NCEA has been the country's main secondary school qualification for over 20 years. Photo / 123rf
Scrapping the NCEA system and replacing it with a new high school qualification will help make a student’s progress and grades “much clearer” for parents or even employers to understand, a Hawke’s Bay principal says.
However, concerns are already being raised about the potential workload for teachers during the planned overhaul.
On Monday, the Government announced the biggest shake-up to secondary schooling in over 20 years, proposing to abolish the country’s main high school qualification NCEA.
The proposal, which is open for consultation until September 15 before final decisions are made, will involve students in Years 12 and 13 seeking to attain the New Zealand Certificate of Education (NZCE) and the New Zealand Advanced Certificate of Education (NZACE) respectively.
Those students will complete a mix of internal and external assessments and receive a final score out of 100 for each subject (and simple marking such as A, B, C, D and E).
Students will need to take at least five subjects and pass four to receive the NZCE or NZACE (rather than obtain a certain number of credits).
For Year 11 students, there will not be a certificate offered – essentially getting rid of what is now NCEA Level 1.
Instead, there will be a focus on literacy and numeracy (English and maths) and a “foundational skills award” test for that year group.
It is likely students who fail that test will still be able to advance to Year 12 and have another attempt at the test then, although feedback is being sought.
Current Year 8 students, who start high school next year, will be the first cohort to go through the new system, graduating Year 13 in 2030.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the “heavy flexibility” of NCEA was not preparing students as well as it could.
“Too frequently, students are choosing subjects simply because they are easier to pass rather than developing the skills we know they need.”
Napier Girls’ High School principal Dawn Ackroyd, who is also the Hawke’s Bay Secondary Schools Principals’ Association chairwoman, was generally supportive of the changes.
“The main benefit is it is much clearer for employers and clearer for parents to understand, and has a focus on the foundational skills.”
She said more detail was needed, but the proposal was keeping good parts of the NCEA system – such as a mix of internal and external assessments – which was positive.
She said her concern was around how much support schools and teachers would receive.
“It is going to be really vital for us to have a realistic timeframe for implementation.
“We need resources, professional development and learning opportunities to enable us to prepare.”
She encouraged everyone in the education sector to provide feedback.
Taradale Intermediate principal Marty Hantz, whose Year 8 students will be among the first to go through the new system, said National and Labour would need to be in partnership for it to work.
“From my perspective, and I don’t think I’d be alone in saying this, we really need to have this set up as a multi-party deal so that if National were not to be successful in the next election it’s not going to be flipped and flopped.”
He said the school was “heavily invested in our kids” and wanted certainty around future qualifications.
As for the actual proposal, he said he could see its benefits, which could “decrease the murkiness of what’s been happening in that space for the past two or three years”.
Tukituki National MP Catherine Wedd said the changes would impact her family personally.
“I have a child who is in Year 8 who will be the first cohort to go through the new system and will be in the first year of students to obtain the proposed qualifications – the New Zealand Certificate of Education at Year 12 and the New Zealand Advanced Certificate of Education at Year 13.
“I am really excited to see this proposed progressive change for the future of our Kiwi kids who deserve an internationally benchmarked qualification, which will set them up for success.”
Labour Party education spokeswoman Willow-Jean Prime said the six-week consultation period was a “short window”.
“Previous rushed overhauls have led to students being the guinea pigs for failed change – like national standards – so we must get this right.”
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.