A review by the Education Review Office (ERO) has found that NCEA Level 1 needs urgent reform.
In April, Education Minister, Erica Stanford, requested the Office review NCEA Level 1, after recording an increasing number of schools were opting out of offering NCEA Level 1, particularly schools with higher achievement. Less than three-quarters of schools plan to offer it next year.
The Office’s review found that NCEA Level 1 was not a fair or reliable measure of knowledge and skills.
“Three in five teachers and almost half of school leaders told us that NCEA is an unreliable measure of knowledge and skills,” ERO said in a statement.
The Office found that NCEA Level 1 difficulty varies between subjects and schools, which means that students have different amounts of work and different chances of achieving.
“Three-quarters of school leaders told us that credit values are not a reliable indicator of how much work is required. Last year, students were almost twice as likely to achieve an excellence grade on an internal assessment than an external assessment,” the ERO stated.
It also found that NCEA Level 1 is failing to prepare students with the knowledge they need for NCEA Level 2.
“Only one in three schools are offering all four parts (standards) of a course. Students miss key knowledge that they need for Level 2. Nearly three-quarters of school leaders report NCEA Level 1 doesn’t prepare students for Level 2.”
“Concerningly, ERO found that NCEA Level 1 is not motivating all students to achieve as well as they can and doesn’t keep students studying until the end of the year. Almost two-thirds of teachers report NCEA Level 1 doesn’t motivate students to achieve.
“For students leaving after NCEA Level 1, we are concerned that employers aren’t valuing NCEA Level 1 – seven in 10 employers don’t think it is a reliable measure of knowledge and skills and nine in 10 don’t think it’s a reliable measure of attitude to hard work,” ERO states.
It says NCEA Level 1 is also not helping students make good choices for their future, and nearly half of parents don’t know what is required and say they are unable to help their child make the right choices.
“NCEA Level 1 is not working and needs substantial reform. We need to first consider NCEA levels 1, 2 and 3 together and decide if we want assessment across all three years – most other countries do not have that. We then need to decide if we drop NCEA Level 1 entirely, make it a foundational qualification, or make it more challenging to better prepare students for Levels 2 and 3.”
“If we keep NCEA Level 1, we need to reduce flexibility so there is more consistency, and students don’t miss out on key knowledge, and reduce variability so different subjects and assessments are an equal amount of work and difficulty. We also need to make sure that students keep studying for the full year.”
Te Whakarōputanga Kaitiaki Kura o Aotearoa | New Zealand School Boards Association has welcomed the ERO report findings.
Association President, Lorraine Kerr MNZM said the report confirms what has long been known about the inadequacies of the system.
“Fundamentally ERO’s research is not telling us anything new,” Ms Kerr says.
“NCEA has taken far too long to be a qualification that parents and employers can buy into or understand, let alone students.
“Another negative is the perceived impacts and outcomes of NCEA results on schools, in terms of competition between schools such as league tables. We even have schools who pick and choose who sits exams.
“We have a current system that keeps going nowhere because the people in the system change and we keep having the same discussions.
“When will we have a system that puts students first?,” Ms Kerr says.
The report can be found on ERO’s evidence and insights website: Set up to succeed – How well is NCEA Level 1 working for our schools and students?
