Only half of year 11 students passing first stage of NCEA

2.45pm

Only about half of year 11 students are passing the first stage of the Government's main secondary school qualification -- the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), a new website profiling the nation's secondary schools shows.

The website, launched today by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), contains profiles of each of the country's secondary schools, as well as a detailed overview of national figures and trends.

The website shows that just 52.9 per cent of year 11 (5th form) students last year passed level one of the NCEA, which replaced the former school certificate in 2002.

Of year 12 (6th form) students only 48 per cent passed level two, which replaced the former sixth form certificate last year.

No comparison of pass rates is given against the former qualifications the NCEA replaced.

The website also shows that girls are achieving better than boys, with the gulf between the two widening at level 2 of the qualification.

The website contains detailed profiles of individual schools but does not rank them in a "league table" form.

However, contained in each school's profile are comparisons against national averages and against other schools in that school's particular decile range.

The profiles show the number of students at a school, how many participated in NCEA, what percentage achieved the qualification, and a breakdown of what standards were achieved by students within the overall qualification.

They also show how many subject areas a school offers.

NZQA spokesman Bill Lennox told reporters today the website was intended to help people assess schools and their students through several different measures.

However, he said the statistics on NCEA achievement were an indication of students' performance rather than the schools.

The information was also intended as a helpful tool for schools who could benchmark themselves against others and their own performance from year to year.

To achieve NCEA level 1 students must achieve 80 credits from a range of subjects, including basic literacy and numeracy requirements.

To achieve NCEA level 2 students must achieve a further 60 credits at that level.

Level 3 NCEA, which will replace bursary, is in the process of being introduced this year.

- NZPA

May 10, 2004

New Zealand Qualifications Authority:

2003 Secondary NQF National and School Statistics and School Profiles

Herald Feature: Education