Hon Charles Smith raises concerns about NAPLAN internet dropouts and insufficient internet capability in East Metropolitan schools, questioning the government's support for schools without NBN connections. The Minister responds that NAPLAN issues were nationwide and not due to WA internet capacity, highlighting increased bandwidth capacity.

AnsweredQoN 996Legislative Council
Asked
17 September 2019
Portfolio
Education and Training

QuestionView source ↗

NAPLAN ONLINE —
TECHNICAL ISSUES
996. Hon CHARLES SMITH to the Minister for Education and
Training:
I
refer to NAPLAN internet dropouts experienced at Arbor Grove Primary School,
Malvern Springs Primary School and Aveley Primary School in the East
Metropolitan Region, which have also advised me that their internet capability is not sufficient to support the teaching of information and communications
technology general capabilities and the WA digital technologies curriculum. How
will the government support these and other schools that are without an NBN
connection to enable teachers to deliver a twenty-first century curriculum?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
The
NAPLAN issues experienced by Western Australian schools in 2019 were the result
of nationwide connectivity issues and were not caused by internet
availability or capacity issues in Western Australia. Between 2015 and 2018,
the Department of Education increased total fibre connected bandwidth capacity
by 66 per cent, with further increases planned to commence in late 2019.

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