Secondary Principals’ Council chairwoman Kate Gainsford is hopeful this year’s exam round will not have any disruptions caused by issues from online exams.
Last year, thousands of pupils registered for digital exams on November 10 had to resort to doing the exams on paper at the last minute, or after the exam time started, because the technology was unable to cope with the numbers.
"We had really hoped that last year’s exam round would be the most ‘normal’ one in a few years.
"However, the issues with online exams unfortunately added another layer of stress for many students and schools to manage," Ms Gainsford said.
She commended the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) for quickly deciding to commission an independent review into the running of the digital exams.
"We are looking forward to the results of that review and we have high expectations that all problems will be resolved for the 2024 exam round."
She said pupils who were affected by the issues could have their grades reviewed by NZQA.
Provisional results indicate NCEA pass rates dropped across the board for the third consecutive year in 2023.
NZQA said three years of Covid-related disruption were probably to blame.
Pupils have been able to access their NCEA results since early yesterday morning.
By 10.30am, the authority said about 28,000 of 160,000 eligible pupils had done so.
NZQA deputy chief executive for assessment Jann Marshall said national results would be available in April but provisional figures showed a drop in achievement.
Bayfield High School year 12 pupil Lulu McLean, 17, was feeling extra pressure after attempting to compete NCEA level 2 and level 3 in one year.
"I was worried that I was going to fail all of them and so I had organised with a teacher that if didn't get the credits that I needed to get that I would pop into school for one day and get the credits that I needed."
She said the first thing she did yesterday morning was check her results and she breathed a sigh of relief that she had passed.
"It’s such a relief, I’m so excited to leave school and go to university and I managed to do that a year faster than everyone else."
Weka mental health support worker Holly Brammall said a lot of pupils sought support to deal with the stress of exams.
"It's crippling the youth, the pressure that's put on them when, especially if you think about covid and if you think about the change in youth these days, too, the expectations are huge."
She said a lot of pupils were shy when it came to talking about their school pressures.
