Earlier this month, the government released further details about a new secondary school qualification, which would replace the New Zealand Certificate of Education (NCEA) from 2028.
However, a Dunedin teacher is worried the students who will be first to sit the new curriculum, who are currently in intermediate, were at risk of falling short of the expectations.
NCEA level 1 would be removed and students will be expected to pass a new literacy and numeracy Foundational Award.
The new qualification will be the New Zealand Certificate of Education (NZCE) at year 12, which will be rolled out in 2029, and the New Zealand Advanced Certificate of Education (NZACE) at year 13 in 2030.
Post Primary Teachers’ Association Ōtākou regional chairman Kussi Hurtado said the cohort of students about to start year 9 next year were going to be assessed at a much higher standard, and had no idea how hard they will tested.
‘‘They’re going to be pushed through the new system, but will have not gone through the new New Zealand curriculum system for primary school.
‘‘The things that we are expecting them to be able to do, like solve a linear equation in algebra, they won’t have had the two or three years to learn that in year 7 and 8.’’
When they arrived at secondary school, they would have two years to get up to speed to pass the new standards.
The new curriculum also sets out more learning objectives than current students going through NCEA have to achieve.
‘‘It’s very unlikely they’re going to be able to do all of that — they are very much guinea pigs.’’
Mr Hurtado said the changes were very reminiscent of the old school certificate qualification, which was the predecessor to NCEA.
The new framework would give more priority to exams, include compulsory subjects and assessment requirements, and have more topics to cover.
He worried that if a student missed just one class, or had an emergency that required time off school, they would fall behind due to the amount of extra learning teachers would need to cover.
Ministry of Education deputy secretary of the curriculum centre Pauline Cleaver said removing NCEA level 1 at year 11 from 2028 would create more time for students to focus on ‘‘deep learning’’.
‘‘The changes are being phased in so that the first cohort will have had more time to benefit from the new national curriculum in secondary school.’’
There would be a range of support for students, including for those currently in intermediate school, which would include requiring the use of structured literacy, mandating teaching times for reading, writing and maths, and writing and maths acceleration programmes being expanded to year 10.
While there would be an exam for every subject, there would still be assessments such as projects, presentations and portfolios.
Ms Cleaver also said they did not expect that an unexpected long absence would set students back significantly.
‘‘Because assessment is less fragmented, there are multiple opportunities to demonstrate learning throughout the year, and there is flexibility across years and pathways.’’
