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| NCEA communications – delivering the facts |
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Phase one of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) communications strategy commences in April. The aim is to ensure that the facts about NCEA are understood by parents, learners, learning providers and employers to ensure a smooth transition to the new system. As the implementation of NCEA gains momentum, the challenge according to NZQA Communications Manager Bill Lennox, is to ensure public understanding of the four key points about NCEA. These are that:
A combination of print materials, web site and face-to-face presentations will be used to explain the key points about the new system to stakeholders. The replacement of what is effectively a New Zealand social icon, School Certificate, has been widely debated. The policy is now settled and from 2002 NCEA Level 1 will replace School Certificate and in 2003-4, Levels 2 and 3 will replace other national schools awards. The Ministry of Education’s Qualifications Development Group has developed the achievement standards and the NCEA qualification. Once the NCEA is under way, NZQA will run all operational systems. It will be the Authority’s role to work with schools to run both internal assessment and end-of-year exams (and other external assessments) and collect all results and issue certificates. The focus is now on clarifying what the new system means in practice. It is noteworthy that universities and other tertiary providers are comfortable about using NCEA results for entry and selection. A discussion document proposing university entrance arrangement under NCEA is in circulation. NCEA materials produced by the Authority are available on the NZQA website: www.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea Materials produced by the Ministry of Education, including draft achievement standards and assessment resources, are available on the Ministry of Education website: www.minedu.govt.nz/goto/ncea The NCEA Assessment is sound and reliable Assessment for each curriculum subject will be at least half by examination and the rest by internal assessment. The examinations will be very similar to current examinations. For internal assessment, there will be a national moderation system to ensure that schools meet national standards and to help them to do so. Marked student work will be checked and all schools visited. Results are detailed and useful Results report on achievements in separate skills and knowledge in each school curriculum subject (between 5 and 8 per subject). For each aspect, students get a set number of credits (about 3, 4 or 5) and a grade: Excellence, Merit, Credit or No credit. For example, in English a student might get E for formal writing, M for speaking, C for research, and so on. For each subject, students will be able to see their credit total (out of a possible 24 credits) and the range of grades achieved. They will also be able to see how they have done across whole subjects and compared with others taking similar courses. Credits from industry-related unit standards count for NCEA. When the student accumulates 80 credits, they will receive an NCEA. Standards challenge and reward all young people Challenge is provided for students at all levels of ability and in all subject areas, in and beyond schools. The Excellence standards will be tough and academically demanding. But less able students (who might have got, say, 30 per cent in a current award) will probably get Credit for some aspects of a subject. Learning can be varied and flexible Flexibility is enhanced for students, schools and other providers. Credits from all NQF standards (both school curriculum and industry) count for NCEA. There will be no set courses, so schools can have shorter courses, combine subjects and combine levels. Or they can run exactly the same one-year courses they run now. The content and curriculum do not need to change but the array of courses a school can offer can be varied. |
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Page updated: 12 December 2002