Overhaul call
REGION: A Levin teen has become an adviser to one of the country’s top education officials, and hopes to promote a rethink about ‘‘overassessment’’.
A Levin teen has become an adviser to one of the country’s top education officials, and hopes to promote a rethink about ‘‘overassessment’’.
Liam Mcleavey, 17, is one of 12 teens chosen for the newly formed Ministerial Youth Advisory Group for Education, which will have the ear of the Ministry and Minister of Education Chris Hipkins.
The group includes teens aged 14 to 18, from Auckland to Dunedin, who will decide what issues they focus on.
Mcleavey was excited the ‘‘diverse group’’ would bring many different ideas to the table and that youth were being asked to ‘‘provide their views’’.
‘‘I applied because I thought I could use my skills and experience to make a real difference. It’s really important for young people to have a voice; it affects us long term and affects communities.
‘‘Young people bring a different perspective.’’
When he was 14, Mcleavey started a Facebook site matching Horowhenua employers with teen jobseekers, and he now works part-time as a mentor helping young people find pathways to employment and training.
He has been a member of Horowhenua’s youth council since he was 14 and was its chairman this year. The youth council encouraged his passion for standing up for teens, he said.
As an education group adviser, he hopes to discuss concerns that young people are swamped by pointless assessments for NCEA. This limits other opportunities to develop their ‘‘true potential’’.
‘‘At NCEA level 1, there’s a significant over-assessment. I got 150 credits, but you only need 80 to get the certificate,’’ Mcleavey said.
‘‘It does place stress and affect young people’s wellbeing, because there’s assessment after assessment. I think there’s better ways.’’
If a student does particularly well in several standards, this can be recognised by an ‘‘endorsement’’ of their certificate, but earning more points than 80 credits did not present any immediately recognised benefits.
Mcleavey understands one ‘‘innovative’’ Wellington school has now limited the number of assessments to 100 a year.
Learning more employment-ready skills and life skills, and more project-based learning, would be more helpful for young people, he said.
The group’s ideas will be shared with education bodies and the ministry, which will then use an online discussion group of more than 150 young people to explore them further.