More tests would create horrific load: principals

Kamo High School acting principal Philip Mahoney said he did not agree there was a hole.

A proposal for standardised national testing of junior high school students has been labelled unnecessary and problematic by some Northland principals.

They said it would further discourage disengaged students and create a "horrific" workload for teachers.

Last week, Minister of Education Hekia Parata outlined a plan to fill what she sees as an "assessment hole" for Year 9 and 10 students.

Although students up to Year 8 are tested against national standards, the next set of standardised testing is not until NCEA, which starts at Year 11.

"If you look at the system from when a child starts school to when a child leaves school, the hole in the system in terms of the absence of an assessment tool is Year 9 and 10," Ms Parata said.

At the NZ Principals Federation conference, she outlined three options: expand National Standards to Year 9 and 10, roll NCEA down from its usual start at Year 11, or use a modified youth version of the Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool. The tool is an online approach that provides information on reading, writing and numeracy skills.

Kamo High School acting principal Philip Mahoney said he did not agree there was a hole because almost all secondary schools tested junior students. His students were tested at the start of Year 9 and end of Year 10. Any more would create "test fatigue", especially for disengaged students.

"We don't want to be discouraging them and continually telling them they are below where they should be," he said.

Creating two more levels of NCEA would be problematic, Mr Mahoney said. "I don't think the teachers or the students need the stress of five years of NCEA assessments."

Whangarei Girls High School principal Anne Cooper said expanding NCEA would create a "horrific" workload.

"I'm not quite sure what the thinking is in bringing NCEA down," she said. "What would it count for?"

Northland central regional PPTA acting chairman Mickey Nogher said the last thing disengaged students needed was more tests: "What we're doing is we're just setting them up for more failure." He saw any extra standardised testing as an "added level of bureaucracy".

One principal supportive of the idea was Northland College's Jim Luders, who said it was about time. "We definitely need some sort of professional tests at Year 9 and 10."