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Welcome to Inside Politics. It has been Erica Stanford’s week, or perhaps Erica Stanford’s year. The Education Minister has announced the abolition of NCEA with barely a complaint. That’s not bad considering National went into the 2023 election with no promises on NCEA and that she began the current year promising to “revitalise” NCEA.
The main complaints have been the short six-week consultation period and her suggestion that teachers won’t have to mark exams and that AI could relieve them of that. But they are process issues, and the marking issue has plenty of time to play out before the new system is in place in 2028.
The fact that such a momentous decision has been taken to replace the national qualification system in secondary schools in such a relatively short time and with such relatively little dissent goes to two factors: the widespread lack of confidence in the current system among parents, teachers and employers, and Stanford’s confidence to drive through change. See Jamie Ensor’s comment piece below.
We are used to recommendations for change taking years and years to develop before firm decisions are made, and then for it to take years and years to implement. Stanford has taken it to a fine art: identify problems, identify experts, identify solutions, do it.
She has had practice with the moves in primary schools to structured reading and maths, and is now turning her focus to secondary schooling.
For the record, the plan is to remove NCEA Level 1 for Year 11 (fifth form) and replace it with a foundational award focused on numeracy and literacy skills. Maths and English will be compulsory in Year 11.
NCEA Level 2 and 3 will be replaced with the New Zealand Certificate of Education (NZCE) at Year 12 (sixth form) and the New Zealand Advanced Certificate of Education (NZACE) at Year 13 (seventh form). Students will have to take a minimum of five subjects and pass four to get the qualification. The current grades of “not achieved, achieved, merit and excellence” will be replaced with marks out of 100.
While Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was in Papua New Guinea this week celebrating 50 years of independence, he was missing out on a magnificent party in the Cook Islands to mark its 60th anniversary of self-government in association with New Zealand.
As I point out in a comment piece on the current rift between the Cook Islands and New Zealand over how the governing arrangements are supposed to work, it was quite in order for Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters to boycott the Cooks’ celebrations and send the Governor-General instead. It would have been rather strange to have been celebrating with Prime Minister Mark Brown when there is no agreement on how the relationship should work in practice. As we know, the strains arose over the lack of consultation over a “comprehensive strategic partnership” with China signed by the Cooks in February.
Co-operation in seabed mining features large among the agreements. And so it was a surprise to see an announcement yesterday, in the midst of Constitution Day celebrations, that the United States, too, has just signed a co-operation agreement with the Cooks “to advance scientific research and the responsible development of seabed mineral resources”. When they say there is great power rivalry in the Pacific, there can be no clearer example of it.
It promises to be a busy weekend for many politicians. Luxon will be holding formal talks with his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese; the Green Party will hold its annual meeting in Wellington; and New Zealand First’s Shane Jones will continue his roadshow of public meetings in Lower Hutt on Sunday afternoon. Luxon and Albanese will have plenty to discuss before they get onto transtasman issues: tariffs and Trump, Ukraine and Russia, and Israel and Palestine.
French President Emmanuel Macron telephoned both Luxon and Albanese this week as he pursues his bid to make recognition of Palestinian statehood an integral part of the peace process in Gaza. New Zealand and Australia both say it is not a matter of “if” but “when”.
Jones has given speeches in New Plymouth and Nelson, where it was packed out, and has more planned in Whangārei and Tauranga.
• Rebecca Kitteridge, the former head of the SIS, former Secretary of the Cabinet and currently a Deputy State Services Commissioner, is heading to Oxford University for three years to become Professor of Practice in Public Policy.
• Former TVNZ business reporter Katie Bradford began her job with the Infrastructure Commission at the deep end, MC-ing for the big infrastructure conference in Wellington yesterday and interviewing the minister, Chris Bishop, on stage about plans for road user charges. According to someone who spent the day at the conference, “she did a great job, striking a good balance between being a good host and asking probing questions”.
• The Press Gallery farewells one of its great characters this week, Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls, who is off to TVNZ to replace Bradford. Followers of Beehive press conferences will miss his forthright questions. In one of his more controversial press conferences during the Covid-19 lockdown, he asked Health Director-General Ashley Bloomfield what he thought of some leaders overseas (Trump) suggesting the injection of bleach to kill Covid. Bloomfield, who didn’t realise he was being given a free hit by Walls to denounce vaccine conspiracy theories, was so flabbergasted he declined to answer.
• Vaccine conspiracies, the sequel: US Health Secretary Robert Kennedy jnr this week cancelled US$500 million ($843m) in funding for work on mRNA vaccines to combat viruses (such as Covid-19), in response to anti-vaccine activists. Mind-boggling “leadership” from the world’s leading science nation.
“Nicola Willis on the 5.2% unemployment rate: “Some New Zealanders, particularly in the commentariat, have got themselves into the habit of what I call glass-half-empty economics. Today, on the plain facts of the data, is a lower unemployment rate than was being forecast by Treasury at the Budget, that was being forecast by commercial banks, that was being forecast prior to the election.”
Chris Hipkins: “So according to Nicola Willis, people concerned about unemployment are ‘glass-half-empty’...”
Who was the first Premier of the Cook Islands in 1965 when it became self-governing in free association with New Zealand, and who was the Prime Minister of New Zealand? (Answers at the bottom of this article.)
Reluctantly goes to the very busy staff at the Ministry of Education who were responsible for the maths workbooks that are peppered with errors. Not achieved, or should that be a D.
Goes to the RNZAF crew who flew a risky mission to Antarctica to evacuate three people from the US-run McMurdo Station in need of medical care. Could someone please tell the US trade representative?
Road-user charges: Govt preparing to ditch petrol tax, move all cars to road user charges
Opinion: Jamie Ensor – Why the Govt scrapped NCEA – and why we shouldn’t be surprised
NCEA overhaul: Govt to scrap NCEA, introduce new high school qualifications
NCEA overhaul: NCEA shake-up – Minister defends ‘hasty’ consultation period
Maths errors: Numerous errors found in new ministry-funded maths resources
Foreshore legislation: Govt pushing ahead with controversial foreshore legislation
Research cuts: Majority of Govt’s $231m tech institute funded through research cuts
Opinion: Audrey Young – Why Peters needs help resolving NZ-Cook Islands dispute
Cooks-NZ dispute: Peters marks Cook Islands anniversary with coded message: Don’t risk it all on China
Trump tariffs: Trade Minister headed to US to plead NZ’s case on tariffs
Opinion: Simon Wilson – Why National’s got the country and itself into such a mess
Emergency housing: Govt seeks ‘urgent’ advice amid surge in homelessness
Fisheries reforms: Govt confirms pro-industry fisheries changes
Quiz answer: Albert Henry and Keith Holyoake, both later becoming Sir Albert and Sir Keith. Henry was stripped of his knighthood in 1979 after pleading guilty to electoral fraud, but was granted a posthumous pardon in 2023.
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