Monday 20 Jan 2003 Deborah Coddington Press Releases -- Education

The release of the first ever NCEA results prove exactly why they should also be the last, ACT Associate Education Spokesman Deborah Coddington said today.

"What a bloody mess. First we have the completely bungled timing - the results are turning up less than one week before school starts, so kids haven't had time to finalise the courses they want to take next year.

"Then we have this completely insane looking "result notice", which looks like a dyslexic crossword puzzle, and completely fails to inform students or teachers what mark the child has actually gained.

"It is little wonder that today's New Zealand Qualifications Authority's press release explaining how to read the results is six pages long. It takes that long for officials to attempt to justify why they provide no overall mark, just an indicative "grade average" that is not even a percentage.

"I would love to know what evidence the Acting Chief Executive of NZQA, Karen Van Rooyen, has to show that the NCEA is "internationally admired" as she claimed today. The only system that seems to closely mirror the NCEA was one in Victoria, Australia, which was labelled a complete failure and ignominiously dumped.

"I feel nothing but sympathy for the kids and parents who this week will be opening up results papers with excitement, only to find an incomprehensible pile of meaningless, politically-correct garbage. It is cruel of politicians like Trevor Mallard to lead children to think that this quite meaningless certificate is even worth the paper it is printed on," Miss Coddington said.

For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at act@parliament.govt.nz.

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