Typing genesis of high-tech subject

By DITA DE BONI education reporter

It's only three years old but it is already one of the most popular subjects for Year 11 students.

Today's NCEA exam line-up includes Information Management, one of the fastest growing options in the subject roster, according to the Qualifications Authority.

The two-hour Information Management examination - the shortest of all NCEA exams - asks students to manipulate data on computers to convey ideas. This can be done by editing and sorting data and spread-sheeting - skills considered fundamental in most jobs involving computers today.

The subject's genesis can be found in the humble typing room. School Certificate-level typing was taken by 6000 mostly female Year 11 students in 1999, but only 2800 took it in 2000 when a brash newcomer, called Text Information Management, was introduced to the curriculum.

Last year, when typing was phased out, 10,300 pupils signed up to take Text Information Management and this year almost 11,000 boys and girls are tackling the renamed Information Management.

Today's NCEA line-up also features German, with around 900 students sitting. The language is the fourth most popular for Year 11 students after French, Japanese, and Te Reo Maori.

Bursary exams scheduled for today are physics, the most popular branch of science with 7925 students sitting, and economics which 6217 students will take.

Meanwhile, teachers told the Herald that the English NCEA exam, held yesterday, was finished up to one hour early by many students.

But it was not a sign of "dumbing down" according to Orewa English teacher Tania Roxborogh.

"I thought it was a good paper, and if kids had studied hard they would have been able to show off their skills and meet the criteria. Kids have to know these skills, and the exam would have forced them to learn them and gain confidence with different language techniques."

Sophie Tolich, a Year 11 student at Baradene College, said the English paper had mirrored what she had learned in class during the year. She enjoyed writing about the novel she had studied in class - Lord of the Flies - but found the formal writing section a challenge.

"I found myself writing things I had written in class a few times," she said.

Matthew Rose, a Year 11 student at Glenfield College, sat both the health and English NCEA exams yesterday, and said both were as expected.

"Health was pretty much what we had been taught in class, but I found some of the language used in the English exam a little difficult."

More than one student complained that the use of the word "interesting" in the English exam - such as "describe why the character is interesting" - was too vague.