New NCEA resources
08 Sep 2011
Ongoing feedback from clients and website users has indicated some gaps in understanding of NCEA, and amongst teachers some misconceptions about the implications of NCEA for their professional practices.
To address these issues, NCEA has created and published three different resources.
For a more 'general' audience, there are a series of 'Factsheets'. These set out in simple clear language the answers to a number of common questions and address a number of central issues. For example, one deals with "Internal and external assessment in NCEA" while another answers the question "How well does NCEA prepare students for university study?".
These factsheets are available at www.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea-thefacts.
Teachers indicated they needed a new mechanism to keep them up to date with changes as NCEA evolved. So NZQA has created a new circular called "NCEA Update" which will be published when required. Teachers (and anyone else) can signup to receive an email alert when a new edition is published. They can be found at www.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea-update.
They also told NZQA they had concerns about workload and procedural 'hurdles' associated with managing the requirements. The length of time student work needs to be stored or the number of credits student need for a course are common matters of confusion.
Misconceptions about issues such as these are addressed in a series of 'mythbusters'. These are available at www.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea-themyths.