Latest news with #AdvancedCertificateofEducation
Scoop
6 days ago
- General
- Scoop
Parents Cautiously Optimistic About Waving Goodbye To NCEA
A Dunedin mum is hopeful the changes to NCEA will benefit her Year 7 son, but another says she's a "bit scared". The government has pulled the pin on New Zealand's official secondary-school qualification after more than 20 years. 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 12 and 13. '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. A Dunedin mum, who RNZ has agreed not to name to protect the identity of her child, was optimistic about the move. "It will be an advantage to him because it gives that nice, stringent 'I know what I need to head for, I need to study really hard for this'." She called NCEA a "step backwards", saying the change was a return of a more structured way of learning and a focus on core subjects. "As an employer of people coming out of university, I can tell you it kind of sets them up a little bit for failure in real life," she said. "I find that the English levels, the maths levels and science levels coming out for students just isn't quite as good as some of the historical stuff that I've seen coming out of the older styles." Another mum, who has a son just starting university and a daughter in Year 9, said the NCEA system was confusing. "Even I couldn't understand this credit system and achieved system. I always thought 'what is this? Credits? Credits?'. "But one thing I've noticed, if he knows he has got enough credits, then he decides he's not going to work any harder." The new grading system could push them to study harder or discourage them from learning, she said. "As a parent, I am a bit scared, to be honest." She was uncertain how students would respond to the changes, saying it would depend on how they were implemented. A grandmother who lived with her Year 8 grandson said she was on board with the changes if they helped students. "That's what I would be hoping for. Something that makes it easier for the kids to show that they've really, really tried and that they do want to be at school and they want to learn and that they want to get a job when they get away from school, and that they want a better life." But she was worried some students might choose to drop out if they had to pass four of their five subjects to get one of the new certificates. "That does sound a bit tough because if a child or a young adult can't handle exams - to pass four subjects may just be beyond their capability," she said.
The Spinoff
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Spinoff
NCEA out: Government plans biggest education shakeup in 20 years
A more structured set of qualifications is poised to replace NCEA entirely by 2030, pleasing the current system's copious haters, asks Catherine McGregor in today's extract from The Bulletin. Scrapping the system While an announcement on the future of NCEA was widely expected today, few predicted the government would propose abolishing the entire system. But that's exactly what education minister Erica Stanford and prime minister Christopher Luxon announced yesterday morning: a phased plan to replace all three levels of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement with a new, more structured qualification framework. The proposed system will see Year 11 students working towards a new Foundational Skills Award from 2028, focused on literacy and numeracy. Year 12 and 13 students will then study for two new national qualifications: the New Zealand Certificate of Education and Advanced Certificate of Education, to be introduced in 2029 and 2030 respectively. Students will be assessed using a mark out of 100 alongside letter grades, with English and Maths compulsory in Year 11 and a minimum of five subjects required in Years 12 and 13. A broken model Critics of NCEA have long argued that the system's flexibility – once seen as a virtue – has instead led to confusion and declining standards. According to Auckland University's Claudia Rozas, NCEA 'created an illusion of educational equity' by offering choice without addressing deeper inequalities. While students in low-income schools are often given a narrower range of subjects and pushed towards internal assessment, 'it is simply not the case that all students in low socio-economic schools are going to struggle with external assessment', she said. Speaking to Q+A's Jack Tame on Sunday, Jamie Beaton, founder of tutoring business Crimson Education, said the current system was leaving students unprepared for the future, without the resilience necessary for higher education or professional success. 'If you have an education system that's super chill and relaxed, you create these adults that can't actually function in the workplace,' he said. For Stanford and her officials, the final straw was a recent ERO review that found the system failed to ensure coherent learning programmes, was 'difficult to understand', and was not preparing students for future achievement. 'That report was hugely influential and formed the basis for discussions about what to do not just with Level 1, but the entire qualification,' reports the Herald's Jamie Ensor (Premium paywalled). The politics of education reform Today's announcement represents the most ambitious and potentially contentious education reform since NCEA was first introduced in 2002. In The Post (paywalled), Luke Malpass called it 'a brave move' that could prove the 'crowning achievement' of Stanford's ministerial career. But the scale of the overhaul – and its long implementation timeline – means it's unlikely to deliver any political payoff before the next election. While education is a personal priority for Luxon, he may not be in office by the time the first cohort graduates under the new system. Meanwhile Labour has expressed openness to the changes, while questioning the speed and scope of the changes. Education spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime warned that 'previous rushed overhauls have led to students being the guinea pigs for failed change – like national standards – so we must get this right'. The Greens are more adamantly opposed. Spokesperson Lawrence Xu-Nan said the party '[remains] entirely unconvinced this is what our school system needs. In fact, it risks throwing the baby out with the bathwater.' Why schools are walking away For many elite and private schools, the government's announcement is validation of a move they've already made. In recent years, an increasing number have either ditched NCEA or introduced parallel pathways such as Cambridge International or the International Baccalaureate (IB). Cambridge, widely seen as a more traditional academic model, is heavily exam-based and taken over two years, while IB offers a broad spread of subjects and extracurricular components like sport and service. Educationalist Nina Hood told Chelsea Daniels, host of the Front Page podcast, that the rise of these alternatives stemmed partly from concerns about NCEA's lack of consistency: while some students are studying hard all year, others 'can just opt into what are perceived to be the 'easiest' standards' and end up with the same qualifications, sometimes without sitting a single external exam. While defenders of NCEA say it provides valuable flexibility, the reality is that trust in the system has eroded. As Malpass noted, even if it did produce world-class outcomes, a qualification that isn't seen as credible is no better than a currency no one accepts. The next five years will reveal whether its replacement fares any better.
Otago Daily Times
7 days ago
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Mixed reaction to NCEA replacement plan
A pair of Dunedin principals say the proposed replacement for NCEA will be an improvement, but a teacher's union representative is concerned there will be a loss in flexibility for students. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and the Minister for Education Erica Stanford have announced a proposal to replace the entire NCEA programme with new national qualifications. Year 11 students would be required to sit a foundation test in numeracy and literacy and year 12 and 13 students would receive two new qualifications — the New Zealand Certificate of Education and Advanced Certificate of Education. Students would be required to take five subjects and pass at least four of them to receive a certificate being awarded a mark out of 100 and grades "that make sense to parents like A, B, C, D, E". Otago Secondary Principals' Association chairwoman Jackie Barron, who is a principal at St Hilda's Collegiate School, said her initial thoughts were the curriculum change would give teachers some certainty and schools some clarity around what was expected of them. Despite being positive about the changes, she said the information was new and would take time to process. There was previously some anxiety around what the NCEA was going to look like with recent changes to the qualification made in an attempt to put a stronger focus on literacy and numeracy. "This gives us a really clear timeline," Ms Barron said. There was enough time for teachers to adjust to the new curriculum as major changes to year 12 and 13 courses were not expected until 2028. Ms Barron thought it was the right call to replace NCEA if the new curriculum was inclusive and engaged all students. She said one of NCEA's strengths was its flexibility and it was important not to go back to a narrow form of assessment that only tested certain types of learning. "We need to maintain the openness to valuing all different types of learning." Otago Boys' High School rector Richard Hall said the proposed new curriculum appeared to be an improvement on NCEA. He said the existing NCEA framework faced challenges posed by an "attitude that can favour mediocrity". There were issues with it including excessive credit counting and an over-reliance on internal assessment at the expense of robust external examination opportunities. Otago Boys' had maintained a strong expectation for its students to sit exams even if they had already received all the credits they needed to pass. "We believe that a shift towards a potentially 50/50 model of internal and external assessment [exams] would represent a beneficial step forward," Mr Hall said. PPTA Otago regional chairman Kussi Hurtado-Stuart was concerned the new qualification would lose some of the flexibility NCEA had. He said the loss of flexibility would affect neurodiverse learners the most, especially if exams were heavily weighted. He was worried teachers would not be given enough resource support to transition into the new curriculum. "I think that there was a moment of solidarity and eye rolls this morning across the country both at the change that was proposed and the support they said we were going to get." Teachers' expectations were reasonably low there would be any support. Ms Stanford said the NCEA change programme was already funded and some proposals like the expansion of Vocational Education and Training pathways would require additional funding that would be considered in future budgets. The flexibility NCEA offered in externals and internals would be maintained with the new qualification and special assessment conditions would be, too.
NZ Herald
7 days ago
- General
- 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.'
Scoop
04-08-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Replacing NCEA To Transform Secondary Education
Rt Hon Christopher Luxon Prime Minister Minister of Education The Government is proposing to replace NCEA with new national qualifications that ensure young people have the knowledge and skills they need to succeed, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford say. 'We want every New Zealander to reach their full potential and contribute to a thriving economy— and that starts with our students,' Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. 'The evidence shows NCEA is not consistent and can be hard to navigate. It doesn't always deliver what students and employers need. 'New Zealand's future depends on our young people having the skills to succeed in the modern global economy. We're backing Kiwi kids with a new internationally benchmarked national qualification designed to do exactly that,' Mr Luxon says. 'While NCEA was designed to be flexible, for many students that flexibility has encouraged a focus on simply attaining the qualification. This has come at the cost of developing the critical skills and knowledge they need for clear pathways into future study, training or employment,' Education Minister Erica Stanford says. The proposal includes: Removing NCEA Level 1, requiring students to take English and Mathematics at Year 11, and sit a foundation award (test) in numeracy and literacy. Replacing NCEA Levels 2 and 3 with two new qualifications (The New Zealand Certificate of Education at Year 12 and the New Zealand Advanced Certificate of Education at Year 13). Requiring students to take five subjects and pass at least four to attain each certificate. Marking clearly out of 100 with grades that make sense to parents like A, B, C, D, E. Working with industry to develop better vocational pathways so students are getting the skills relevant to certain career pathways. The new qualification will be underpinned by a new national curriculum for Years 9-13 that will clearly outline what students need to learn in each subject and when, providing more consistency. 'This is about making sure our national qualification opens doors for every young person, whether they're heading into a trade, university, or straight into work. Parents can be assured their kids will get the best possible opportunity to thrive,' Ms Stanford says. 'Our Government's major education reforms are well underway in primary and intermediate. Every student is already taught at least an hour a day of reading, writing, and maths, we've banned cell phones in classrooms, we've introduced a world-leading Maths and English curriculum, mandated structured literacy and maths programmes, equipped teachers and students with high-quality resources, made huge investments into learning support and stopped building open-plan classrooms,' Ms Stanford says. 'It's time to ensure that when students reach secondary school, our national qualification reflects the same high standards and ambition we expect throughout their education,' Ms Stanford says. 'The Government is focused on growing the economy, creating jobs, lifting wages and help Kiwis with the cost of living. Supporting our young people to succeed and develop their skills is a key part of how we do that,' Mr Luxon says. Notes: Consultation is open until 1 September before final decisions are made before the end of the year. Changes are proposed to be phased in from next year, beginning with the new national curriculum in 2026, the Foundational Skills Award in 2028, and the new Certificates of Education in 2029 and 2030 for Years 12 and 13. During the transition period, students will either be assessed through the current NCEA and curriculum or the new qualification and updated curriculum. The full proposal and instructions on how to provide feedback are available here:
