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NZ Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- NZ Herald
NCEA as we know it should be abolished – Tim O'Connor
What's the problem? The reported strength of NCEA, that is, its flexibility, has found schools 'game' the system, thereby helping students to accumulate credits to earn the qualification. Depth of learning or the retention of knowledge has too readily become secondary to quality teaching and the learning process. As NCEA was being introduced in 2002, our school's critique of the new framework said it would: Undermine the coherence of individual subjects and the importance of integrating understanding Increase teacher workloads due to the volume of internal assessment. Remove a consistent national standard and benchmark Complicate reporting to students and parents Create uncertainty in university entrance qualifications Over 20 years later, the Education Review Office (ERO) and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) have been reporting on the state of NCEA. They highlight major concerns that include 'No core learning is required to achieve subjects within the qualification' and 'The flexibility of the qualification is being used to prioritise credit accumulation over meaningful learning and clear educational or vocational pathways'. Such concerns need to be listened to. What we need and need now is the Minister of Education to take the boldest of steps. NCEA, as we know it, should be abolished. Education Minister Erica Stanford is preparing to make announcements about NCEA. Photo / Alyse Wright What we need is a simplified, rigorous but fair national qualification. Get the design right and we will have a new system that we can be proud of. The core foundational knowledge our children need to learn and the science of learning point the direction we need to take quite clearly. Our national curriculum and qualification system need to reflect this. Introducing a new national qualification will provide every student across the country, no matter where they live, with an equal opportunity to learn content-rich subjects that will provide them with equal opportunities to realise their potential in the world. What's the fix? The first step is the introduction of an internationally benchmarked curriculum. This step is under way with the draft English and mathematics curricula in place for consultation. Our national qualification should then assess our national curriculum in each approved subject area. This will make good sense to parents; however, since the introduction of NCEA, it has not been common sense, as the content has been driven by assessment criteria. This must change. Ideally, the assessment system will include a number of critical elements in order for the qualification to gain credibility and to be respected by professionals nationally and internationally and parents of future generations of students. The content being assessed must be aligned with the national curriculum. This needs to be provided to schools years in advance, so schools and teachers have time to prepare and so that students are not disadvantaged by the changes. Auckland Grammar headmaster Tim O'Connor. Photo / Jason Oxenham The primary mode of assessment should be examinations, as they are an objective and independent form of assessment. Such a system will allow students from across all regions in our country to have faith that they have earned a nationally benchmarked qualification. These new qualifications should include some internal assessment, because not all types of content are best assessed under exam conditions. But all assessments must be conducted under controlled conditions and they should all be marked by the NZQA. Under this new system, teachers would not mark students' work in their schools. Internal assessment marks would not be made available to students until they receive their external results, thereby removing the damaging practice of 'credit counting', which has become such a problem in the current system. This will also encourage student attendance and continued learning throughout the entire academic year. Results should be reported as percentages, which everyone understands, and which enable comparisons, so that anyone can draw meaningful inferences about student performance. Norm-referencing the assessment system would ensure marks and results across years could be broadly compared, so that results are more meaningful to parents, employers and universities. Our national qualifications should be restricted to the final two years of students' secondary schooling – Years 12 (the old Form 6) and Year 13 (Form 7). The qualification, University Entrance, should be in students' final year, and the quality of these assessments should be endorsed by our universities. As a result of NCEA's flexibility, hundreds of students arrive at our universities annually, only to find they have not met entry qualifications and have to complete foundation programmes. The recently introduced NCEA corequisites are causing more problems than they are solving at present. They will not be required if new mathematics and English assessments are robust: they will show how literate and numerate students are, and students' entire qualifications won't depend on three assessments. Introducing a rigorous national qualification that parents, students and teachers can understand and be proud of will provide generations of students with equal opportunities to realise their potential in the world.
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Editorial: It may be too late to save NCEA
It is now expected Education Minister Erica Stanford will announce substantial proposals for the future of NCEA. 'There really isn't an option to do nothing,' she said. 'I don't think that tinkering around the edges is going to be something that's going to get us where we need to be.' Part of the problem appears to be the flexibility we deliberately built into the system is now what is causing so much harm and inconsistency. Students quickly also found ways to game the system and avoid external examinations by collecting the required credits to achieve each level throughout the school year. Highlighting the widespread nature of this habit, last year there were more than 250,000 instances of students skipping exams because they felt they weren't necessary. Officials warned students being able to avoid exams 'can mean that critical learning in a subject may not occur'. When students can simply choose not to show up, the credibility of the qualification plummets. The Government also recently introduced some reforms. It had been, in part, triggered by employers complaining about the standard of students graduating with Level 1. Too often these kids couldn't read, write or do simple maths. Now students are required to pass online literacy and numeracy tests in order to gain their qualification. But it may be too late to save NCEA, which now seems so damaged it may be phased out entirely. A review by the Education Review Office (ERO) found that despite the recent overhaul, Level 1 was still 'difficult to understand' and not preparing students for future achievement. It said one option could be to 'drop it entirely'. Stanford told the Herald that New Zealand wanted to be 'world-leading' with its flexible qualification. But the world took a look and said, no thanks. Epsom Girls Grammar will start its Cambridge International pilot next year. It said it had been flooded with 'overwhelming community demand'. MAGS' principal Patrick Drumm also said his school is facing growing pressure to offer Cambridge exams. Parents, Drumm explained, are concerned NCEA lacked 'rigour'. But thousands of Kiwi kids are still doing NCEA. While the qualification may not look the same in the future, we owe it to those still studying hard every day to set them up for success. Sign up to the Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
1News
03-07-2025
- General
- 1News
Flood-hit school furious with 'crazy' timing of ERO evaluation
A primary school in Wairoa that was ruined in Cyclone Gabrielle and has been operating out of a temporary site is furious and frustrated with the Education Review Office over the timing of its evaluation. Nuhaka School has flooded twice since February 2023, and while it waits for the entire school to be rebuilt, the more than 100 students have been taking their lessons at a nearby Mormon Church. Last week, as the school was packing up to move back to its new buildings, ERO conducted a review. The Education Review Office (ERO) has admitted to RNZ that it got it wrong, and apologised to Nuhaka School about the timing of its review. A school in flux ADVERTISEMENT From the outside, it looks like a regular church, but step through the doors and every room is crammed with school tables and chairs, whiteboards and stationery supplies. The floor is covered in colourful blue mats and among the boxes of sporting trophies and rows of school bags hanging on the wall, framed paintings of Jesus peer out. The Mormon church where children have been going to school. (Source: As children help carry boxes out to the moving truck, Principal Raelene McFarlane tells RNZ how hard the past couple of years have been, and the struggle to get more resources. "This has just been a fight. It didn't need to be this hard. I didn't need to lose staff through burnout," she said. For most of the past 2.5 years, the students have been learning in makeshift classrooms - using the hall stage, offices, and meeting rooms to try and regain some sense of normalcy for the kids. "The crowding is huge. It got quite heartbreaking at times when we had kids who had to crawl under tables to get out to the loo and you know, and if they didn't make it that was really upsetting for them, it was upsetting for staff and whanau. "Without space you can't teach a quiet group, because the noise is just really compacted," said McFarlane. ADVERTISEMENT Nuhaka School principal Raelene McFarlane. (Source: She said they were just weeks away from moving back into their newly rebuilt school site, when the Education Review Office, known as ERO, decided it was time to conduct a review. McFarlane begged them to delay it by 10 weeks, so they would be settled back in their school buildings, but told RNZ that ERO would only shift the review by three weeks, to the last few days of term when they were still in the church. "When I contacted them and said 'we are literally going to have boxes walking out the door, we can't even do a lesson for you, that's crazy'. We were just told that they'll be sensitive and that it was going ahead," she said. Wairoa mayor Craig Little. (Source: The local iwi and mayor also tried to get the ERO review moved, but mayor Craig Little said he was astonished when ERO went ahead with its inspection. "These kids have absolutely gone through hell and back. And so now they're moving finally, thank God for the Mormon church. They've been in there and they're moving back to their school. But it's really hard and would you believe let's chuck an ERO report the same time they're moving. ADVERTISEMENT "It's just crazy. I've been on school boards and the ERO report is the biggest thing that can disrupt your school ever. And you get one shot at it and everybody is under stress. ERO should be saying, 'hey, let's just sort of forget about that at the moment'," said Craig. Instead, ERO visited the school last week while it was still operating out of the church buildings. "At least come and see us in the right place — do the right compliance checks on the right buildings — that would make more sense to me. "We don't understand, we feel pretty much... we don't know if it's targeted," said McFarlane. 'We got this one wrong' — ERO apologises ERO declined RNZ's request for an interview, but spokesperson Shelley Booysen told RNZ that where possible, it did its best to be flexible to meet the needs of schools. "In this case, the School Review team made the decision to go ahead with the review following a number of rescheduled dates. ADVERTISEMENT "In hindsight, the school's request for an extension during their move and until they are more settled into their new building was not unreasonable. We should have delayed the review. We got this one wrong and we sincerely apologise to the school and the community," she said. ERO said it wished Nuhaka School 'all the best' in their new school building. But Little worried the damage was already done. "Why would you do that to people? I'm getting calls from the parents, not only the school teachers, just saying 'hey, we're really worried about what's happening here'. "These teachers have been enough stress. Let's not put them under anymore," he said. Nuhaka School will reopen on July 14 for the first day of the new term. Nuhaka School students. (Source: ADVERTISEMENT
NZ Herald
02-07-2025
- Climate
- NZ Herald
Flood-damaged school furious and frustrated with ‘crazy' timing of ERO report
RNZ A primary school in Wairoa that was ruined in Cyclone Gabrielle and has been operating out of a temporary site is furious and frustrated with the Education Review Office (ERO) over the timing of its evaluation. Nuhaka School has flooded twice
Otago Daily Times
02-07-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Gloriavale school fails second ERO audit
A private school run by the Gloriavale Christian community has failed an audit for the second time in as many years. The Education Review Office said in a report published on Wednesday that its review visit at the end of 2024 found the school had improved since a 2023 review, but it still failed three of eight registration criteria. It said the school did not provide suitable staffing for students with complex additional needs, suitable equipment for students with complex additional needs, or a physically and emotionally safe space. "At the time of the ERO onsite review phase, the school was supporting an enrolled student with extremely high and very complex needs that impact on full onsite engagement within the classroom," the report said. "An overarching goal of supporting full attendance and achievement at school is in place within the limitations of the school's isolation, the wishes of family and the severity of the complex needs." It said enrolled students with high and complex needs could not attend because there was insufficient equipment to support those needs. The report said about 40% of the 224 school-aged children in the Gloriavale community attended the school, while about half were home-schooled and the remainder were enrolled with Te Kura (formerly the Correspondence School). "Education provision in the Gloriavale Christian School is slowly improving. The school board and staff have worked extensively with board-contracted external support and Ministry of Education advice and guidance to develop capacity to provide high quality learning and teaching," the report said. The report said most children in home-schooling were taught "at least as regularly and well as in a registered school" and students studying through Te Kura felt well supported. The community's preschool was working towards fully implementing quality systems, processes and practices to enable the delivery of a responsive curriculum for all children. However, the report said "access to education across the community is inequitable" and course and NCEA choices were limited. "ERO is not yet assured that all learners' physical and emotional health and safety is closely, regularly and sufficiently considered and monitored across all schooling provisions. The inconsistent application of some policies and procedures poses risk to children given a history of unsafe practices within the Gloriavale community," the report said. It said the Teaching Council was investigating an allegation of staff misconduct and the school had been instructed to formally monitor the staff member.
