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The secondary school teachers’ union has slammed the New Zealand Qualifications Authority over recent issues with exam software disrupting kids’ assessments, calling for an urgent meeting over the “unacceptable” problems.
More than 20,000 Year 11 students around the country were expected to log into their digital exam for NCEA Level 1 English this morning but the computer system began to slow as they logged in.
Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) acting president Chris Abercrombie said: “Running exams is NZQA’s core business and the issues being experienced by students around the motu [country] are unacceptable.”
He said the union was “far from feeling reassured” NZQA would solve the software problems despite the authority’s Secondary Qualifications Advisory Group earlier saying its systems could cope.
Abercrombie said today’s exam’s issues weren’t new, pointing to log-in difficulties in numeracy and literacy assessments last week, as well as issues saving and clicking between answers.
“Today with the NCEA Level 1 English external assessment, the issues we have heard about so far include: Students having logged in in plenty of time getting booted out; students getting booted out and losing planning they started for their essays; and students not being able to log in at all,” he said.
“Hearing that NZQA has responded that the issues are due to ‘unprecedented demand’, or the technology vendor not meeting expectations is simply not good enough.”
Chris Abercrombie believes the curriculum has "got that balance" that is needed.
He said it was “incomprehensible” NZQA wasn’t aware or prepared for the impact so many students logging in at once would have on its software given students had been enrolled in these assessments months ahead of time.
“With student numbers due to increase exponentially next year with the new Level 1 standards, to say we are disappointed is very much an understatement,” he said,
“Students deserve better – as do teachers who have done all they can to help students prepare for the exam, only for technical problems to arise.”
Abercrombie said teachers serving as principal’s nominees - teachers who are responsible for overseeing the running of NCEA exams - have seen their workload triple due to extra demands including technical issues with exams.
“We are very keen to sit down with NZQA urgently and find out what can be done to sort this,” he said.
Vaughan Couillault, president of the Secondary Principals’ Association of New Zealand (SPANZ), meanwhile, told the Herald the problems were “less than ideal” but said NZQA’s exam centre managers had discretion to allow students more time when problems like this arise.
NZQA deputy chief executive of assessment Jann Marshall said: “Extensive testing by our technology vendor gave NZQA confidence that this level of activity could be supported.
“The system began to slow after more than 18,000 students had logged in, and a decision was made to stop further logins to guarantee the experience of these students.”
Students who were stopped from logging in were given paper copies of the exam to fill out instead, Marshall said.
“NZQA apologies for the disruption caused for some students and will continue to work with its technology vendor as they scale up the capacity of the system.”
Couillault, meanwhile, said: “[It’s] not devoid of stress, it’s just a bit awkward and clumsy. In a perfect world, you want [systems] to be as seamless as possible.
He also said secondary schools faced similar issues with a recent numeracy assessment where examining software hindered students from clicking between questions.
SPANZ president Vaughan Couillault is also the principal of Auckland's Papatoetoe High School. Photo / Dean Purcell
He hoped NZQA would upgrade the software it used for exams so problems stopped.
“The people of NZQA aren’t silly,” Couillault said, “they know the current set of circumstances - as we become more and more digital, we will need to change.
“But all those things [changes] require investment and commitment, and they [NZQA] require investment from a Treasury perspective, which is a governmental thing.”
He said any Year 11 students who felt they had been disadvantaged by today’s exam issues should speak to their principal’s nominee and discuss what options were available to them.
