Visual arts students receive zeros

The national scholarship system is facing renewed criticism after almost two-thirds of all students who took visual arts scored zero.

Of the 309 graphic design, painting and photography students who submitted portfolios, 179 were given no marks.

In a further anomaly, 26 students were given the maximum eight points, but only 18 of those were awarded outstanding scholarships.

The remaining eight were given "ordinary scholarships" - putting them in the same category as students who scored just half-marks.

Acting chief executive of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority Karen Sewell said the students who received zero had been deemed ineligible for scholarships because they had not achieved excellence in their NCEA level 3 standards.

Students did not receive their NCEA results before entering scholarship, and the decision to bar them from the elite category had been made in 2003, she said.

"I am concerned that this may be creating a barrier for some students. I intend raising this issue with the Ministry of Education and the school sector, particularly the visual art teachers and markers."

The latest inconsistencies come just a week after the Herald on Sunday revealed problems with the calculus, biology and statistics exams.

Head of art at Auckland's Maclean's College, Tony Morgan, called the system a "mongrel".

"We were led to believe that NCEA would be a golden new dawn. The policy's been instituted, we're basically ranking the students, so we're back to the same old game."

One mother who contacted the Herald on Sunday was angry her daughter was left with "no democratic comeback" after her portfolio was given full marks but she missed out on an outstanding scholarship.

The ex-Epsom Girls' Grammar student did not wish to be named but was upset at being "bumped down", her mother said.

Epsom Girls' principal Annette Sharp called the mark range, and decision to split the top-scoring students, "bizarre" - "particularly when there doesn't seem to be an over-allocation of scholarships".

"I would have liked to have thought that it was all dealt with before the examinations. I really can't understand how you can split a grade like that."

Ms Sewell said the awarding of scholarship was a ranking process. "NZQA, on the advice of the Scholarship Technical Advisory Group, awarded outstanding to up to about 0.4 per cent of students studying the subject at level 3," she said.

"The work of students who achieved eight out of eight in Visual Arts was finely ranked at the time of marking. This meant that the top 0.4 per cent could be clearly identified."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY