Boys school rector criticises move to not record NCEA failures

1.00pm

A decision not to record NCEA failures is yet another example of political correctness that will lead to a totally worthless qualification, says Palmerston North Boys' High School rector Tim O'Connor.

He's unhappy the New Zealand Qualifications Authority has told schools not to report failed internal assessment results.

"It's typical of what we would expect from NZQA. It's a politically correct way to go," Mr O'Connor said.

The decision was frustrating, especially in a system that was getting weaker and weaker.

It appeared to be designed "to send a fabricated message to our community that it (NCEA) has a high success rate".

He believed in open and honest recognition of success, but also that failure had to be recognised -- so students could learn from it.

NZQA chief executive Karen Van Rooyen said schools would still report both achieved and not-achieved results to students in school reports, and said not-achieved results in external exams would be posted on the NZQA website.

Until now, pupils have been sent result slips at the start of the year showing what has been achieved and not achieved. But last year, some schools chose to send in only achieved results, while others submitted passes and failures.

Now, result slips will show only the grades that represent a pass.

Mr O'Connor said NZQA was catering to the lowest common denominator.

The decision would make interpreting the results even harder for employers.

"Why should an employer and parents have to hunt these things out. They need the real picture," he said.

Awatapu College principal Tina Sims said employers would have to read between the lines and know exactly what skills they were looking for.

She said it was sensible that NZQA had made a decision, which would be consistent across all schools.

St Peter's College assistant principal and NCEA co-ordinator Tony Booker said there was now some consistency among schools.

NZQA's manager responsible for NCEA implementation, Kate Colbert, said establishing a record of what pupils could do was more important than listing skills they had failed to master.

- NZPA