Principals demand inquiry into exam mess

Principals are calling for an independent inquiry into secondary school qualifications in a bid to prevent a repeat of the scholarship "debacle" and restore faith in NCEA.

As hundreds of the country's brightest students wait to see if they have been given a replacement award after the collapse of scholarship exams, the Secondary Principals' Association says an inquiry is needed to see how it went so wrong.

The association's Auckland branch president, Brent Lewis, said the biggest supporters of NCEA among principals were now "extremely disturbed and upset" about what had happened.

National Party education spokesman Bill English backed the call for an independent inquiry and said its recommendations should be binding on the Government.

Associate Education Minister David Benson-Pope said he was not interested in witch-hunts or apportioning blame at this stage.

"I have made it clear to the NZQA and the Ministry of Education that the Government should have learned about this issue sooner."

Mr Benson-Pope said despite the "hysteria" of some people, it must be remembered the Government had acted because it felt the scholarship results were not fair.
"Many factors contributed to the variance in results and trying to find a single villain to blame, while it might make people feel better, is neither reasonable nor helpful."

Paul Ferris, the principals' national president, said attempts to blame teachers or the current cohort of students were "ridiculous".

"It's a nonsense to blame anything other than the Qualifications Authority and the system."

He was confident that NCEA levels one to three were up to standard but hoped the "debacle" would prompt a debate on the suitability of standards-based assessment at the top level of academic achievement.

The association said it was snubbed by NZQA when it offered to work on a committee overseeing implementation of scholarship.

Mr Ferris said he was to meet officials next week and would be offering to help find solutions.

Mr Lewis said an inquiry should be extended to all of NCEA otherwise the public would never be satisfied.

He said blaming teething problems was an excuse that would no longer stand up after four years of the new exam system.

"How many thousands of students will be victims of this nonsense before we say the price is too high?

"Educational and vocational futures are being shaped and how many casualties are we prepared to tolerate?"

Mr English said the recommendations of such an inquiry should be binding because the Government had a track record of taking no notice of criticism. He said it should use experienced educators rather than "half-wit bureaucrats'.

Act Party education spokeswoman Deborah Coddington also backed the call for an inquiry. "The more light thrown on the scholarship debacle the better," she said.

Mr Benson-Pope announced the new certificate after a report found scholarship exams were unfair. Only a tiny fraction of the numbers of scholarships were awarded this year compared to previous years.

More than 370 distinction certificates are on offer as a replacement, but NZQA said it was not sure when students would find out if they had been awarded one.

Mr English called for the Government to drop the $30-per-subject fee for scholarship reassessment.

"Hundreds of students have lost confidence in the system and will be wondering if results are accurate."

Mr Benson-Pope said he would consider dropping the fee.

Who gets the new awards

* In subjects where students did exceptionally well at NCEA level three, but few students were awarded scholarships in that same subject, distinction certificates will be given out.

* Students who have a combination of scholarship passes and distinction certificates in any three scholarship subjects will get a distinction award worth $4500 over three years.

* The NZ Qualifications Authority awards committee will decide which students will get the awards. The committee is made up of senior managers and schools have no involvement.