Labor's Josh Willie brought a motion for the upper house to demand the government join the review but this was watered down by an amendment.

The upper house's two government members voted against the amended motion.

The Victorian, New South Wales and Queensland governments have agreed to combine and conduct their own review of the testing system.

Mr Willie said NAPLAN tests promoted a high-stakes culture within state classrooms which caused stress and anxiety for students.

He said NAPLAN data on the MySchool website were used to rate schools rather than measure student progress.

Mr Willie said a review would determine whether school comparisons through parental choice had an impact on the public education system.

He said NAPLAN was not working and it was only a matter of time before it was reformed or replaced.

Murchison independent MLC Ruth Forrest supported the motion and said education needed to be kept contemporary and amenable to the uniqueness of a child's individuality.

Leader of Government Business in the Legislative Council, Leonie Hiscutt, said the government did not support the motion.

She said the COAG Education Council had agreed to two reviews of NAPLAN and it believed a third review was unnecessary.

Hobart independent MLC Rob Valentine said the test taken on one day and did not necessarily reflect the student's overall learning capacity.

He moved an amendment for the government to be called upon to investigate the merits of a review before it agreed to participate in the review.

Rosevears independent MLC Kerry Finch said he wanted the state to join with the other three states to be part of the review so it was across the information the review produced as it evolved.

Nelson independent MLC Meg Webb said she supported a review of standardised testing but not the abolition of NAPLAN.