can be found at: www.esa.edu.au/contact-us/privacy .
Student Participation System
The Student Participation System is managed by Fuji Xerox Business Force Pty Ltd. Fuji Xerox Business Force Pty Ltd is subject to rigorous information privacy and data security obligations under its contract with the Department for Education and is only permitted access to personal information from a relevant school for the purposes of providing the contracted services.
Fuji Xerox Business Force Pty Ltd’s privacy policy can be found at: https://www.fujixerox.com.au/en/privacy-policy
Access and correction
To request access or correction to personal information collected for NAPLAN and held by schools, please contact your school principal in the first instance. Any concerns about a breach of privacy by a school should be directed in writing to Tyson Grinham.
More information
Please contact Mirjana Grubor if you have any questions about this information.