A test of wills? Exploring synecdoche and gaming in the national literacy and numeracy performance monitoring regime

In any performance monitoring program the various actors seek to persuade someone of something. The art of persuasion is therefore salient to performance monitoring and thus it is not unreasonable to posit that performance monitoring is indeed an exercise in rhetoric. We use the example of performance monitoring in the Australian National Assessment Programme for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) to explore the role of rhetorical tropes in action. In particular we examine two prominent types of gaming - encouraging low performers not to sit the exams, and teaching to the test - through a synecdochical lens which considerably alters the way in which one might otherwise judge these acts. We conclude with a brief consideration of the implications of our work on synecdoche for public policy and scholars who seek to extend their knowledge of performance in practice.