Hon Trevor Mallard
Minister of Education
January 2002
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL CERTIFICATE FOR EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
The beginning of 2002 sees a makeover for secondary
school qualifications with the introduction of the new National Certificate
for Educational Achievement. It's a system that combines traditional examinations
with rigorous internal assessment. In this article, Education Minister
TREVOR MALLARD explains his support for the new system.
The 1999 School Certificate English examination included the following
question:
"This year you have delivered a speech. Briefly describe:
(i) what your speech was about,
(ii) your intended audience,
(iii) your main aim in delivering the speech."
The question was worth one mark in the paper. A further three marks were
available for describing how different production techniques were used
in that particular speech.
Under the National Certificate in Educational Achievement, Year 11 (fifth
form) students could still have to answer such questions in one of the
external examinations that make up the new system. But they would also
be judged through internal assessment on the speech itself - the ideas,
the delivery, the body language, and how assured, direct and enthusiastic
they were about it.
As a politician, I'd love to win marks based on my version of what a
speech was about. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen in the real world.
Nor is there any advantage in a criminal lawyer writing about what they
wanted to achieve when they summed up a trial. And that's my point - school
certificate English, and indeed the entire senior secondary school qualifications
system, has passed its use-by date.
2002 sees the beginning of an exciting new system. A system that will
challenge our most gifted and talented students but will also provide
a meaningful and worthwhile assessment for students who in the past, through
not passing school certificate, left school with nothing to show for their
achievements.
Call me an optimist, but I'm of the view that every young New Zealander
has potential in some areas. We should celebrate the achievements of talented
students. But as a country we can't afford to do that at the expense of
ignoring everybody else. The traditional examination system labelled a
person as either a success or a failure. A major fault was that it failed
to give employers or tertiary institutions a decent picture of a young
person they were considering for employment or further training.
What good is a carpenter who cannot measure? If they passed School Certificate
Mathematics it was assumed they could measure, but there was nothing in
the certificate at the end of the year that showed that to be true.
The labour market has changed dramatically over the last quarter century.
Jobs previously requiring no literacy skills now demand the ability to
operate a computer. Our school system needs to hold on to those students
who used to leave the day they turned 15, and arm them with worthwhile
and practical qualifications.
For the more academic students, the NCEA will provide a greater challenge
in fostering time management, problem solving and project management skills.
There will continue to be examinations at the end of the year but the
NCEA provides a good balance between rigorous internal and external assessment
(i.e. examinations).
A survey of employers who have actively recruited university graduates
rated 'sound academic achievement' third in their list of top ten skills
they sought. Above it were 'strong verbal and interpersonal communication
skills' and 'problem solving skills' - both of which I believe can be
better developed and reported through the NCEA.
Examinations are a useful way of testing some knowledge and skills well,
and that's why they will still be a part of the new system. But by strengthening
the mix of examinations and internal assessment we get the best of both
worlds.
Schools conduct internal assessments at Years 11, 12 and 13 but there
is very little external checking of marking. For NCEA, all subjects will
have internal marking checked at every level, every year.
A key principle of standards based assessment means that it is the standard
that is fixed and constant. The variable can be the context for learning
a skill or the way that a group of students may learn a skill. In this
way, learning can be tailored to suit the needs of individuals and local
communities while the assessment is reported at a national level.
But one of the crunch issues surrounding internal assessment is how many
chances to you give a student at getting a mark?
The decision on that is that schools should include provision for no
more than one further reportable assessment opportunity (extra chance)
within their assessment policy for NCEA achievement standards. This is
in the best interests of both teaching and learning. The further assessment
opportunity is for students who have not achieved the standard at the
first attempt but have had the opportunity for more learning to take place.
It would not be responsible practice to further assess a student who had
made no visible progress against the standard. It would also be an unacceptable
load to place on teachers if they constantly had to reassess.
This decision will be reviewed after three years as teachers' confidence
in, and familiarity with assessment for the NCEA will have increased by
that time. This decision does not limit the ability of a school to use
assessment as a normal element of the teaching and learning process. Indeed
some schools already successfully use such a process in order to give
feedback on an individual's progress towards achieving the standard and
that will no doubt continue.
With NCEA, we can keep up with other countries. NCEA is consistent with
assessment practices overseas, in countries that we traditionally compare
ourselves with. Europe, Canada, various states in the USA and our nearest
neighbour Australia, all use standards based assessment to report learning
in school.
However I know that change is never easy. When what we're changing involves
the future of a generation of New Zealanders, we have to tread carefully.
That's why I delayed the implementation of the NCEA from 2001 until 2002.
In my opinion, the previous administration had not paid enough attention
to the needs of all schools to be adequately prepared for the new system.
The last budget provided $14 million of new funding over four years to
ensure the effective implementation of the NCEA. That means total funding
next year will be $15.2 million.
Please take the time to read information prepared for families about
NCEA as it is a big change for students in some schools. But as a country,
we can't afford not to change if we want to educate our young people to
meet the demands of the changing world.
For more information about NCEA Click
Here
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