Source: Radio New Zealand
Auckland Grammar School Headmaster Tim O’Connor said the school was positive about the government’s changes. RNZ Insight/John Gerritsen
Auckland Grammar School has welcomed the government’s proposed replacement for NCEA, saying the planned qualification reforms are a move toward greater academic rigour and consistency across the country.
The government on Saturday released further details about the new secondary school qualification framework, which is expected to begin replacing NCEA from 2028.
Auckland Grammar became the first state school to partially abandon NCEA in 2011, introducing Cambridge International Examinations after concerns the national qualification lacked academic rigour.
The school currently offers both Cambridge and NCEA pathways for senior students. Around 60 percent of students choose the Cambridge pathway, while 40 percent remain in the NCEA stream.
Headmaster Tim O’Connor said the school was positive about the government’s changes because the new qualification would place a stronger emphasis on independent assessment and external examinations.
”It’ll become a qualification that’s predicated on independent assessment,” O’Connor said.
”Examinations will be part of the qualification process across all subjects.”
Education Minister Erica Stanford released further details about the replacement for NCEA on Saturday. RNZ/Nick Monro
O’Connor said the school believed NCEA ”was not as rigourous as it should be” and criticised what he described as inconsistent standards across the country.
”It’s certainly poorly designed from the outset,” he said.
The proposed replacement system would provide greater consistency for students nationwide, he said.
”Students from Invercargill and Tokoroa will know that they’ve learnt and been assessed against the same as students in Auckland and Wellington,” he said.
.O’Connor said the school would support the new national qualification if it proved rigourous enough in practice.
”We’d be fully supportive of the National Qualification Framework if it became rigourous enough in future years,” he said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand