Schools successfully implement NCEA

Schools successfully implement NCEA

The Education Review Office (ERO) has found that the majority of schools evaluated in its latest national report have successfully implemented the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) levels 1 and 2.

The ERO report, "Progress of NCEA Levels 1 and 2, and Readiness of Schools to Implement Level 3", was released by ERO today and National Manager Analysis and Policy Mike Hollings says it shows schools are confident about implementing the next stage of NCEA.

“The majority of schools successfully implemented NCEA levels 1 and 2, and as a result, feel confident that the same process can be followed to implement NCEA level 3 this year.

“The report also showed that students were well informed about the new qualification, and the majority of students interviewed were positive about the progress and operation of NCEA.”

He says professional development was identified by most schools as being a key to the successful implementation of NCEA.

“Findings of the evaluation report identify the importance of continued access to professional development and support for schools as they strengthen their systems of quality assurance and develop appropriate contexts for assessment”.

In terms of areas for improvement, the report noted schools should continue to improve quality assurance processes through professional development and feedback from NZQA.

It was also noted that schools needed to continue to provide good advice to students to inform their choices about the number and type of standards for which they enter.

“It is important that the achievement and unit standards students select are based on considerations of quality and relevance to the student, rather than quantity,” says Mr Hollings.

“Another issue for some schools was getting the balance right between teaching and learning, and assessment.”

Information for the report was collected in two ways. ERO surveyed all schools enrolling students in Years 11 to 13, and of those, 125 completed and returned questionnaires. Information also came from the 25 schools that offered NCEA and were scheduled for an ERO education review during Term 2, 2003.

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