NCEA: Long road ahead for fair & valid assessment

new-zealand-national-party

Wed Jan 25 2006 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

NCEA: Long road ahead for fair & valid assessment

Wednesday, 25 January 2006, 4:07 pm
Press Release: New Zealand National Party

NCEA: Long road ahead for fair and valid assessment

Controversy over NCEA has lead to some improvement in results for students, but there is a long way to go before every student receives fair and valid assessment, says National’s Education spokesman, Bill English.

He is commenting on a claim today, ahead of tomorrow’s NCEA results announcement, that NZQA has fixed all the problems with NCEA.

"Last year, the Government said there were no problems, then they spent all year making changes they were forced to make.

“Labour has reintroduced scaling to make sure tomorrow’s NCEA results are not controversial.

“However, it was a quick and dirty job. Minister of Education Steve Maharey and NZQA have focussed on achieving tidy looking pass rates to make sure there is no bad publicity. This has put pressure on markers to produce the required results.

“Just this week I have been approached by more exam markers who say they were told to remark exam papers in two subjects that do not appear on the official list of exams that went wrong.

“This year the Government has to do a proper job of explaining to teachers and students how and why it is scaling exam results. Aggregate pass rates are not nearly as important as fair and consistent assessment for every individual student.

“This year’s students are getting a slightly better deal than last year, but there’s a long way to go,” says Mr English.

Ends

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

a.supporter:hover {background:#EC4438!important;} @media screen and (max-width: 480px) { #byline-block div.byline-block {padding-right:16px;}}

Using Scoop for work?

Scoop is free for personal use, but you’ll need a licence for work use. This is part of our Ethical Paywall and how we fund Scoop. Join today with plans starting from less than $3 per week, plus gain access to exclusive Pro features.

Join Pro Individual Find out more

Find more from New Zealand National Party on InfoPages.