Secondary teachers scapegoats for NZQA blunder

Secondary teachers scapegoats for NZQA blunder

Secondary teachers are being asked to pick up the tab for NZQA’s mistakes – a situation PPTA president Kate Gainsford says is unacceptable.

NZQA (New Zealand Qualifications Authority) is required by the government to moderate 10% of all internally assessed student work for NCEA to ensure consistency of marking.

However NZQA has seriously misjudged the number of marking samples needed from schools in the first half of the year to meet the 10% target.

Instead of owning up to the mistake and fronting up to the government NZQA had decided to pass the problem onto teachers, Gainsford said.

This means teachers in those schools due to be moderated in the second half of the year will have to send in considerably more material to make up the shortfall and cover NZQA’s error, she said.

“Moderation is already a huge workload and cost imposition on teachers and schools,” she said.

“NZQA must go to government and admit the 10% target for this year cannot be met.”

Gainsford said it would not be surprising if some schools chose to refuse to submit the extra standards and only send in the standards originally selected in the school’s 2010 moderation plan.

“For NZQA to do this indicates they have no idea of the workload demands and stress moderating work places on teachers,” she said.

ENDS

© Scoop Media