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Concerns about the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) are to be addressed in a review of the qualification.
Expert groups will consider issues including how many times students can re-sit assessments, Radio New Zealand reported today.
It said the review would include an investigation of claims that some aspects of the system, introduced six years ago, could lead to unfairness and inconsistency.
The Qualifications Authority says the review is mainly needed to align all NCEA standards to the new curriculum which is due to be taught in schools from 2010.
The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) said the review would look at achievement and unit standards as part of a joint programme with the Ministry of Education to improve NCEA.
It would be finished by 2010.
The review was needed to align standards with the new curriculum, NZQA said in a statement.
"It will also address any issues of duplication, credit parity, consistency, fairness and coherence - one of the series of improvements to NCEA announced in May 2007."
Last year changes were introduced to improve NCEA. These included the appointment of full-time moderators to ensure quality of internal assessment, random sampling of internal assessment for moderation, comparison of internal and external assessment results and the introduction of model answers.
A panel of experts from across the education sector would do the review. Reviewed standards would then be assessed by NZQA's technical overview group of university professors.
NZQA deputy chief executive qualifications Bali Haque said he review was a good chance to look at changes alongside the new curriculum.
"We have a rare opportunity to align the curriculum development process with the assessment development process. We haven't had that opportunity before," he said.
- NZPA
