Farmers must be sick of Wellington's wonky ideas
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The Government suggested children collecting eggs is a great concern for farming families. But is it? Photo / NZME
Editorial
What came first? The chicken or this Government's fear about children unlawfully collecting eggs?
In what could easily have been a scene from Yes Minister or The Thick of It, Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden this week announced she will address the great concerns around regulations governing children working on farms.
But are there any concerns from the farmers themselves?
Even if you are an urban-dwelling New Zealander, you likely have spent time on a farm and have family or friends who live and work on the land.
Without putting too fine a point on it, farmers are known to enjoy a good moan over a cuppa, often about the weather but always about the Government and over-regulation. But think to yourself, how many farmers have you met who have told you one of their biggest issues is their children might be breaking the law by collecting eggs or feeding the goats?
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NZ Herald
an hour ago
- NZ Herald
NCEA scrapped: Will new NZ Certificate of Education fix ‘tarnished' system?
Auckland Grammar headmaster Tim O'Connor was among supporters of the revamp, saying change was desperately needed. Many students had coasted under NCEA rather than striving for excellence, he said. That led to NCEA becoming 'tarnished' as the 'flexible anything qualification', with students looking for easy ways to gain credits and more than 250,000 instances of skipped exams last year. It was critical to rebrand NCEA to restore parent faith, O'Connor said. He urged everyone to give feedback on the proposed changes because – like NCEA before it – the radical shake-up could affect students for decades to come. The proposed changes The scheme proposes axing NCEA 1, giving students respite from high-pressure exams in Year 11. However, they would now be expected to focus on literacy and numeracy in a 'Foundational Skills Award' that aimed to provide the base skills to tackle their senior studies. Year 12 students would then seek to attain the NZCE and Year 13 students the NZ Advanced Certificate of Education. Students could still potentially take two essay-based assessments and one exam per course as with NCEA, but the Government argued that even essays would be graded in a more standardised way under its new plan. Common-sense grading, such as awarding As and marks out of 100, would not only make more sense to parents but also employers and universities at home and abroad, it said. The changes would kick in at Year 11 level in 2028, with the same set of students then moving into the NZCE and NZACE in 2029 and 2030 respectively. The Government's proposed implementation timeline for its education plans. Supplied / Ministry of Education 'When do you use calculus after school?' Mount Albert Grammar principal Patrick Drumm was another school leader hailing the changes as a 'huge step in the right direction'. Excessive flexibility in NCEA had meant even science subjects could be taught differently at different schools, he said. 'Doing chemistry at Mount Albert Grammar is not the same as doing chemistry in other parts of Auckland or New Zealand.' Working together to build more consistent lessons across all schools would help raise the bar across the country, Drumm said. For too long, students had on average been achieving far different results in different socio-economic areas, he believed. Improving simple things, such as grading, could be a step forward, he said. Under NCEA, an A stands for achieved, which is a lesser mark than the E for excellence. Drumm said overseas universities had called his school up because they were confused by the school reports students had submitted in their uni applications. They would ask: 'What are all these Es?' Drumm also praised the dropping of NCEA Level 1 as a 'no-brainer'. His school had already dropped out of NCEA Level 1 and created its own curriculum for its Year 11 students this year. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford have revealed NCEA's fate. Photo / Alex Cairns Papakura High School principal Simon Craggs earlier told the Herald that NCEA Level 1 had been poorly designed, and tested students on technical skills, like grammar syntax, that they would never need to remember or use later in life. Still, he had heard from some principals upset the NCEA Level 1 qualification was being dropped altogether. That's because it was the only qualification early school leavers had to show future employers, he said. Without it, these school leavers had no official school document to add to their resumes. Balancing university entrance with trade careers Craggs also had 'mixed feelings' about the wider changes. One of his biggest concerns was the seeming tilt towards favouring students wanting to enter university. Practical skills rather than advanced maths were typically more relevant to students pursuing vocational training and a career in jobs like the trades, he said. 'I don't know about you, but when do you use calculus after school? Why do you need to learn that if that's not the pathway you're interested in pursuing?' Craggs also believed vocational training needed flexibility. He gave an example of a school located near a unique local industry. Some students might want to get jobs with that local employer and so would be interested in gaining credits for 'learning about health and safety' more than maths, he said. Drumm and O'Connor agreed striking a balance in an education system that aimed to help all students – from those seeking entrance into Ivy League US universities to those wanting to be plumbers – was a tough and complex task. The proposed new record of achievement. Supplied / Ministry of Education Drumm suggested vocational training could be carved out into a different but equally valued education pathway. He said you only had to look at the utes and work cars parked in front of Coromandel holiday homes to realise how financially successful trade careers could be. Vaughan Couillault, principal of Papatoetoe High School and a member of the principals' advisory group working with the Government on the reforms, said there might be less flexibility under the new vocational training system. However, he said it aimed to provide more rigorous and standardised lessons by bringing in industry bodies to create the curriculum and ensure it included skills employers wanted. The changes aimed to have 'calculus' and 'tradie' skills equally valued and marked within the school system, he said. Education Minister Erica Stanford received multiple briefings on the current set-up. Photo / Alyse Wright Is the consultation period just a tick box exercise? Looming over the debate are concerns about the process itself, with Craggs questioning the shortness of the six-week consultation period. He hoped the consultation was genuine 'and not just a tick box exercise' with decisions already made. He didn't want change to be made merely as a statement for political gain. 'Education has become a real political football. 'It is really wearying on the profession, to be honest, to be constantly going backwards and forwards.' Education researcher Michael Johnston, from the NZ Initiative, who advised the Government, praised the reforms. He claimed they equally aimed to raise academic standards and use 'industry-designed vocational pathways' to give equal weight to trade and other career paths. Papatoetoe High School's Couillault urged everyone to work together as ultimately there may be bigger challenges waiting outside the curriculum itself. He claimed a digital divide was already threatening to create different classes of students as emerging tech and artificial intelligence gave some students better resources than others. Using the upcoming consultation period wisely to give feedback was crucial, he said. 'I want to live in a New Zealand where our qualification is... respected nationally and overseas, and gets our kids where they want to go.'
RNZ News
12 hours ago
- RNZ News
NCEA changes: Some aspects like 'a step backwards in time'
The National Certificate of Educational Achievement will be gone by 2030. File photo. Photo: 123rf The government's plans to replace the NCEA system are on a tight timeline and will require a lot of support, say teachers. After more than 20 years as New Zealand's official secondary-school qualification, the government has pulled the pin on the NCEA . The National Certificate of Educational Achievement will be gone by 2030, replaced by a basic literacy and numeracy award at Year 11, and the Certificate of Education and Advanced Certificate of Education at Years 11 and 12. 'Achieved', 'not achieved', 'merit' and 'excellence' will be replaced by marks out of 100 and letter grades A, B, C, D and E. The new certificates would be standards-based, like the NCEA is, meaning every student passes if they demonstrate the required knowledge or skills, but they would have to study at least five complete subjects and pass four of them to get their certificate. This year's Year 8s would be the first cohort through the new system, starting with the foundation award in 2028, which might look a lot like the current NCEA literacy and numeracy tests. Teachers in a secondary school staffroom told RNZ they were still getting to grips with the announcement - and while some could see potential in the proposed changes, others were more cautious. "My big concern is around the kids that currently school doesn't really work for them," said one teacher who feared NCEA's flexibility would be lost. "The students are the ones that get harmed when people are just choosing to try things out," said another. Several teachers worried the new system would rely to heavily on end-of-year exams. "I don't think it's an improvement. High-stakes assessment is incredibly stressful for a number of people. The well-being of students has to be considered," said one teacher. Every teacher RNZ spoke to warned the timeline for introducing a new curriculum next year followed by the new qualification from 2028 through to 2030 was incredibly tight and would require a lot of support. Several said their curriculums had still not been written and the ministry was asking teachers to work on the new documents for free. Another pointed out that the government was asking teachers to do a lot of extra work at the same time as it was making low offers in pay talks. "Teachers got a one percent pay offer from this government and then there's four to five years of new and extra work, incredible amount of work, and those two don't marry up," she said. Papakura High School principal Simon Craggs said some aspects of the proposed changes 'such as marks out of 100 and stopping students from choosing standards from many different subjects - looked like "a step backwards in time". Craggs said he was pleased to see the government was looking at a new foundation qualification at Year 11 because the current system of online tests in reading, writing and maths was not working for many students from poor communities. He said it was critical the government listened to schools that served Māori and Pacific communities, because by 2050 they would account for half the population. "If we design a qualification that excludes them from success in our society, then we're going to have a real problem on our hands," he said. "NCEA for all its flaws, it has created a lot more opportunities for people from poorer communities to access qualifications they wouldn't have had access to before." Wellington Girls College principal Julia Davidson said NCEA needed an overhaul and the proposed changes had potential. However, she said whatever came next had to be flexible and provide choices for teenagers, especially those who struggled with exams. "That's the bit that worries me. What happens to your kids who are neuro-diverse, what happens to your kids who have got anxiety issues, what happens to kids who fall apart on the day. There has to be more flexibility," she said. "I have some concerns about the marking-by-number thing. What's the difference between 54 and 58, what does it really tell you?" Davidson said the workload for teachers of introducing a new curriculum and a new qualification system would be significant. "I've had my first teacher tell me that probably they'll leave.. wondering whether this is what they want to do," she said. Consultation on the proposed qualification changes closes on 1 September. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
13 hours ago
- RNZ News
NCEA qualification to be replaced with new system
After more than 20 years as New Zealand's official secondary-school qualification, the government has pulled the pin on the NCEA. By 2030, the National Certificate of Educational Achievement will be gone. It will be replaced by a basic literacy and numeracy award at Year 11, and the Certificate of Education and Advanced Certificate of Education at Years 11 and 12. No more achieved, not achieved, merit and excellence - instead there will be marks out of 100 and letter grades like A B and C. Education correspondent John Gerritsen reports. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
