Déjà vu in NCEA ‘05 says Bill English

“All the problems with NCEA in 2004 will be there again in 2005 according to official documents from NZQA,” says National Party Education spokesman Bill English.

”The standards for NCEA in 2005 were set by the end of last year and NZQA documents presented to the Education Select Committee reveal that the 2005 exams have been set already.

“From now on only minor changes are possible. Labour’s half-baked reviews have been aimed at creating the illusion of change, when in fact no significant changes are planned.

“A further 100,000 secondary school students will have to put up with another lottery where success for many students depends on picking the right subject in the right year.

“Parents and teachers have been lead to believe something will change this year. They should be told the truth. The truth is nothing will change to ensure NCEA gives students a fair go,” Mr English says.

Two weeks ago the PPTA released its report on teacher attitudes to NCEA. The report concluded that NCEA external assessment was unreliable and the system for monitoring the internal assessment system lacked credibility with most teachers.

“These are serious concerns from teachers who support NCEA and want to see it work, but they haven’t been taken seriously.

“Labour is likely to announce changes to Scholarship this week affecting a small number of students. Sadly these changes will have no impact on the quality of the NCEA being sat by 100,000 students this year,” Mr English says.

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