Principals from some of New Zealand’s wealthiest high schools are publicly backing plans to scrap NCEA in what is threatening to flare into a rich versus poor battle for secondary education’s future.
The coalition of about 64 principals – from the likes of St Kentigern College, Auckland Grammar and Epsom Girls’ Grammar – urged the Education Minister to press ahead with fast-paced plans to implement a new Year 12 and 13 curriculum.
Greater focus on mathematics, English and standardised grading could boost academic results and be “a powerful antidote to a trend of student underachievement”, they claimed.
Their letter also marked a rare public spat between so many of the nation’s school leaders.
It comes after about 90 principals from largely lower socio-economic areas wrote their own letter last month calling for an “immediate halt” to reforms until they were better planned.
They argued the rushed and poorly planned changes were also being conducted in secrecy, given principals were not permitted to speak publicly about their consultations with the Government.
If done wrong, reforms could lead to Māori, Pasifika and disadvantaged students falling further behind, while teachers become burned out.
Principals favouring reform, however, said poor academic results showed change was overdue.
They claimed the “science of learning” dictated knowledge was best earned through “struggle” and “practice” and that reform could create a “resilient, intellectually courageous” generation “prepared to engage with the world”.
The spat exposes a deep split in New Zealand’s education sector about what is fair and equitable.
Some argue that a standardised, rigorous qualification allows every student to be judged to the same standards.
But others say flexibility to match individual students and individual cultural backgrounds and needs produces the best outcomes and career options, especially when they are not backed by the vast resources of wealthy schools.
The debate follows years of criticism that literacy, numeracy and academic results have been faltering under NCEA and that students are not being challenged to excel.
The Government last month used these criticisms to propose axing NCEA Level 1, with Year 11 students instead focusing on literacy and numeracy in a “Foundational Skills Award”.
Year 12s would then seek to obtain the New Zealand Certificate of Education (NZCE) and Year 13s the NZ Advanced Certificate of Education (NZACE).
The Government said the reforms would include a return to common-sense grading, such as As and marks out of 100, that were better understood by parents, employers and universities.
The changes would kick in for Year 11s in 2028, with the same students then moving into the new senior qualifications in 2029 and 2030 as the first cohort.
Principals in today’s letter urged haste and called on all principals to pitch in with ideas on how to make the reforms work.
Scrapping a broken NCEA was needed because Kiwi students had been under-performing in global benchmarks such as the Programme for International Student Assessment, they said.
Delaying reforms “would be a backwards step for secondary education in New Zealand”.
The new curriculum would keep students better engaged throughout the school year as they strove to build enough knowledge to pass their end-of-year exams, they said.
“Effective learning requires struggle, spaced practice, and the development of robust mental models,” today’s principals’ letter states.
They argued that NCEA’s current system of grading, by contrast, involved short-term “chunked assessments” that did not build deep knowledge.
“Mastery is not achieved in a single moment” but through “sustained effort, reflection, and the inevitable setbacks that come with deep learning,” the letter said.
However, principals opposed to the changes warned in their August 26 letter that the reforms, if rushed, could mark a harmful return to outdated models that would likely lead to “league tables” and bragging rights for rich schools rather than better results for all students.
Not only would a straight literacy and numeracy shootout benefit well-resourced schools able to throw more weight into preparing students for exams, but it risked creating a monoculture that alienated those from different backgrounds or who might not have English as their first language, they argued.
“The proposed system is designed for university-bound students at the expense of students with other strengths and pathways,” they said in their letter.
It risked harming “Māori, Pasifika, neuro-diverse, migrants and second language learners, transient students and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds”.
They also described being gagged during the consultation process as “principals involved in consultation have been subjected to restrictive non-disclosure agreements”.
No meaningful curriculum had yet been developed or proposed, meaning principals were being urged to rush to support something they had no way of knowing would be good or bad, they said.
They argued flexibility was essential to an inclusive system catering “for all students”.
This was in contrast to the letter from principals backing reform, which said a “mandated approach” promoted greater equity and inclusivity.
Ultimately, it means widespread support for reform could hinge on greater unity about what constitutes fair.
The principal of Avonside Girls’ High School in Christchurch, Catherine Law, had not signed the letter but said she backed the proposed reforms.
She said the current system was introduced 17 years ago to lift achievement for all students, but data from the past decade showed NCEA had failed to “bridge the gap”.
She understood concerns expressed by NCEA supporters and blamed the lack of detail presented so far about how the new qualification system would work.
“Of course there is inevitably some concern or worry that we might go back to things that people have experienced in the past.”
However, she urged people to get involved in the consultation process and give feedback on what they wanted to see in a revised qualification.
Ben Leahy is a reporter for the New Zealand Herald.