New honour for 'failed' scholars

Hundreds of bright students who failed scholarship exams will be given replacement awards after an apparent admission by the Government that it has no confidence in the results.

In an unprecedented move, the Cabinet has directed Associate Education Minister David Benson-Pope to introduce a "distinction certificate" after a report found the results in NCEA scholarship exams were unfair, particularly in science subjects.

Only nine of the 1000 students who sat biology last year were awarded scholarships, whereas one in three taking English got them.

Last year was the first time scholarship results were not scaled (adjusted to control the number of students who pass) and the first time they were included in the NCEA system.

The change resulted in dramatic discrepancies in scholarship pass rates - between different subjects and in comparison with the previous year's results.

It is not entirely clear what caused the discrepancies, but Mr Benson-Pope said some exams were unrealistically demanding.

The Government is understood to be angry with the NZ Qualifications Authority, which administers NCEA, over the embarrassing predicament. The NZQA would not comment yesterday.

Mr Benson-Pope was also ordered to report back to the Cabinet by the end of next month on how to stop the same mistake happening next year.

The scholarship problem is predicted to further undermine public confidence in NCEA, which has been heavily criticised since it was introduced three years ago.

Yesterday's announcement has been labelled a "tacky cover-up" by National Party education spokesman Bill English, who first drew attention to the discrepancies in scholarship results last week.

"It is a disgrace because it cheats thousands of young New Zealanders striving for excellence."

Mr English said the Government was warned last year that scholarship exams were likely to be a shambles and, by not listening, it had shown a contempt for excellence in education.

A scholarship is the top award in the school system, usually sat by year 13 students, and is a separate exam from level-three NCEA.

Mr Benson-Pope said the 373 distinction certificates would be given to students who had done exceptionally well in a subject at NCEA level three but had missed out on a scholarship award.

There are also distinction awards that will be given to students who got scholarship passes and distinction certificates in any three subjects. The awards are worth $1500 for three years and will be given to 65 students.

However, if the 65 students given distinction awards had instead got three scholarships they would have received $500 more each year.

Students have been assured that the suspect scholarships results will not affect their ability to enrol in university courses.

Mr Benson-Pope said the scholarships were meant for "our very best and brightest" and should not be too easy to achieve.

"That is why I am pleased that this decision doesn't interfere with the integrity of the scholarship exams, but makes a correction that puts a bit more balance into the results," the minister said.

He said that two weeks ago he ordered the Qualifications Authority and the Ministry of Education to investigate the matter. On Monday, the Cabinet decided urgent steps were needed to rectify the results.

The main cause of the problem is said to be the move from the old system, which used scaling, to the new non-scaled system.

Mr Benson-Pope also said it might have been over-ambitious changing scholarship the same year as NCEA level three was introduced.

A source said that privately the Cabinet was furious with the NZQA.

Mr Benson-Pope conceded that he would have liked more warning about the problem and the NZQA has been told to improve its "early alert" processes.

Avondale College principal Brent Lewis said he was pleased that the Government was introducing the distinction certificates.

"It's an appalling situation that we've now ended up in but I think it's a pragmatic and fair thing to do for the students."

Mr Lewis said the problems with the scholarship results had arisen because NCEA was fundamentally flawed.

"Unless you can statistically smooth these aberrations, then these things are going to continue, and you can't statistically smooth standards-based assessment."

Martin Hanson, a biology teacher at King's College in Otahuhu, said the new distinction certificates were a Government "damage-limitation exercise". "They've screwed up badly and they've tried to salvage the wreckage," he said.

Mr Hanson said the measure did not help students.

* Students who feel their work has been marked incorrectly or graded wrongly can submit their exam papers for reconsideration.