NZQA admits results should have set off alarm bells

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) today told a Parliamentary select committee it was conducting an internal review to determine why variances in scholarship exam results did not set off alarm bells sooner.

NZQA chief executive Karen Van Rooyen and board chairman Graeme Fraser were today grilled by members of the education and science committee over the 2004 exams.

The Government has been under heavy fire over the results, which varied widely between subjects and delivered far more scholarships for arts students compared with science students.

Prime Minister Helen Clark has said someone must be held accountable.

Associate Education Minister Dave Benson-Pope yesterday announced an State Services Commission inquiry into NZQA which would focus on the new scholarship system.

The Government has also established an expert taskforce of representatives from teacher organisations which has just two weeks to report to Cabinet on problems and remedies.

Mr Fraser said he was very aware of the claims made about the NCEA system and the separate New Zealand Scholarship examinations.

The reviews announced by the Government were important and he trusted these reviews as well as the ongoing work of the NZQA would provide a "sound, problem-solving basis for ensuring the integrity and credibility of the NCEA".

The full implementation of levels one, two and three of NCEA had been a "massive undertaking".

The implementation of NCEA had been the most "significant and far reaching" that had ever occurred in the secondary school system.

It had come after a decade of debate and division, which culminated in a 1998 Cabinet paper that formed the basis of and rationale for the introduction of NCEA.

"It has been largely successful," he said, adding that was not to say adjustments and refinements to the system were not necessary.

- NZPA