'When I wrote about why I'm not returning to teaching in 2025, one comment nailed it.'

I recently wrote about why I wasn't returning to teaching in 2025 after a long career. In short: it is the data. It consumes and destroys too much time, energy and creativity. Not just for teachers — but for children.

I've lost my passion for teaching because it feels more like guiding factory workers toward KPIs than what I signed up for 20 years ago: a quest to "light the fire of lifelong learning instead of filling the bucket."

This is a direct quote from my very first job application because, in 2004, the Australian educational philosophy was that for students to achieve their potential, we had to move away from memorised learning of facts and figures, and instead, strive for students' genuine engagement, with an emphasis on their personal interests and wellbeing.

Watch: The one task this teacher refuses to do. Post continues after video.

Since then, we've shifted focus and the current philosophy is: do whatever it takes to improve the data. Measure, and measure, and measure until you find out what they can't do, then make them do it.

One comment on my original story shocked me because it really summarised this practise of relentless data collection:

"Weighing the pig doesn't make it any fatter."

It isn't that weighing the pig isn't important. It's that the focus should be on caring and feeding it. Not repeatedly and unnecessarily weighing it, at the expense of valuable eating and nurturing time.

And, overall, the teachers engaging in the comments agreed with this sentiment. Data is important but… not this much data. And not at the expense of genuine learning, the development of self, wellbeing and happiness.

So what happened? What changed?

Data is important but… not this much data. And not at the expense of genuine learning, the development of self, wellbeing and happiness. Image: Getty

Was it NAPLAN? These annual tests for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 began in 2008. But the tests themselves aren't the issue.

They assess the skills expected to be learned by key milestones. And, completing tests once a year so that we can assess and improve students' learning makes sense, right?

But is that what NAPLAN is actually doing? Or has it just become a vehicle for private schools to rank and compete against each other?

Let's consider the data:

The tests in 2025 will occur in March, beginning Week 6 of Term 1. This means that from the early days of the year, academic learning geared toward NAPLAN readiness must commence to ensure students are not overwhelmed when the testing begins. This means reduced get-to-know-you activities, fewer fitness breaks, less (if any) free time and more rigorous practice: spelling tests, maths drills, typing skills… less reading for pleasure and more reading to complete comprehension tasks "so we're ready for the tests".

And not just these tests — there are other state and school-based ones, too. So, even the teachers not "teaching to the test" are… teaching to the test. They have to!

And if you want to squeeze a school camp into those first five weeks, you'd better be ready for an argument. With who? Stakeholders. Most principals understandably want the data to always be improving and parents want their kids to have the greatest chance for success. So connecting with your peers and teachers gets pushed back to the end of the term, after the testing.

Then, over the next six months, the tests will be marked, collated and printed. And after six months, the data returned to teachers around August — during Term 3.

By this time, the data is essentially redundant for class teachers who have now been teaching and assessing their students informally and formally for almost two terms as more than half of the school year has passed.

Oh, and they don't get to see the students' written work (their persuasive or narrative) — just the data about it.

So who is the data for?

MySchool, so parents can be anxious about the quality of education their child is or will be receiving at a school?

The League Tables published for months by media outlets?

Annual school reports and their school prospectus, so that private schools and states can weaponise the data against one another and use it to increase fees and reduce funding support?

Is it all so we can weaponise the data and increase fees? Image: Getty.

Clearly, the data is not collected for individual students. Nonetheless, students will receive their results. Their parents will be surprised and quiz them to see what they can and can't do now, six months later.

For some students, it will be a pat on the back. For most, it will be disappointing. It will contribute to their misbelief, in their lower-than-hoped-for abilities as a student and, for many, they will become even further disengaged with schooling.

Teachers will then be required to analyse the data. How can we improve student results? What can we work on? There will be emails, meetings and new resources created. And these will occur after school, before school, and in "NIT" (non-instructional time) or "free periods", when teachers are also expected to prepare, mark and report on their own internal assessments, which occur throughout the year, too. And communicate with parents. Constantly.

Let's not blame it all on NAPLAN. NAPLAN had good intentions. It just didn't quite go to plan because the results weren't kept where they should be: with teachers and students, in their classrooms.

What about other assessments?

When I began teaching, we held one assessment per term, generally. It might be a test, a collation or final piece of work from the term. Now we assess every day, in some way or another through "topic tests" and "exit passes". And while these can work as tools for helping student retain information and stay focused, they reinforce the "bucket-filling" goal of education that I thought we'd agreed to leave in the 50s.

For most subjects, there is also a formal, often written, assessment every five weeks. And the outcome is usually reported to students and parents, formally. As well as reports. As well as parent-teacher evenings. As well as NAPLAN. As well as Google Classroom, SeeSaw, ClassDojo, and class newsletters, class emails and…

Yes, there are many other problems in schools. The ratio of students to teachers has barely shifted in over fifty years, for starters. You can ignore the data released by ACARA on this — which claims that in 2023, the average student-to-teacher ratio was one teacher for every 14.2 government primary students or 12.3 secondary students. Raise your hand if you're teaching classes this small from the first year of schooling until Year 10. You'll note, the percentage of schools where this is happening is quite low. A sign that the data isn't quite right. A sign that we should look to TEACHERS for what's happening and should be happening in schools, not the data.

And of course, children's behaviour problems are increasing for a variety of reasons.

So what could we change? The data collection.

Bring back fitness and playtime in the morning instead of rigorous academics "when their minds are freshest". Bring back more free time and more non-instructional breaks, so kids can be KIDS and teachers can have a hot cup of coffee and not burn out. Bring back reading for pleasure instead of for the Premier's Reading Challenge quotas.

Bring back the education that inspired so many to join the profession at the turn of the millennium. Or risk this being the next Australian failure that our kids resent us for and watch as the teacher crisis heightens.

The author of this story is known to Mamamia but remained anonymous for privacy purposes. Share your thoughts on the teacher crisis in Australia in the comments below.

Read more of our stories written by teachers:

• 'I've been a teacher for 30 years. Now, I'd rather work at McDonalds than step into a classroom again.'

• 'I'm considering leaving teaching. So I wrote a pros and cons list for the job.'

• We asked 10 teachers what advice they'd give graduates joining the career. Here's what they said.

Feature image: Getty.