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NZ Herald
05-08-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Editorial: NCEA reform is a once-in-a-generation opportunity
Epsom Girls Grammar announced in May that it would start its Cambridge International exams pilot next year after being flooded with 'overwhelming community demand'. Mount Albert Grammar School principal Patrick Drumm has said his school was also under growing pressure to offer Cambridge exams from parents concerned the NCEA lacked 'rigour'. Meanwhile, the Education Review Office (ERO) has called the NCEA 'difficult to understand' and said it doesn't prepare students for future achievement. It would be tough to argue that change isn't required. When NCEA was introduced between 2002 and 2004, it was designed with the idea that each student was unique, and it offered flexibility in what students could study and demonstrate achievement and competence in. That was a shift away from the blunter, one-size-fits-all system that was School Certificate and Bursary. Education Minister Erica Stanford said this week, 'This has come at the cost of developing the critical skills and knowledge they need for clear pathways into future study, training or employment'. NCEA has often been criticised for being too hard to follow and inconsistent across students and schools. It is a different world from the one in which NCEA was designed, and whatever your view, we now have the opportunity to design a better way of assessing and preparing students for life after school. And so it is good to see acceptance of the need for change, even from those more sympathetic towards NCEA. Chris Abercrombie, president of the Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA), while saying NCEA should 'evolve' rather than be destroyed, said 'Reform is necessary – but it must be thoughtful, inclusive and evidence-based". Opposition leader and former Education Minister Chris Hipkins warned against taking a backward step but admitted there was 'clear evidence that NCEA is not operating as intended and there is change required'. He didn't want the debate to become 'ideological' or 'unnecessarily political'. And that will be the key to developing whatever replaces NCEA. The world is rapidly changing, and all concerned parties need to come to the table to ensure New Zealand's secondary education system is enduring and fit for purpose in 2030 and beyond.
NZ Herald
19-07-2025
- 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.
RNZ News
24-06-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Immigration surge overwhelming Auckland schools
Rangitoto College on Auckland's North Shore will no longer accept out-of-zone students from next year. Photo: Supplied A rising number of Auckland's leading secondary schools are being overwhelmed by enrolment demand due to a post-pandemic spike in immigration that has fuelled population growth. The principals of Rangitoto College and Mount Albert Grammar School say rising demand is forcing them to turn away out-of-zone students, even those with siblings already enrolled. Enrolment applications for 2026 are set to open at many secondary schools in Auckland in June and July. Rangitoto College on Auckland's North Shore will no longer accept out-of-zone students from next year, citing growing enrolment pressure and limited classroom space. The country's largest secondary school said its current roll of 4105 students had pushed it to absolute capacity. While siblings of enrolled students who lived out of zone had been accommodated in 2025, the school said continued growth made this no longer feasible. Rangitoto College is not alone. Mount Albert Grammar School - Auckland's second-largest secondary school, with approximately 3600 students - has also signalled it is likely to stop accepting out-of-zone students next year, including siblings of current students. "We've signalled for a number of years now that we are heading towards having no out-of-zone enrolments," principal Patrick Drumm said. Drumm said enrollment growth flatlined somewhat during the pandemic, which allowed the school to continue accommodating some out-of-zone students through a ballot system. However, rising demand has forced the school to restrict those places to siblings of current students only in recent years. "So, it's priority for students in the ballot," he said. "But it's looking like that may also not be possible next year." Patrick Drumm, principal of Mount Albert Grammar School Photo: Supplied Drumm said a sharp rise in immigration, as well as families relocating from other parts of New Zealand, had intensified enrolment pressure across Auckland's secondary schools. Net migration in New Zealand most recently peaked in the year ending October 2023, with a gain of almost 130,000, according to Stats NZ. The annual gains have since decreased to less than 30,000 in the year to March, according to the latest data from Stats NZ. He expected in-zone enrolments to remain strong next year, further straining capacity. "Normally, we could judge [enrolment numbers] just by speaking with our local intermediate schools," Drumm said. "They'd tell us the sort of numbers coming through. But, on top of that, we've had strong immigration growth in New Zealand. "Those young people need to go to school. A lot of them are moving into our area, and that's certainly caught us out a little bit." Vaughan Couillault, former president of the Secondary Principals' Association and principal of Papatoetoe High School, said his school had also experienced significant enrolment pressure over the past two years, and now only accepted out-of-zone students who were siblings of current pupils. "We've gone from 1300 to 1800 students in two years," he said. "We've increased by 500 students, which is significant and puts quite a lot of pressure on infrastructure. "We've significantly reduced the number of out-of-zone students we can accept, because we're required to take in-zone students. That's the whole point of zoning - to give people an entitlement to go to their local school." Vaughan Couillault, former president of the Secondary Principals' Association and principal of Papatoetoe High School Photo: Supplied Couillault said soaring immigration and rapid property development were key factors that had driven increased demand for school placements in several Auckland suburbs. "There doesn't seem to be a clear line of sight between immigration - people coming across the border - and the number of kids arriving with them," he said. "And those people need somewhere to live. "In communities like mine, around my school, there are a number of 'one house comes down, six go up in its place'. "Those quarter-acre or eighth-acre sections, which my community was full of, are being knocked down and replaced with two-up, one-down apartments." Couillault said families should prioritize enrolling their children in local schools. "I don't actually see it as a big drama," he said. "All of those people who are out of zone for my school are in zone for another school down the road. "They're entitled to go to their local school. They're not missing out on anything. "We have a world-class education system, and going to your local school is fine." Some principals also raised concern about potential enrolment fraud as pressure on school placements continued to increase. At Auckland's Macleans College, nine students were reportedly removed last year after it was discovered they had been fraudulently enrolled. Steven Hargreaves, principal of Macleans College, said the school made the decision three years ago to accept only out-of-zone students who were siblings of current students. "We experienced a surge in enrolments after Covid," he said. "We had to make a decision quite quickly - one we didn't want to make - and that was not accept enrolments from past siblings and children of past students. "It was a difficult decision, but our roll growth was so fast that we had to not accept enrollments from those categories." Macleans College principal Steven Hargreaves stands alongside international students from Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Russia, China, Vietnam, Thailand and Brazil. Photo: Macleans College/Supplied Hargreaves said enrolment fraud was likely to persist as pressure on the school roll continued to mount. "We have a lot of families who want to get into Macleans," he said. "But the Macleans zone is expensive. "We know we'll have to investigate suspicious enrolments in future. And, sadly, we'll probably have to annul those enrolments in future as well. "Unfortunately, the risk of fraud might go up as it becomes more difficult to enroll," he said. Hargreaves said the school required families to provide proof of address and sign a statutory declaration confirming they lived within the school zone in an effort to reduce enrolment fraud. However, he said the key to addressing enrolment pressure in the long term was expanding school campuses and increasing capacity. He said the school board had funded nine new classrooms to accommodate rapid roll growth, but said more space would be needed. "We're just starting the process of talking to the Ministry of Education to build the classrooms we are entitled to," he said. "We're about 3000 [students] now, and there are lots of schools about our size. "What we can do is knock down a one-story building and replace it with a two- or three-story building. That will be what happens on our campus in future." Nine students were removed from Auckland's Macleans College last year after it was discovered they had been fraudulently enrolled. Photo: RNZ Drumm said Mount Albert Grammar School also required families to sign a statutory declaration and provide three separate documents as proof of residence within the school zone. "It's just not practical for us to go door-knocking or visit houses," he said. "We just cannot afford, or do not get funded to have any high-level investigative approaches across the whole student population. It's just too big." Drumm agreed more needed to be done to address the mounting pressure on schools, including the construction of additional classrooms - and potentially new schools - particularly in central Auckland, where immigrant populations were densest. He also highlighted the need for broader curriculum and assessment reform across New Zealand's education system to build public confidence in the quality of local schools. "Immigrant families are very educationally savvy," he said. "Their sons and daughters have been part of rigorous education and qualification systems overseas. "I suppose families want to travel to another school because they're not confident that they can get the qualification and the quality of education that they need out of [their local] school. "That's something we need to respond to. Immigration has been part of New Zealand's story, and we've got to ensure our students can compete internationally. "We're going to offer something which really suits what our community wants." Sean Teddy, leader of operations and integration at the Ministry of Education, said several regions nationwide faced significant enrolment pressure. High-growth school catchment areas included Ormiston, Mission Heights, Papakura, Rosehill, Drury, Massey, Hobsonville and Kaipara in Auckland; Papamoa, Piako and Hamilton West in Bay of Plenty and Waikato; and Rolleston, Halswell and the Wakatipu Basin in Canterbury and Otago-Southland. Teddy said the ministry was working with schools experiencing roll pressure to determine the most appropriate responses, including non-property solutions such as introducing new enrolment schemes or amending existing zone boundaries. "In some cases, we may need to provide roll growth classrooms at local schools to meet growth and demand," Teddy said. "Where growth in an area is anticipated to be continuous, sustained and sufficient to sustain another school, and there is a deficit in the ability of the existing schooling network to accommodate the projected growth, then a new school is required." Teddy said enrolment schemes were designed to prevent overcrowding at schools, making sure local students were able to attend schools in their area. Schools can accept out-of-zone enrolments if they have accepted all in-zone students and have available capacity. Schools that do not possess a dedicated enrolment scheme are obliged to accept all students seeking enrolment.
