Children at two Sydney schools have been forced to resit their NAPLAN writing exams due to a technical issue which meant they were able to access predictive text and spellcheck.
A teacher at Kambala in Rose Bay and students at Waverley realised the Apple feature was turned on when they completed the writing component of the test last week.
Students in year 5 at Waverley College will resit their NAPLAN writing test.Credit: Louise Kennerley
In addition to checking spelling and completing words, Apple says the predictive text feature also uses artificial intelligence to create a text response suited to the writing style of its user.
A spokesman for Waverley College said it told the NSW Education Standards Authority about the problem.
“The issue involved predictive text being inadvertently enabled during the test, potentially affecting our students’ submissions,” he said.
Students were told to retake the writing test with a new prompt. “Unfortunately, when attempting to administer the rescheduled test the following day, despite multiple requests, we did not receive the necessary student profile codes that would allow our students to access the test,” he said. They sat the test on Monday.
“We are aware that Waverley College is not the only school to have experienced these technical difficulties. Some schools may be unaware that predictive text features were enabled during their students’ assessments, and we hope that all students are evaluated under fair and consistent conditions.”
Kambala said a technical glitch meant that students were able to use the predictive text but a teacher alerted the authorities straight away.Credit: Louise Kennerley
A Kambala spokeswoman said a teacher identified the issue and alerted NESA and the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority.
