The New Zealand schools dropping NCEA Level 1

An increasing number of schools are forgoing NCEA Level 1 to better prepare students for Year 12 and 13. Photo / 123rf

An increasing number of secondary schools are dropping the first year of NCEA in an effort to deepen student understanding by creating more teaching time.

Private girls’ school St Cuthbert’s College this week made headlines as the latest in a string of schools to announce they were forgoing NCEA Level 1 in favour of their own curriculum which would better prepare students for Levels 2 and 3.

Many principals pointed out the fact that NCEA Levels 2 and 3 superseded Level 1 making it redundant for many students.

Hobsonville Point Secondary School was perhaps the first school to ditch NCEA Level 1 in its traditional form when it opened around 2015. Rototuna Senior High School and Fairfield College followed suit around 2018.

Unlike St Cuthbert’s College, the schools continued to offer some NCEA Level 1 standards while better preparing their students for NCEA Level 2.

Maurie Abraham, principal of Hobsonville Point Secondary School says 14 and 15-year-olds shouldn't be subject to a full year of high-stakes assessment. Photo / NZME

Hobsonville Point Secondary School principal Maurie Abraham said gaining NCEA Level 2 was a two-year journey for his students.

“We don’t believe that 14 and 15-year-old kids should be subject to a whole year of high-stakes assessments,” he said.

During the first half of Year 11 students did a small number of Level 1 standards creating more time for students to develop a deeper understanding of subjects, Abraham said.

That meant that by the second half of the year most students were able to undertake a number of Level 2 assessments.

Abraham said that by the end of Year 11 most students had 20-30 Level 1 credits and 15-18 Level 2 credits - without sitting any external exams.

“If you can spend more time concentrating on the learning rather than on measuring, your kids understand the stuff more and they are more able to cope with the assessments that come their way.”

Ormiston Senior College decided to make a similar move in 2019.

Principal Tim Botting said their decision was about making sure students were better prepared and more likely to succeed in Level 2.

Their students also gained about 20 Level 1 credits, with a focus on numeracy and literacy, and undertook some Level 2 assessments later in the year.

Botting said the change had also allowed their students to study 10 subjects over two semesters to expose them to areas of learning they might not otherwise have considered.

He said the changes had improved student well-being, lowered stress levels and allowed students to obtain a higher level of knowledge.

Epsom Girls Grammar School principal Lorraine Pound said reducing the amount of NCEA assessments in Level 1 allowed more time for learning. Photo / Supplied

Epsom Girls Grammar School principal Lorraine Pound said the school made the same change in 2020 for all the same reasons.

She said the school offered one NCEA assessment standard in full-year courses to introduce students to the NCEA assessment system.

St Hilda’s Collegiate, Botany Downs Secondary College, Scots College, Kristin School, and Lincoln High School are among the other schools that run similar Year 11 programmes offering a reduced number of Level 1 credits with a focus on being better prepared for the following years.

Macleans College has ditched virtually all NCEA assessments in Year 11 and students instead work towards the Macleans Certificate (MCert) - similar to what St Cuthbert’s is planning to do.

Principal Steven Hargreaves introduced the MCert in 2020 because he believed neither the current Level 1 course or the Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), which they also offered, were adequately preparing students for Year 12 or 13 and both wasted too much time on assessments.

The biggest change was the reduction in assessments which created about eight weeks more teaching and learning time for students, he said.

“We are really pleased we made the decision when we did. We’ve seen, in particular, our mathematics grades improve. We think being able to focus more on some of those core maths skills and having more teaching time in mathematics has really helped,” he said.

“Practice time is really critical for maths because it’s skills-based. You need to have enough time to repeat the skills until they become automatic - that’s been what we’ve been able to achieve.”

Macleans College principal Steven Hargreaves has dropped NCEA Level 1 in favour of their own Macleans Certificate. Photo / Dean Purcell.

Hargreaves said it worked for his school because they had a high retention rate between Year 11 and 12. He acknowledged it would not work for all schools because it would mean those who left school after Year 11 came away with no internationally recognised qualification.

Christs College and St Margaret’s College have similar diploma programmes in Year 11 and Wellington Girls’ College is following suit by throwing out NCEA Level 1 completely next year.

Principal Julia Davidson said the school had wanted to do it for about eight years but the tipping point was their involvement in the pilot of the new NCEA Level 1 English programme a couple of years ago.

“We realised just how much time was spent on assessment and realised the amount of teaching time was shrinking a ridiculous amount.”

Davidson said they wanted to maximise the learning time and found by dropping Level 1 and introducing their own curriculum and assessments they could gain 12 to 15 weeks more teaching time.

She said students would get a much greater choice of subjects because the school would continue offering subjects that were being taken out of the curriculum.

In June, the school planned to release information to the school community explaining exactly what the new Year 11 programme would look like.

Wellington College has also announced it will be making a large change to its Year 11 programme next year.

“Our new structure will reduce the amount of NCEA Level 1 assessment for students while still providing them with strategies and experiences to build their knowledge and skills,” the school told parents in 2022. “This will increase achievement and engagement at Years 12 and 13. More meaningful forms of assessment will be used to help students reflect on their learning, and to record and track progress, which will be clearly reported to whānau.”

NZQA deputy chief executive assessment Jann Marshall said they did not hold data on the number of schools that had decided not to offer a full NCEA Level 1 programme.

But, there were 56 schools, out of 497, that entered fewer than 40 per cent of their Year 11 students in 80 or more Level 1 credits in 2022.