Global education giant Pearson Australia has come under fire for an alleged conflict of interest after revelations that the company marks and collects data on NAPLAN tests, while also selling a textbook that offers NAPLAN preparation tips.
Pearson is responsible for collecting NAPLAN data, and marking certain test items, including numeracy and literacy tests. It also prints, packages and delivers tests to schools.
The $7,241,268 contract states the company also registers students enrolled in tests, and records attendance details.
Pearson, which has held the contract since 2013, also sells a textbook that includes a chapter on NAPLAN preparation, as well as offering tips on NAPLAN preparation on its website.
Victorian Greens education spokeswoman, Sue Pennicuik, who has raised concern about the issue in Parliament, said the government must "pay attention" to a potential conflict of interest.
"The company is privy to a lot of information and raw data with regard to student and school results, and at the same time, another arm of the company is involved in selling textbooks, both online and in hard copy, about various subjects — how to prepare for NAPLAN et cetera," she said in Parliament last month.
She told Fairfax Media that "there should be a prohibition on Pearson selling any of their NAPLAN-related products if they are making money out of running the tests".
Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Meredith Peace said the contract was "alarming".
"Australian parents expect the state and federal government to properly fund public education, not outsource to global multinational companies, where a conflict of interest may exist.
"The integrity of our education system is at risk where student assessment processes become sullied by commercial considerations."
Pearson Australia's spokesman David Barnett was adamant that the company was not involved in any conflict of interest.
"All contracts pertaining to the capture of NAPLAN data, whether they are awarded by state or federal agencies, have safeguards built in, which expressly preclude any access to or use of NAPLAN data outside of the stated requirements of the contract.
"Pearson does not develop resources specifically for NAPLAN preparation (except for a single chapter in an English text)."
Pearson also holds a $41.6 million contract for providing NAPLAN marking and other services in NSW, which has incensed the teachers union in that state.
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority spokesman Justin Shortal said all tenderers were required to nominate whether or not any of their employees or officers had any conflicts of interest, and there was no evidence of a conflict.
"In addition to the assurances provided by NCS Pearson and the checks undertaken as part of the procurement process, NAPLAN data is published annually by ACARA and is freely available to the public."
The tender process for services related to NAPLAN from 2016-18 have closed and the successful bidder is yet to be announced.
Pearson has also bid for a contract administering new literacy and numeracy tests for aspiring teachers.
With Eryk Bagshaw
| theageAustralia on Facebook
From the SMH
NSW teachers and politicians have lashed out at the potential conflict of interest that a multi-billion dollar British private education firm has in the state's education system.
Pearson, the world's largest education business has held the $41.6 million contract for marking NAPLAN in NSW since 2011. The $10 billion global business generates millions of dollars out of text-book sales every year.
At the state's budget estimates last week, Greens MP John Kaye said that the conflict of interest between holding a contract that allows Pearson to mark NAPLAN tests and generate revenue out of the same exams was obvious.
The company also holds the contract for printing, distributing and capturing data on the test, while the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority develops the exams.
University of Queensland professor Bob Lingard said the contract potentially amounted to state-sponsored market research.
Pearson is the world's largest education business and generates millions of dollars out of text book sales every year. Photo: Gary Medlicott "The support by the state of these functions gives companies the business intelligence to dominate the market," he said.
NSW Teachers Federation President Maurie Mulheron said that NAPLAN marking was just the tip of the iceberg and that company was positioning itself to control the entire education supply chain.
The company is involved in teacher training in Australia and curriculum development and assessment overseas. It recently established hundreds of for-profit low cost private schools across the developing world, including South-America and Sub-Saharan Africa, where educators are concerned it will have an impact on the principles of universal free education.
"We are very, very worried about the aggressive influence that the company has," he said. "It is the number one concern of international education unions."
Despite dedicating an entire section of its website to "exclusive custom NAPLAN chapters," Pearson Australia's managing director, David Barnett, said the company had not sold a "single resource related to NAPLAN test preparation."
According to its inventory it currently sells 3686 textbooks directly related to the NSW curriculum, among them NAPLAN products for year 7 and year 9.
"The idea that we are somehow benefiting commercially from NAPLAN delivery is wrong," said Mr Barnett. "They are totally separate parts of the business."
A spokesman for the Department of Education said that Pearson was required to inform the department itself whether it had a conflict of interest in 2011. A probity adviser found that a conflict of interest did not exist.
The former British construction giant turned owner of the Financial Times and the Economist has controversially lost several multi-million dollar international contracts over the past year, most recently in New York where it administered its K-12 common-core tests, a US version of NAPLAN, after it allegedly inappropriately contacted teachers and botched several test questions.
The $44 million hit in New York came after it lost a contract in Florida, worth $220 million, as well as another in Texas worth $400 million. Last year it lost a $1.3 billion contract to distribute an interactive iPad curriculum throughout Los Angeles, after administrators were "extremely dissatisfied" with the work of the company.
Pearson Australia would not comment on the activities of its overseas branches, but it has long advocated for the role that private-public partnerships (PPP) can play in the education sector in Australia.
Mr Barnett was a member of the former Federal Education Minister's Digital Education Advisory Group and the Federal Government's Book Industry Strategy Group.
"There was major commercial development to the digital education advisory report," said Mr Barnett. "Including the value of PPP partnerships and the skills we can bring to those sorts of projects."
"If we lobby the government, we do it to make a contribution. We don't lobby to push politics or products," he said.
sydneymorningherald on Facebook
From the Independent education Union
Disgraceful. If NAPLAN testing wasn't difficult enough for our members, we now learn that it has been quite the handy earner for the corporate parent of the NAPLAN tests, Pearson Education - a company at the forefront of for-profit education throughout the developed and developing world.
The Sydney Morning Herald noted that "Pearson, the world's largest education business has held the $41.6 million contract for marking NAPLAN in NSW since 2011. The $10 billion global business generates millions of dollars out of text-book sales every year."
"University of Queensland professor Bob Lingard said the contract potentially amounted to state-sponsored market research.
"The support by the state of these functions gives companies the business intelligence to dominate the market," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment