U-turn means scholarship students will see the grades

Every student entering the elite scholarship exams this year will be able to see where they excelled and where they failed, Associate Education Minister David Benson-Pope said last night.

In what appeared to be further Government back-tracking, the minister said students would be graded and ranked in order to administer the scholarship awards, and the marks would be provided with the full exam results.

He had originally told the Herald that the grades would not be made available to the students. Mr Benson-Pope said all schools would be sent letters outlining the changes so students would have quick and easy access "to the improvements to the system".

The measures aim to prevent last year's debacle, which saw hundreds of top students miss out on scholarships.

Under the new plan an agreed percentage of students will gain scholarship in each subject.

"There will be no perverse incentives to take a subject because it is perceived to be statistically easier to pass," Mr Benson-Pope said.

The scholarship changes have done little to appease critics of the NCEA.

But the Government has also failed to satisfy supporters of standards-based assessment.

The Post-Primary Teachers Association wants the urgency and expertise brought to scholarship to be applied to the rest of the NCEA to deal with the "complex problems" there.

A report by the association indicated that most teachers believed the NCEA had the potential to be a better system.

"But the mood could easily change," PPTA president Debbie Te Whaiti said. "It is incumbent on the Government, in consultation with the profession, to urgently fix the NCEA problems identified."

Mr Benson-Pope indicated yesterday that he was unlikely to bend to their will.

A State Services Commission inquiry already underway would be adequate to provide "the community, parents and students with the certainty they expect", he said.

National's education spokesman, Bill English, has accused Mr Benson-Pope of creating confusion over what sort of exam scholarship will be.

But Mr Benson-Pope said he was no longer interested in whether the system was called "standards-based assessment" or "ranking". "The priority is not the name-calling; that's a debate for the next two or five years. The priority is to get it right."