Rangitoto College is the country's largest school and has decided to go it alone on Year 11 education certificates next year. Photo / Dean Purcell.
Rangitoto College is the country's largest school and has decided to go it alone on Year 11 education certificates next year. Photo / Dean Purcell.
New Zealand’s largest high school will be presenting its own diploma to Year 11 students next year, in what National is calling another vote of no confidence in Labour’s education reforms.
Rangitoto College principal Patrick Gale says the reforms have been “poorly implemented” as he follows on from top private school St Cuthbert’s College, which has also said it will award its own bespoke Year 11 diploma.
Labour has previously announced that - in a bid to raise education and literacy standards - it is introducing major changes to what is taught in schools and then how it is assessed for the National Certificate of Educational Achievement qualifications.
Schools are required to implement changes to Level 1 NCEA assessment standards for Year 11 students next year. Then changes to Level 2 will start in 2026, while Level 3 changes begin in 2027.
But Gale said that creates a “ridiculous” situation where current Year 11 students will go onto the new tests and standards next year and then back onto the old standards in 2025 when they’re in Year 12.
“It doesn’t make any sense, and it is actually harming student outcomes,” Gale said.
As the Herald outlined in its Making the Grade series earlier this year, student achievement in core subjects has declined over the past two decades based on both national and international studies.
Labour claimed it hoped to address that with a new focus on these core subjects.
It includes new reading, writing and numeracy tests that students will be required to pass before they are awarded any NCEA qualification.
“As Minister of Education, my bottom line is to ensure our young people are getting the education they need and deserve. This includes giving students, along with their parents and employers, confidence that they are leaving school with a strong foundation in maths and literacy,” Jan Tinetti said.
However, the Government’s introduction of them was delayed in an announcement in April.
It said Level 1 tests will still be introduced next year but schools and students will not have to start using Level 2 until 2026 and Level 3 until 2023.
Labour's Education Minister Jane Tinetti and National's Education spokeswoman Erica Standford are locked in a battle about new standards for students. Photo / NZME
But National’s Education spokeswoman Erica Stanford said Rangitoto College is the latest to decide to devise its own certificate of achievement for Level 1 students.
“Labour’s rewriting of NCEA has been a disaster from start to finish,” Stanford said.
“The largest high school in the country, Rangitoto College, has pulled out of the refreshed NCEA Level One for 2024, introducing their own diploma to ensure a logical and coherent learning program for their students.”
“This follows other schools such as St Cuthbert’s withdrawing from the refreshed Level One after what they believed was a dumbing down of the standards.
The Secondary Principals Association of NZ and Post Primary Teachers Association also welcomed the delayed start to give teachers and students more time to adjust and be ready.
Rangitoto College’s Gale said he’d heard talk among other schools that they might also be planning to pull out of the Level 1 NCEA standards next year.
Firstly, he said the new standards should have been brought in through a “properly resourced” process that took in the guidance of the Government bodies as well as the teaching profession.
“That hasn’t happened,” Gale said.
And then secondly in agreeing to delay the introduction of the new Level 2 and Level 3 standards, the Government should then have agreed to also delay the start of the Level 1 standards.
Gale said that’s because his teams had identified parts where the new and old standards that next year’s Year 11 students will have to face don’t match up well.
National’s Stanford, meanwhile, said the delays were an admission Labour was failing New Zealand students, leading to schools and principals to pull out.
“Principals across New Zealand are sending a resounding message to the Government that they have no confidence in Labour’s NCEA changes,” she said.
“Despite the NCEA refresh costing hundreds of millions of dollars, and employing 200 Ministry staff and countless working groups, schools are choosing to implement their own programs to guarantee successful outcomes for their students.”
“This is the ultimate embarrassment for the government. Jan Tinetti should immediately pause the shambolic roll-out of her NCEA Change Program and listen to schools and principals.”
