School ditches NCEA

The Herald reports:

A top Auckland private school has so little confidence in the new NCEA Level 1 curriculum it is ditching the qualification in favour of its own Year 11 diploma next year.

St Cuthbert’s College informed parents on Wednesday that next year’s Year 11 students would not take part in NCEA Level 1 but rather work towards the school’s own bespoke Year 11 Diploma.

Principal Justine Mahon said several of the school’s senior academic staff had been on Government advisory panels for the Ministry of Education’s proposed changes to NCEAand had become increasingly concerned by what would be taught in 2024.

“We don’t think it provides sufficient, in-depth learning for our students,” she told the Herald.

This is concerning. Their teachers have been involved in the changes to NCEA and what they have observed is enough to make them want to ditch it. Of course only private schools have that flexibility.

Mahon also believed “fundamentals” like the writing requirement and mathematics had been “dumbed down”.

They have to, otherwise too many will fail!