Exam changes mean an inflation in the A column
I find the research of Dr James Kierstead as reported in the ODT (26.11.25) most interesting and important.
He suggests that the number of A grades being awarded is increasing and gives a wakeup call to educational policymakers to avoid "grade inflation".
However, Universities New Zealand chief executive Chris Whelan claims that the results are the result of things like improved teaching, better curriculum design, better assessment and better support around our learners.
I graduated in dentistry in 1960. In those days it was said that "if the professor sat the examinations, he might get 90%, if the rest of the staff sat, they could aim for 80% and the rest of you can start from that maximum".
In my final year I got three B grades (60% to 70%) and two C grades (50% to 60%) and was in the top half dozen of an admittedly small class. No-one in the class graduated with distinction or credit although three did get distinction in a single subject.
These grades included both practical and theoretical aspects. I was offered a position on the staff of the dental hospital here in Dunedin but turned it down in order to go overseas.
Fast forward to December 2024. The ODT (26.12.24) reported that nine students graduated BDS with honours. A further 85 graduated with either distinction or credit, while a single student graduated with a pass.
Following my return to Dunedin in 1968 I spent 24 years on the teaching staff of the School of Dentistry, and this included time as head of a department and chair of the curriculum committee.
In my view, the discrepancy between the grades of today and earlier times cannot possibly be compared or ascribed solely to the factors given by Chris Whelan.
Methods of teaching have changed and no doubt for the better, but the main change has been in the way examinations are conducted and marked.
A remarkable engineer
Joe Bennett in his piece today (Opinion ODT 27.11.25) rather understates the achievements of a very remarkable engineer.
C.Y. O’Connor was raised in Ireland but came to New Zealand in 1864 where he worked for the Canterbury provincial government as an engineer. There he oversaw the construction of the Otira Gorge section of the Arthurs Pass road. He later became under secretary of Public Works for New Zealand, and then marine engineer for the colony.
In 1891 O’Connor moved west to become engineer-in-chief of Western Australia. There he was responsible for the construction of Fremantle Harbour and took over the management of Western Australia Railways before tackling the goldfields water supply project.
C.Y. O’Connor is commemorated in a number of place names in the state and, perhaps most prominently, by a statue at Fremantle Port.
Non-stop noted
Today in History (21.11.25) reiterates the often-made, but incorrect, claim that the first solo circumnavigation of the Earth was made by the English yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston in 1968-69. The first person to achieve this feat was the American writer and sailor Joshua Slocum in 1895-98. However, while speed was not an issue for Slocum, Knox-Johnston’s 317-day voyage was made non-stop.
In 1977-78 the New Zealander Dame Naomi James was the first woman to sail solo around the world by way of Cape Horn.
Breakdown raises questions about maintenance
Take the specialist body off the back of a Fenz fire appliance and it becomes a common-or-garden truck cab/chassis unit. Nothing special.
The truck manufacturer will sell anyone the same truck with the same components and built to the same specification for use in any typical truck application including work that is just as arduous as anything a fire appliance does.
All over the world the exact same trucks run up hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions) of kilometres of hard work with high levels of reliability.
So why do these trucks, under Fenz ownership, break down with monotonous regularity?
It is interesting to note that all of the Otago Region Fenz trucks are serviced and repaired by an independent contractor. This contractor is not an authorised service agent for any of the brands of trucks that Fenz operates.
The manufacturers of vehicles, from mopeds to mining trucks, all state clearly that to achieve maximum reliability and life from their products they should only be serviced or repaired by an authorised dealer for their brand.
The reasoning is that only an authorised agent has access to the brand’s diagnostic equipment, special service tools, technical bulletins and factory training of technicians on that brand’s products.
It would be interesting to know why Fenz has gone against industry-standard advice in contracting out the repair and servicing of their trucks to an independent workshop and whether this occurred after a competitive tendering process in which cheapest price was a major consideration.
Compulsory teaching is not compulsory
A response to Judy Harland’s thoughts on compulsory Treaty education (Letters ODT 22.11.25).
First, as an academic lecturer on Early Childhood Education at University of Otago, I am surprised that she seems to be unaware that the compulsory teaching of the Treaty of Waitangi is not under any threat because it is not compulsory. It has been relegated to being an optional subject by the government.
The ministry has, quite rightly, ruled that it is the government’s sole responsibility to dictate such compulsion and not the prerogative of the NZEI or PPTA or any tax-funded educational centre. To make it compulsory the process is to present a Bill for Parliament to debate and pass it into law.
As the Minister of Education has directed, schools can teach all facets of the Treaty of Tikanga and Matauranga but they must inform the parents as to the depth of treatment and the range of behavioural objects they expect their students to master and gain competency.
A set of behavioural objectives would allow parents to be fully aware of each school’s proposed programme. Has NZEI and PPTA done that and is the proposed teaching programme common throughout New Zealand?
That Ms Harland concludes— "that it would be unwise to pass the ‘final say to parents’ as to the inclusion of the Treaty" — based solely on her "hazard a guess" as being the limit of her inquiry as to whether the parents of the children are so ‘illiterate’ on what is a very contentious view as to the place of the Treaty.
As an educationalist one would expect her to initiate a survey of the parents’ actual knowledge and views so as to check the veracity of her "guess".
The government is addressing some very serious downturns that have occurred in our education system and while the compulsory core subjects have been given the priority they demand the fact that a comprehensive option of "things Maori" is fully available certainly is not "tokenism".
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