Report Reflects Teachers’ Concerns About Shambolic Implementation Of NCEA L1

An Education Review Office (ERO) report released today, into the new NCEA Level 1, picks up on a lot of the implementational challenges that teachers have faced this year, says Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua president.

“Much of the report reflects feedback that we received from PPTA members last October. The late delivery of resources, particularly assessment exemplars, and lack of effective planning, has been appalling. Clearly, the expertise of teachers and leaders in schools and in the subject associations has been what has got students over the line. Teachers’ professional knowledge and commitment has filled in the gaps left by the NZ Qualifications Authority and Ministry of Education.

“The shambolic implementation of NCEA Level 1 has only served to make already overworked and overloaded teachers seriously consider their future in the profession. Teachers are having to fill the gaps caused by a worsening secondary teacher shortage – they absolutely need the NCEA changes to be supported fully and rolled out smoothly.”

He said teachers supported the quick changes recommended in the ERO report. “In the longer term, more substantive changes need to be agreed with the teaching profession, and they need to be made carefully so we aren’t in the position of being in a change process, on top of a change process.”

The current Government needed to shoulder some responsibility for the implementational shambles this year. “Their requirement for public sector cuts saw almost all specialist support for NCEA implementation removed from the Ministry through a chaotic restructuring at the start of the year.”

PPTA Te Wehengarua members, at their annual conference in October, insisted that the Ministry and NZQA develop an urgent improvement plan for NCEA Level 1 assessment to be rolled out from the start of next year. Young people deserved a fully resourced and well implemented national qualification system.

Teachers supported the changes that were planned through the NCEA review, said Chris Abercrombie. “The proposed changes were positive and broadly aligned with PPTA Te Wehengarua’s original criteria for a valid qualifications framework - that it is fair, inclusive, cumulative, clear, motivating, coherent, constructive and manageable.

“However, teachers have been deeply disappointed and frustrated by the lack of proper resourcing and grossly inadequate implementation of the changes.

“The Government also needs to step up and resource vital roles like the Principals’ Nominee, who is the teacher in a school that is responsible for ensuring the NZQA requirements for assessment are met.”

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