The minister is also receiving advice on whether to require Year 11 students to study science.
PPTA Te
Wehengarua president Chris Abercrombie told The Front Page that today’s announcement largely repeats what was signalled months ago.
“There have been seven months since the Government made an announcement, in August last year.
“Time’s running out. The minister said the Year 9s are going to be the first cohort through, that’s 22 months away when they start Year 11. We’ve also got our election period, which seems to shut down for a few months. So, the reality is we’ve got 18 months before these Year 9s are going to be doing this new assessment system.
“That’s an incredibly tight timeframe to do an education system effectively from scratch. Take vocational pathways – that doesn’t exist as of right now,” he said.
Abercrombie said teachers and principals are tired of constant change.
“The number one thing teachers are saying to me is that we are sick of this political ping-pong. We are sick of this change. We want stability for us, for our students, for our parents, for our community.
“This might be the best change in the world, but if you’re doing 15 of them all at the same time, things are going to fall through the cracks,” he said.
The second tranche of the design of the new qualification system will include achievement requirements for Years 12 and 13, information about grading, the balance of internal versus external assessments, weighting of exams, moderation, comparability, and complex decisions.
“I expect to take advice on these technical design decisions before Budget,” Stanford said.
Abercrombie said there are still unanswered questions and too much uncertainty, with too little time to implement the plans.
“I’m getting sick of these philosophical discussions about assessment and announcements.
“I want the nuts and bolts. I want to know what I’m going to be teaching in the next year. I want to know what I’m going to be assessing. I want to know what a pass grade is. Am I going to be giving a kid an A, B, or C grade?
“I want to know if we’re going to build more science labs, if we’re going to hire more science teachers.
“These real nuts and bolts questions that impact the day-to-day of teachers, of students, and of families are missing completely from this announcement, and they’ve had seven months to do this.
“It’s incredibly frustrating. I’m already fielding messages from teachers going, ‘well, what was the point of that announcement?’ It hasn’t given me any more information to share with my families, my students and my colleagues.
“If we want a long-lasting, world-class education system, all parts of it need to work together.
“I had no idea about the second tranche information until eight o’clock this morning, and I lead an organisation that represents 22,000 secondary teachers and principals. The people who are going to be doing the mahi... That’s really frustrating,” he said.
To further support schools, Stanford said there will be a national curriculum and assessment roadshow for secondary school leaders in June this year.
“These events will support leaders to understand the changes, build capability and share implementation approaches across the country,” she said.
How the new system will be phased in
The first students to participate are the current Year 9 cohort.
2026: The Government will finalise the senior secondary curriculum and qualification design, and develop assessment exemplars.
2027: Preparatory year of assessment and professional learning and development.
2028: NCEA Level 1 to be removed, Year 11 curriculum only, Foundational Award introduced.
2029: New Year 12 qualification and curriculum starts.
2030: New Year 13 qualification and curriculum starts.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- Curriculum design
- Exams and student needs
- Vocational pathways
- What next?
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5pm. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
