SunLive – ERO calls for NCEA Level 1 overhaul

The Education Review Office (ERO) has reviewed the revised NCEA Level 1 which was only introduced this year.

In a report published on Tuesday, it calls for another overhaul and warns it may be time to scrap the first year of the national school diploma altogether.

Level 1 was neither fair nor reliable and its recommendations for change were critically important, the report said.

“The difficulty of NCEA Level 1 varies between subjects and schools, meaning that pupils have different amounts of work and different chances of success. Three quarters of school leaders told us that the values ​​of NCEA credits are not a reliable indicator of the amount of work required Latest “Each year, students were almost twice as likely to receive an excellent grade on an internal assessment than on an external assessment.” , said Ruth Shinoda, head of evaluation at the ERO.

“NCEA Level 1 is not working and requires substantial reform. We must first look at Levels 1, 2 and 3 together and decide whether we want a three-year assessment – most other countries do not. We then need to decide whether we scrap NCEA Level 1 altogether, make it a foundation qualification, or make it harder to best prepare students for Levels 2 and 3,” she said.

“If we keep NCEA Level 1, we need to reduce flexibility so that there is more consistency and students do not miss out on key knowledge, and reduce variability so that different subjects and assessments represent a quantity equal amount of work and difficulty We also need to ensure that students continue to study throughout the year.

The future of Tier 1 has been the subject of debate for some time.

It is the only qualification reserved for a minority of pupils who left school, around 11% last year, and while some schools see it as a method of crowd control, others say their students need it as practice for the more important NCEA Level 2.

More than a quarter of schools, mainly in high socio-economic areas, will not offer Tier 1 next year, preferring to focus on Tiers 2 and 3, the report said.

This year, the diploma has been changed so that each subject now has only four passing standards, each worth five credits instead of the usual three credits, in an effort to ensure greater breadth in student learning and to select less easy standards.

In each subject, two of the achievement standards were assessed externally and two internally.

Students had to achieve 60 credits and a further 20 in literacy and numeracy (the co-requisite in literacy and numeracy) to receive the level 1 qualification.

Earlier this year, some principals told RNZ the new standards were too broad and difficult for some students.

Students who might have gotten their credits through several smaller standards were no longer getting them at all, they said.

But other principals said fewer and broader standards allowed more time to be spent on teaching and less money for assessment.

A reference qualification

The ERO report indicates that students and families primarily value Tier 1 as a stepping stone to Tier 2 and that employers value other skills and attributes over Tier 1.

In some subjects, many teachers do not believe the Tier 1 standards prepare students for Tier 2, the report said.

Tier 1 did not motivate most students, did not motivate the most academically gifted and did not provide clear career paths for those aiming for careers in the trades, he said.

The report says that in some subjects, many teachers do not believe the Level 1 standards prepare students for Level 2. Photo: Supplied

The report called for immediate changes, including abandoning reports submitted as a form of assessment due to the high risk of cheating, and ensuring passing standards were of equal difficulty.

He also said the use of specific standards in English and maths as an alternative to new online literacy and numeracy tests should be expanded.

In the longer term, the report recommends that the government decide what level 1 is for.

It should either abandon it altogether, target it as a foundation qualification, or make it harder to best prepare students for NCEA Level 2, it says.

Other changes are expected to reduce system flexibility and variability between credits, retain fewer and broader standards, but give more weight to assessments later in the year.

The review board also recommended strengthening professional options and developing better career paths.

The government should also reduce the flexibility of other NCEA qualification levels and decide on the model for all three levels, the report said.

“To improve the quality and credibility of the NCEA, it is extremely important to act on these findings and recommendations,” the report said.

“Students leave because they are not successful”

The report was based on responses to a survey of 1,435 teachers, 254 school leaders, 2,376 grade 11 students, 1,675 families of grade 11 students and 102 employers.

ERO also conducted interviews and focus groups with teachers and students.

The report included comments from those interviewed.

“Some of our students are leaving school and NCEA Level 1 is their only qualification. So if we remove NCEA Level 1 it could be problematic for some of them,” one teacher said.

“Eighty percent of our students stay until the end of year 13. By the time they reach the end of their course, they are vastly overvalued,” said one school principal.

“It’s level 2 that counts. I had a friend who left with level 1. And it was so difficult for her to get to where she wants to do next,” said a student at the revision office .

“We used to take three standards in math, which we covered in a semester and a half, and they were worth 10 credits. Now we’ve taken those three standards and consolidated them into one standard that’s worth five credits,” said a math teacher. said revised Level 1 standards.

“Our kids will be motivated if they make it. If they don’t make it, they’ll 100 percent die out and we’ll never make it. And there will be kids now who won’t make it because They just didn’t succeed. “I didn’t have any success in any of their classes,” said one school principal.

“I think NCEA Level 1 is a good boost for our students (who) are very capable but a bit lazy,” said another principal.

“Students are leaving because they are not succeeding,” said another.

“NCEA Level 1 was hell for me. Many of my friends say, ‘If I don’t pass, I’ll drop out of school,’ or worry about failing and repeating a year because of the new system at NCEA level,” said one student. » said the authors of the report.

“My son has met the core requirements in math and reading, but not yet in writing. This is extremely stressful for him and has caused him to hate English as a subject, which is causing him more problems learning. “learning and success,” said one parent. .

-RNZ