The secondary teachers union has backed off a suggestion to push for a cut in the number of tests in high school exams.
A discussion paper on NCEA prepared for the Post Primary Teachers Association annual conference this week originally had a recommendation to drop the requirement forNCEA Level 1 from 80 credits to 60.
It said the country was out of step with the United States and Canada in starting to assess students for qualifications so early.
But some believed the move would risk cutting the amount students learned and Education Minister Chris Carter said there was no obvious need for change as the proportion of Year 11 students getting Level 1 had grown every year for the past four years.
Kate Gainsford, who presented the paper on behalf of the PPTA executive, told the conference the status quo of 80 credits for NCEA Level 1 was now favoured along with "the breadth of coverage that offers students in educational and motivational terms".
The NCEA has come under considerable criticism since it was introduced in 2002 but that has quietened since a range of reforms was unveiled last year.
The paper said the changes were part of a "political panic", of varied value and more were needed.
Members yesterday voted to push for a range of initiatives, including getting more support for teachers marking internally assessed standards.
Vanessa Pringle, a member of the union's young and new teachers group, earlier made a plea to education officials to better guide inexperienced workers.
"You need to co-ordinate - Ministry of Education, ERO, NZQA, anybody else who has a bright idea and thinks it's absolutely wonderful, can you please talk to each other?"
The West Coast computing teacher said a NZQA review of unit and assessment standards now under way was essential.
"We need this standard review to align everything up so it can be co-ordinated and we can get computer scientists out of our students - not kids that are working in a shop using a cash register," she said.
"At the end of the day we are trying to get these kids to be academic and we want them to be computer scientists and right now, we haven't got that."
