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A former Auckland secondary school student who had an exam paper returned to her unmarked says she is not surprised at the latest Qualifications Authority blunder.
Aroha Fletcher said there were problems with NCEA every year. "I've come to expect something is always wrong."
The 18-year-old is one of nine former Avondale College students who had their Level 3 NCEA history exam papers returned completely untouched.
She said she was lucky because she could gain entry into Auckland University to study law and politics without the mark. "You've studied for it and you've put so much effort into it and then to find out it hasn't been marked or judged or seen at all is quite annoying."
The Qualifications Authority said yesterday it would investigate and was making arrangements to have the papers marked.
Deputy chief executive, qualifications, Bali Haque said students would not be disadvantaged. "When the papers are returned to us, they will be marked as a matter of urgency," he said.
In Parliament yesterday, National Party education spokeswoman Katherine Rich grilled Education Minister Steve Maharey.
"What is he doing to assist Avondale College which has discovered that nine history students from that school have had their NCEA papers returned to them unmarked, unblemished, with no grades [and] explain why those students got a very distressing 'Results Not Available' when they got their grades earlier this month?"
Mr Maharey said NZQA was working with the school to find out what went wrong.
But Mrs Rich was not satisfied.
"Can he explain how students can sit an exam, have those exams dispatched to NZQA, have those exams sit in a wee pile and have a holiday only to be returned unmarked?"
Mrs Rich said the case followed one at Dunedin's Logan Park High School, where a third of students couldn't get their results.
Avondale College principal Brent Lewis told the Herald yesterday the incident was "completely unacceptable". He said a teacher had seen "Results Not Available" next to the students' names and made inquiries.
"We investigated further and found that students were starting to receive their exam papers back unblemished. None of them had gone back to NZQA or the school over this result. Unless we had made the contact with them these results would have stood.
"For some of these students it could very easily have an impact on their access to tertiary courses or to employment. It's a serious matter."
He said he was concerned there could be more students who might assume "Results Not Available" was the correct outcome and so not pursue the matter.
