By REBECCA WALSH education reporter
The new national secondary school qualification system to be introduced in 2002 should be put on hold until an independent review is carried out, the Education Forum says.
The forum today released three highly critical reports on the National Certificate of Educational Achievement, which will replace School Certificate and Bursary exams.
Two of the reports were completed by overseas consultants and the third by the forum, a group of educationists who have been critical of the new qualification.
They claim the NCEA - which will be based on a mixture of internal assessment and external exams - is educationally unsound, will create more work for teachers, reduce teaching and learning time and produce a huge amount of unreliable information.
But Minister of Education Trevor Mallard disputes those claims and believes the New Zealand system will go on to become a world leader.
He says putting the system, which he described as having widespread acceptance, on hold is not an option.
A report prepared for the Education Forum by Australian consultant Dr Kevin Donnelly said there was no clear international precedent for the NCEA and that it differed significantly from the systems used in "educationally successful" countries.
Dr Donnelly highlighted the Victorian Certificate of Education used in Australia, which was similar to the NCEA.
It had sparked "serious disquiet" about comparability of marking, unfair practices and workload, which had led to significant changes.
Dr Donnelly said countries that had attempted to use "standards assessment" restricted it to the compulsory years rather than senior levels.
Research compiled by Professor Alan Smithers of Liverpool University in Britain found countries that did well in international surveys tended to use externally set and marked examinations rather than internal assessment.
Dr Donnelly said it was not too late for authorities to reconsider their proposals. "A new qualifications system is not something to introduce first and then tune into a practical system later."
But Mr Mallard said he had already deferred introduction of the new qualification 12 months and a review was not an option.Mr Mallard said the NCEA had been designed in New Zealand using international research.
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Acting chairman of the Education Forum and headmaster of Auckland Grammar School, John Morris, said that if the Ministry of Education would not agree to a review, the forum wanted the NCEA to record "different qualifications that have their own individual status and purposes."
Auckland Grammar School planned to offer students the option of sitting an A level exam set by Cambridge University in Britain.
The forum recommended School Certificate and Bursary exams be retained and a similar qualification introduced at sixth-form level. It also wanted achievement standards to be redesigned so that they provided an overall subject score.
Mr Mallard said there was "no possibility at all" of running a dual examination system and he questioned the forum's understanding of the NCEA. The forum would send a summary of the reports to all secondary schools.
Delay and review urged of school exam system
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