Teachers call for NCEA overhaul

The Qualifications Authority will meet with the teachers' union to discuss demands for an overhaul of NCEA.

A Post-Primary Teachers Association report released this morning called for urgent reviews of external moderation, management and communication.

It comes after the debacle which saw wild variations in exam results leading to Government-ordered investigations into last year's scholarship and NCEA.

NZQA chief executive Karen Van Rooyen said the report gave a clear idea of the issues teachers had with the new system.

The two organisations would meet next week to "make the necessary improvements for teachers and students" Ms Van Rooyen said.

The PPTA report, Teachers Talk About NCEA, is the result of two months of focus groups with a sample of more than 100 teachers at nine schools late last year.

Debbie Te Whaiti, association president, said she wanted an outside organisation to look at the Qualifications Authority's processes for external assessment at all levels of NCEA, and report back by the end of term two.

"We need to ensure that in future all exams are high quality and deliver acceptable comparability of results from year to year, standard to standard and subject to subject," she said.

The Government also needed to commission research into the impact of the NCEA on student motivation.

The report showed that, despite the problems, most teachers supported the NCEA, accepted it was here to stay, and wanted to work hard to fix problems and help the qualification achieve its potential.

"It will cost money, but it will be money well spent," Ms Te Whaiti said.

Associate Education Minister David Benson-Pope this morning welcomed teachers' support.

He said the report showed about 80 per cent were behind the exam system and viewed the first five years of NCEA as the implementation time - not just the first three years that had passed.

Mr Benson-Pope said he was also supportive of recommendations addressing comparability issues and change management processes.