By Kathleen Killick
Every year, NAPLAN writing results spark headlines lamenting student underperformance. But what if the problem isn’t with the students – or even the teaching – but with the test itself?
NAPLAN’s writing task gives students five minutes to plan, then 30 minutes to write. Yet professional writers often spend more time planning than writing. Why? Because great writing starts with thinking – deep, deliberate, creative thinking.
Imagine being told to write a compelling story or argument with barely enough time to think about what you want to say. That’s the reality for students in the NAPLAN writing test. The pressure to ‘fill the page’ leaves little room to generate and organise ideas or choose the best approach, turning writing into a sprint to the finish rather than a well-planned journey.
This is more than an academic quibble. Research shows students who are taught how to plan and given time to do so produce clearer, more compelling writing.
Planning is not an optional extra
It’s a key stage in the writing process where students develop and apply their creative and critical thinking skills. These are the skills students will need not just to pass tests, but to thrive in any future career or challenge.
But teaching planning can’t be left to chance or treated as an afterthought. Students need explicit, focused instruction on how to plan effectively. Proven, research-based approaches like Seven Steps to Writing Success provide clear strategies that guide students in how to generate ideas, organise their thoughts and plan texts for a specific purpose and audience.
Schools embedding programs like Seven Steps report not only higher writing scores but also students who approach tests with confidence rather than anxiety. “My students have become more confident as they’re well-prepared and know the techniques to generate great ideas and produce amazing stories. Only the sky is the limit,” shares Seven Steps teacher Nurafidah Binti Mohd Amin from Australian Islamic College Forrestdale.
And isn’t that what we should be aiming for? Students who feel confident as they sit down to a writing test, rather than afraid of the empty page in front of them.
A step in preparing students for an AI-powered future
In a world where AI can produce a text in seconds, the human edge lies in the thinking. If NAPLAN expects original ideas and purposeful expression, then it needs to allow time to think first, write second.
It’s time for ACARA and education leaders to reconsider the NAPLAN writing test:
- Give students more time (at least 15 minutes) to visualise, brainstorm and plan with templates provided to scaffold thinking.
- Upskill teachers in how to teach planning effectively.
These two key changes will boost writing outcomes and, most importantly, better prepare young people for a complex, AI-augmented future.
We can’t afford to measure only the final draft. We must test what really matters – the thinking behind the writing.
Kathleen Killick is the CEO of Seven Steps to Writing Success, a research-based program that breaks down writing into seven key techniques that professional authors use.