KEY POINTS:
High school students may have to wait an extra two years before they get merit or excellence marks for specific subjects on their exam results, despite being promised the change from next year.
The move aims to inspire students to do their best by rewarding them if they do well and to make it simpler for employers to read results at a glance.
It was flagged from next year in a package of National Certificate of Educational Achievement reforms Education Minister Steve Maharey announced in May.
But Secretary of Education Karen Sewell told the Herald the introduction of the marks - known as subject endorsements - may be put off while a wider review takes place.
The wide-ranging review will cover unit standards and achievement standards, the courses that students take to earn credits towards their NCEA.
Ms Sewell said it could take a couple of years to complete.
However, she said, the section relevant to schools could be finished first, ahead of the full review.
She said the authorities were not back pedalling from the earlier plan to introduce subject endorsements. "It all still stands that we think it is worth doing," she said.
It was a matter of deciding the best time." Ms Sewell said other key parts of the NCEA design changes, such as introducing merit and excellence at certificate level from this year and upping the checks on the marking of internally assessed standards, were on track.
Mr Maharey said he had the final say on the timing of the subject endorsements and no decision had been made.
He said the announcement in May spelled out the changes that would occur but "we didn't have all the details on all of this".
Mr Maharey said the timeframe set was realistic and consultation with the education sector was continuing.
National Party leader John Key said any delay was "unacceptable" and it was sloppy to have released a launch date before any real investigation of the work required was undertaken.
"Maharey and Labour have been in denial about whether there were any issues with NCEA at all," said Mr Key.
"They have only made the changes now reluctantly and not on a basis on which they can deliver in the timeframe they indicated."
National's education spokeswoman Katherine Rich said it showed the lack of planning behind the NCEA reforms.
"When the minister made his announcement, in some haste, it was more about getting NCEA off the political agenda. What sounded like a simple solution is actually far more complex."
Staff at schools countrywide had told her they did not know how it would work.
The Post Primary Teachers Association president Robin Duff said the PPTA wanted subject endorsements canned completely.
It had objected to the Government's "indecent haste" in implementing the change.
Mr Duff said creating subjects in NCEA was problematic and would ultimately be unfair for some students.
A paper discussed at its annual conference last week outlined the PPTA's fear that merit and excellence marks would initially be offered only on Level 3 subjects with an academic bent.
St Cuthbert's to offer alternative
St Cuthbert's College will offer an alternative to the national exams from 2010.
The private girls' school was considered a poster-school for the NCEA because of its academic success and staunch defence of the qualification.
However, it has announced it will introduce the International Baccalaureate in about three years.
"It was evident from the feedback of parents and staff that there was considerable support for NCEA as a qualification," the Epsom school said in a statement.
"At the same time, however, there was also considerable support for the concept of choice and for students to be able to choose the pathway that was right for them as individuals."
The new qualification - known as IB - is offered by eight schools in New Zealand, including nearby Diocesan School for Girls, and Kristin in Albany.
Meanwhile, Avondale College is pushing ahead with plans to introduce Cambridge International Exams.
Principal Brent Lewis said the board of trustees told parents in a letter last week that it supported introducing the exams in principle.
After further consultation, the board would make a final decision in November.
Simon Higgins, the University of Cambridge International Examinations regional manager, said this year 10 more schools, including Waiheke High, had opted to offer the qualification.
But a high school in Whakatane that had offered the exams dropped them for next year.
