Increased teacher stress before NAPLAN testing has come to be expected, according to a state teachers' union.
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National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy testing will be run next week for year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students over three days from Tuesday to Thursday.
It was reported this week in Victoria that a group called the Boycott NAPLAN Coalition, made up of teachers, academics and parents, would not run the tests because schools had become obsessed with test preparation that led to stressed students and a narrowing of the curriculum.
Australian Education Union state president Terry Polglase said teachers were stressed for two main reasons - that they've spent enough time working with the students that they're prepared and that they must spend a considerable amount of time focused on the testing, when many do not agree with the process.
''Teachers of music, art and PE classes might be told that their lesson time is being cut down because their class time is wanted for preparation,'' Mr Polglase said.
''What does that say to those teachers - that their lessons aren't as important.''
He said the focus for teachers had shifted and it wasn't about learning, but about getting a result on the day.
Mr Polglase said most teachers did not talk or complain about the pressures surrounding NAPLAN at their school, they just got on with the task. He said the move to four terms, which will see students sit the tests at the start of term 2, as opposed to previous years when they would have sat them in week 8, may show some improved results.
Independent Schools Tasmania executive director Tony Crehan said he believed there were probably teachers in all sectors who felt under pressure for their students to perform, but this was self-inflicted and not that put on by schools.
Education Department deputy secretary Liz Banks said the department offered support to teachers.