Review of NCEA qualification

FIELD MULTI-FIELD

Review of NCEA qualification

National Certificate of Educational Achievement (Level 1) [Ref: 0928]

The Ministry of Education has completed the review of the above qualification.

Date new version published April 2011

The next qualification review is planned to take place during 2011.

Summary of review and consultation process

Ongoing improvements to the design of NCEA are fundamental to ensuring it remains relevant and meaningful for all learners.

In May 2007 Cabinet directed the Ministry of Education and NZQA to align achievement standards with The New Zealand Curriculum.

The alignment of Level 1 standards has now taken place. Public consultation on proposed changes was carried out in June 2009. Proposals for changes were part of consultation with both the Leaders Forum Qualifications Group and the Leaders' Forum, which represents a group of key stakeholders and representatives from professional associations, including the PPTA, Universities New Zealand, Independent Schools of NZ, NZ School Trustees Association, PPTA Te Huarahi, Secondary Principals' Association of NZ, NZPPTA Secondary Principals' Council, Career Services, National Association of Secondary Deputy and Assistant Principals, Te Runanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori, the Education Review Office, Te Kura (The Correspondence School); and representatives of the Industry Training Federation, Industry Training Organisations, Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics, and Business NZ.

Main changes resulting from the review

The main change was to increase the range of standards that can be used to meet the Literacy and Numeracy Requirements of the qualification following the Alignment of Standards with The New Zealand Curriculum.

National Certificate of Educational Achievement (Level 1) [Ref: 0928]

Review category

See Key to Qualification Review Categories at the end of report

Changes to structure and content

· Two new methods to achieve the Literacy and Numeracy requirements were added. The new methods allow candidates the option of choosing between eight and ten credits to meet the requirements. However, these can be achieved from a broader range of standards.

Literacy and Numeracy Transitional Arrangements

There will be a transition year in 2011 before moving totally to the new requirements from 2012. A transition year will give schools time to adjust to the new requirements and the two methods of achieving the requirements.

For the transition year in 2011 students can achieve the literacy and numeracy requirement for NCEA Level 1 by meeting the:

· literacy requirement using either the previous 8 credit literacy requirement (Method 1) or the new 10 credit literacy requirement (Method 2)

· numeracy requirement using either the previous 8 credit numeracy requirement (Method 1) or the new 10 credit numeracy requirement (Method 2).

However, a candidate cannot mix and match between the new and previous requirement within the literacy or numeracy requirement.

Candidates who complete the literacy requirement in 2011 using Literacy Method 1 but do not complete the other requirements for the award of NCEA Level 1 [Ref: 0928] will not be required to achieve any further literacy credits for award of the qualification, ie the literacy requirement will be considered to have been met even if the other requirements for award have not been met in 2011.

Similarly, candidates who complete the numeracy requirement in 2011 using Numeracy Method 1 but do not complete the other requirements for the award will not be required to achieve any further numeracy credits for award of the qualification.

Candidates who begin the literacy requirements in 2011 using Literacy Method 1 but do not achieve the required 8 credits in 2011 will be required to meet the literacy requirements using Literacy Method 2, ie credits towards literacy that are not specified in Literacy Method 2a or 2b cannot be used to meet the literacy requirements from 2012 onward.

Similarly, candidates who begin the numeracy requirements in 2011 using Numeracy Method 1 but do not achieve the required 8 credits in 2011 will be required to meet the numeracy requirements using Numeracy Method 2, ie credits towards numeracy that are not specified in Numeracy Method 2a or 2b cannot be used to meet the numeracy requirements from 2012 onward.

Since the NCEA Level 1 [Ref: 0928] is a multi-field qualification, any credits gained in 2011 will still be counted towards the total credit requirement of the qualification.

Transition

This qualification contains a standard that replaced an earlier standard. For the purposes of this qualification, people who have gained credit for the expiring standard are exempt from the requirement to gain credit for the replacement standard - see table below.

Credit for	Exempt from
2977	25060

It is not intended that anyone be disadvantaged by this review. However, anyone who feels they have been disadvantaged may appeal to the Ministry of Education at the address below.

Standard Setting Body

Ministry of Education

PO Box 1666

Wellington 6001

Telephone 04 463 8000

Key to Qualification Review Categories

Category A The qualification is published as a new version with the same NQF ID	Changes are made to SSB name, contact details or purpose statement
	No change is made to title, rules or components of the qualification
	No transition arrangements are required
Category B The qualification is published as a new version with the same NQF ID	Changes are made to title, rules or components
	The new version of the qualification recognises a similar skill set to that recognised by the previous version
	The SSB is confident that people awarded the new or previous version are comparable in terms of competence
	Transition arrangements are required if candidates must gain additional/different credits for the new version
Category C A new (replacement) qualification is published with new NQF ID	Significant changes are made to the qualification in terms of components, structure, type or level
	The SSB views people with the replacement qualification as being significantly different in terms of competence from those with the replaced qualification
	Transition arrangements are required
	Transition may be limited to phase-out dates
Category D Qualification will expire. There is no replacement qualification	Qualification is no longer required by industry
	The qualification is designated as expiring and a last date for meeting the qualification requirements is set