NCEA Review

As you may be aware, the Minister of Education has initiated a review of  NCEA which has been the cornerstone of national assessment for since 2002. At St Kevin's, we have almost 100% of our students leaving with Level 1 NCEA and over 85% leave with NCEA Level 2. Nationally, there is a conversation within education circles questioning the relevance of Level 1, given that the Ministry have indicated that Level 2 is the minimum leaving qualification. Secondly, New Zealand is one of the only countries with three levels of school qualifications.

Some possible compromises have been put forward by Minister Hipkins, which reduced the number of Credits required for NCEA Level 1 with a focus on Literacy and Numeracy together with credits for an extended project. As a principal, I am supportive of any moves to balance the student and staff assessment load by taking the emphasis from assessment to teaching and learning. With respect to learning and assessment, the old adage holds true - "weighing the pig more often doesn't fatten it any faster". I am keen to see our staff focusing on quality teaching rather than being tied to constant assessment. Students also need to have opportunities to engage in deeper learning rather than being under constant assessment pressure.

One of the issues that I have with the review is that we are having an assessment conversation before we have a curriculum conversation. It concerns me that this is the wrong way around. Assessment should not drive what we are teaching. As a country, firstly, we need to agree on what we want our students to learn to prepare them for a rapidly changing future.

If you would like to have your say about how NCEA should be shaped, join the conversation at conversation.education.govt.nz. #NCEAHaveYourSay #NCEAReview #EdConvo18