KEY POINTS:
The end of the essay may be nigh - education officials say that students should instead be asked for "an extended piece of writing".
But before students rejoice too much, beware that teachers are fighting back in a bid to keep essays.
The Ministry of Education and the Qualifications Authority have proposed banning the phrase "in an essay" in history and other subjects because the format places extra constraints on students sitting external exams for NCEA, according to the History Teachers Association.
Teachers struck out in response, with Mary Welsh from Epsom Girls Grammar labelling it "nonsense" on the association's online forum.
"I suppose that I should have seen this one coming. Virtually every other aspect of what makes history distinct as a subject is being challenged. Why should the historical essay be exempt from slaughter?" she wrote.
The move comes amid a major review that aims to ensure that NCEA standards test what students will learn at school under the new curriculum.
Draft plans for subjects are being discussed with teachers.
Association chairman John Downes told the Weekend Herald the intensity of reactions was probably driven by the "precious" place essays had held in the subject for years.
He said the justification to rid exams of essays was that they "double-jeopardied" students by requiring them to meet both content and structure demands.
"Having been a marker for many years, you find some kids still had good content but because they didn't structure it - didn't have, say, the introduction and good paragraphing - they could miss the standard."
Mr Downes said the history standards review team was trying to get around the essay ban with explanatory notes that an extended piece of writing was effectively an essay.
But he believed officials had softened on the issue and might possibly allow the essay to be retained.
The ministry would not comment on the standards review.
Draft standards are expected to be written by February.
The review is scheduled to be completed by 2010 and is required to align unit and achievement standards to the new curriculum.
The Auckland Secondary Principals Association meeting next month is set to debate the time frame and gauge support for lobbying for a delay in implementing the new curriculum.
Secondary Principals Association president Peter Gall said the material going out for consultation was in draft form only and open to change.
"It's absolutely essential work as far as the NCEA is concerned," said Mr Gall.
"This is a major review, a marrying together of unit and achievement standards, a significant piece of work."
Online teacher feedback to subject associations and principals on early details said there appeared to be an increased focus on internally assessed standards under the proposals.
Some said it could lead to increased workload: "Teachers are beginning to settle into internal assessment requirements, the external standard expectations, and we are about to ask them to start all over again".
