David Farrar: Hold my beer, Willow-Jean, says Ginny

It was almost beyond dispute that Willow-Jean Prime was the worst Labour Education Spokesperson in living memory. It is hard to think you can do worse than having your leader criticise the Government for a lack of consultation over NCEA, and then learn Willow-Jean personally ignored or declined three personal requests from the Minister to brief her.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Do we still need home economics on the NCEA curriculum?

I have to be honest with you, because it's been a little while since I sat in the home economics class in Tuakau College - so there is a fair chance that my experience is a little out of date by about 20 years and I might just make a fool of myself with what I'm about to say next.

But I do not understand the angst about Erica Stanford dropping home economics from the NCEA curriculum.

David Farrar: Beaton on NCEA

Jamie Beaton writes:

For too long, New Zealand’s education system has been content to drift in a sea of mediocrity. Everyone has known for a long time that NCEA is broken. Thirteen years ago, when I finished high school, it was widely recognised among my peers that the system was too easy, gameable, and a disservice to our students.

Dr Michael Johnston: NCEA does struggling students no favours

On Monday morning, Education Minister Erica Stanford announced that the NCEA assessment and qualification system will be replaced.

In 2028, a foundational award in literacy and numeracy will replace NCEA Level 1. The New Zealand Certificate of Education and the New Zealand Advanced Certificate of Education will replace NCEA Levels 2 and 3 in 2029 and 2030, respectively.

Kerre Woodham: How can anyone not be critical of Labour?

I get texts on the daily from people saying “you're so negative about Labour”. “You never have anything good to say about the last government. You're so critical of Labour.” And I say to them, how can anyone with a brain not be critical of Labour?! The gut feeling I had at the time that the previous administration was out of their depth and hopelessly incompetent has been proved with hard data, time and time and time again.

Cam Slater: Labour’s NCEA Debacle - Hypocrisy, Incompetence and a Failing System

The Labour Party’s latest display of rank hypocrisy and jaw-dropping incompetence is a doozy. The New Zealand Herald dropped a bombshell, revealing that Education Minister Erica Stanford bent over backwards to get Labour’s Education Spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime up to speed on the Government’s plan to overhaul the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). Did Prime seize the opportunity to engage in meaningful cross-party collaboration? Nope. She either ghosted the invites or flat-out declined them, only to later cry foul about not being consulted. If this isn’t a masterclass in political cynicism or sheer ineptitude, I don’t know what is.

David Farrar: Labour hypocrisy exposed

When Erica Stanford announced the scrapping of NCEA, Labour said that there hasn’t been proper consultation, and it was all too hasty.

Today we find out that Labour’s supposed Education Spokesperson, Willow-Jean Prime, turned down multiple offers to be briefed on the NCEA change programme. Chris Hipkins was complaining that the opposition wasn’t consulted, and in fact his own spokesperson turned it down!

Matua Kahurangi: Erica Stanford - Teachers will no longer mark student work

National’s Education Minister Erica Stanford has revealed a sweeping change that will see teachers relieved of one of their most time-consuming duties: marking student assessments. Speaking on The Duncan Garner Podcast, Stanford confirmed that by 2028, the responsibility for marking both internal and external NCEA assessments will shift entirely to NZQA, and much of it will be done using artificial intelligence.

Dr Michael Johnston: Calling time on NCEA – and not before time

Ever since its progressive implementation between 2002 and 2004, NCEA has been under nearly constant revision. Its first major crisis came in 2005. Massive variability in pass rates heralded a political crisis. NZQA’s Chief Executive resigned and the organisation was restructured.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Our kids' education is too important to muck around

You can't accuse Erica Stanford of mucking around, can you?

NCEA is gone. Marks out of 100 are back, grades from A to E are back, needing to pass 4 subjects at least in order to get the qualification is back.

Now, how long have we been talking about the need to do this? About the fact that NCEA is rubbish, that it's been gamed, that it's not respected by employers, that it's not understood by parents? How long have we talked about this?

David Farrar: NCEA goneburger

Erica Stanford and the PM have announced incredibly significant changes to New Zealand’s secondary and vocational education system. I’ll explain what they are shortly, but first everyone needs to understand that the status quo is not working. That’s not an opinion, but backed by hard global data.

John MacDonald: Should NCEA cater more to students that aren't going to university?

It must be tricky being at school and feeling like you’re not doing anything to prepare you for what you actually want to do when you leave.

The Government is starting to think about that after this new report from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority which says NCEA is too focused on kids wanting to go to university.

Ryan Bridge: Something needs to be done about NCEA

If we could mark NCEA level One... would it even get an achieved. let alone a merit or excellence?

We heard at the weekend about an ERO report.

Basically, said the whole system is too flexible. Kids are scooping up credits from all corners of the classroom.

Andrew Dickens: What should we do with NCEA?

So here we go again. A national conversation about whether NCEA is C.R.A.P

A damning Government briefing presented in June has raised significant concerns about the credibility of New Zealand’s main secondary school qualification.

Ele Ludemann: Is test or ability the problem?

Is the problem of failure with the method of testing or with the pupils’ ability:

Principals from schools in the country’s poorest communities have united to call for an end to new NCEA reading, writing and maths tests.

They warn the online tests will create a generation of school-leavers with no qualifications and most will be Māori or Pacific.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: It's time to scrap NCEA for good

I wouldn't be surprised if Education Minister Erica Stanford actually ends up scrapping NCEA level one.

Because she's already concerned enough to order a review - and the review has come back slamming it, so she's got all the ammo she needs to pull the trigger if she wants to.

And I hope she does, because it has become apparent, especially in the last three years, that NCEA is a massively flawed system. And I don't think this is just a level one problem, I think there's problems across all three levels.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Porirua College shouldn't give up on students

Today, the 9th of September, is the start of a fortnight of NCEA pupils across the country sitting their exams for first time.

They'll be doing reading, writing and numeracy exams.

I would say this is happening everywhere across the country - except it isn’t, because Porirua College has decided to cancel their literacy exams because the kids won't pass.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 5/9/23

Govt could do better at rounding up truants – and at ensuring all students have something to show for their schooling

The country’s hard-working ministers – and their not-so-hard-working colleagues – perhaps are out on the campaign trail, doing their bit to secure the government’s re-election. That would explain the absence of new announcements, pronouncements or pontifications when Point of Order checked the government’s official website for news early this morning.

What to do?

Michael Johnston: With NCEA, nothing endures but change

It is two decades since NCEA became New Zealand’s qualification system for secondary school students. It replaced a very traditional, exam-based system – School Certificate and University Entrance-Bursary.

NCEA is anything but traditional. In fact, it is unique in the world. It offers a vast assortment of assessment options. Students undertake multiple assessments, called standards, in each subject they study. Each successfully completed standard contributes credits towards qualifications.

In just about every year since the full implementation of NCEA in 2004, there has been some change, minor or major, to the system. For the past five years it has been under review. Both the design of the system itself, and all the achievement standards are in the process of being replaced.

Francesca Rudkin: The approach to change when it comes to NCEA has been messy

So, it’s been an interesting week in the world of education, and for those with children about to enter the NCEA years, it’s be fair to say you’re probably wondering what’s in store for your kid.

While the current system has pros and cons, the idea of changing it up when your child is halfway through their NCEA years is annoying and confusing for everybody involved. And it doesn’t help when the plan keeps changing.