Katherine Rich MP
National Party Education Spokeswoman

14 February 2007

NCEA botch-up needs explanation

National Party Education spokeswoman Katherine Rich says the Education Minister must front up and explain the latest NCEA botch-up, after nine Avondale College history students had their Level 3 NCEA papers returned unmarked.

“Days after the release of the 2006 NCEA results, NZQA went public claiming the 2006 exam results had been a success.

“NZQA said students could expect ‘robust and reliable’ results.

“Weeks later, we find that nine Avondale College students have had their exam papers returned unmarked and totally unblemished.

“The students have recorded ‘result not available’ on their exam scorecard.

“This means they had their exam papers collected, sent to the dispatch centre to have a holiday, but returned unmarked and unblemished.

“Internal systems have failed and now NZQA is scrambling to explain and fix the problem.

“Quite rightly, teachers, students and parents are livid.

“NZQA has not delivered on its promise and, typically, the Minister remains silent on NCEA glitches.

“The Avondale problems follow a similar botch-up at Dunedin’s Logan Park High School where one third of students were unable to access their NCEA results after they were released.

“It’s time Steve Maharey came out of his hole and explained to these students why their papers are blank and what he intends to do about NZQA’s patchy record on NCEA.”

ENDS

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