Major review of NCEA

A complete shake-up of NCEA will look at whether all students should attempt the level one qualification and whether teenagers are being over-assessed.

The secondary school qualification, which replaced School Certificate, Sixth Form Certificate and Bursary was introduced in 2002 and Labour signalled ahead of the September election that they would review it.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced the terms of reference for the review on Thursday, which will initially lead to a discussion document for public consultation in April next year.

It comes on the back of Hipkins announcing on Tuesday that National Standards, the assessment system used in primary and intermediate schools, has been officially scrapped.

Hipkins said over-assessment of students and teachers’ workloads would be addressed by the review, which starts early next year. NCEA will not be scrapped altogether as part of the review.

‘‘Students and teachers have told us over-assessment is a real issue and impacts their wellbeing and workload. This and the importance of teaching life skills in schools, such as resilience, creativity, communication and adaptability, will form part of the review. The review will also look at the role of each level of NCEA, particularly the structure and relevance of NCEA level 1 and whether all young people should attempt it.’’

It was an ‘‘opportunity to refine and strengthen our key national qualification for young people leaving school, and to ensure that NCEA remains relevant in the modern world,’’ Hipkins said.