Education Minister Erica Stanford has criticised NCEA for allowing students to “get credits for having a part time job, or participating in a group activity, or filling in forms”. With the Government currently consulting on their proposal to scrap it, Re: News asked current and former high school students what they think about New Zealand’s secondary school qualification and its flexibility.
Watch what the students had to say about NCEA on TVNZ+
Passing NCEA Level 3 with credits from McDonald’s
Re: News spoke to a 19-year-old school leaver, who only passed NCEA Level 3 because he got credits from his part-time McDonald’s job.
The man, who wanted to stay anonymous, passed Level 1 with excellence and Level 2 with merit. But his mental health got worse by the time Level 3 came around.
“I didn’t really care about school. I was trying to focus on myself and being OK.”
His part time Maccas job got him 80 level 3 unit credits across things like food safety, food preparation and customer service.
He says he has mixed feelings about his choice to pass NCEA this way.
“It’s a bit of a seesaw about whether or not I think it really mattered.”
What current students think about gaming NCEA
Rutherford College’s deputy head boy Isaac Lee says “the real world isn’t always as forgiving as NCEA”.
Isaac says there is a lot of disparity between the ways credits can be earned.
Some subjects require students to really push themselves for a small number of credits, while some vocational pathways allow students to do a day-long course and earn a larger number of credits, Isaac says.
Hastings Boys High School board of trustees representative Roman Lauvao-Purotu says some NCEA assessments have very low achievement requirements.
“When you have the internal marking and you’re able to pass the year without setting a final exam in exam conditions, it can get really easy to pass.”
How NCEA can be ‘gamed’
NCEA has three levels, usually completed from Year 11 to Year 13.
To pass each level, a student needs 60 credits.
Credits are earned through internal assessments, like projects or portfolios, and externally marked exams.
Credits from subjects like English or Physics count towards University Entrance requirements.
Unit credits, which do not count towards University Entrance, can come from things like kapa haka, workplace training, and community service.
NCEA currently allows students to get enough credits during the year to pass, which means some students skip their end-of-year exams.
Roman attests to this, saying he had friends who promised to show up to an exam, only to sleep in on the day.
Rutherford College’s associate principal Rozanne Donald says there was a rule of thumb that each credit a student earned was meant to represent around 10 hours of work they had done.
“But when I see some of the standards available to students, in their vocational space, some of them don’t really meet that requirement.”
Watch how students say NCEA can be ‘gamed’ on TVNZ+
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including new anti-gang powers for Manawatū police, Kim Jong Un’s surprise guest, and Donald Trump fires back at rumours about his health. (Source: 1News)
