Report calls for cut back to NCEA workload

Students are sitting too many NCEA assessments, and reducing the quantity could improve the quality, an education working group is recommending.

The group, which includes representatives from across the sector, wants the Ministry of Education to look at reducing the number of credits needed to get NCEA Level 1 as part of a review of the qualification next year.

Post-Primary Teachers Association president Jack Boyle said data showed 15-year-olds doing Level 1, who required 80 credits to pass, were on average sitting enough assessments to get 120.

‘‘There’s a case to be made [that] our young people [are] doing twice as much assessment as they require to get that award.’’

One of the suggestions from the Secondary Teacher Workload Working Group was to put a cap on the number of credits for which a student can enrol in a year.

For staff, reducing the number of assessments would also help to reduce teacher workloads.

Secondary Principals Associ- ation president Michael Williams said there was a universal agreement there was over-assessment, but finding a solution was challenging.

‘‘In some contexts, doing fewer standards will work. In other contexts, it’s not going to be the best way to solve it.’’

There was a ‘‘quite a bit of movement’’ around the idea of scrapping level 1 altogether, he said, though the biggest barrier to that was probably parents and employers of the generation that sat School Certificate, who still saw year 11 as important.

In some communities, Level 1 was effective in getting students on the ‘‘achievement ladder’’, and losing it could disadvantage some.

Ministry of Education acting deputy secretary for student achievement Karl Le Quesne said the ministry supported the recom- mendations.

Those around assessment and moderation of NCEA were seen as realistic and achievable.

New Zealand Qualifications Authority deputy chief executive Kristine Kilkelly said NZQA was working on nine recommendations from the report, alongside the ministry.

NZQA wanted ‘‘to do everything we can to ensure that additional workload is not placed on to teachers and students’’, she said.

‘‘In some contexts, doing fewer standards will work’’

FAIRFAX NZ PPTA president Jack Boyle says on average, some students are being assessed for 120 credits at NCEA Level 1, when they need only 80 to pass.