Endorsements a motivator in NCEA - survey

The majority of NCEA students surveyed following the 2007 exam round said the possibility of gaining a merit or excellence endorsement on their NCEA certificate gave them additional motivation to achieve higher grades.

The results are from the annual end of year surveys which ask teachers and candidates their views on the 2007 NCEA and scholarship assessments, and Principal’s Nominees (or NZQA Liaison teachers) their views on the procedures surrounding the NCEA. The research is carried out by NZQA’s Research and Knowledge Services team in conjunction with an external research company.

Of the NCEA candidates interviewed 68% said the possibility of gaining an endorsement gave them as least a small increase in motivation to achieve higher, and 62% said their school provided strong (28%) or some (34%) encouragement for them to achieve higher grades in order to try for an NCEA endorsement.

Thirty nine percent of candidates ran out of time in an examination session. This varied greatly by the level studied, with 67% of those studying at Level 2 and 3 running out of time compared to only 22% of Level 1 candidates.

Candidates were asked if they withdrew from any external standards after they had entered for them. While only 4% of Level 1 candidates withdrew from standards, this increased to 26% for Level 2 and 50% for Level 3 candidates.

Scholarship candidates responded that the main reasons they entered Scholarship was for the monetary rewards, personal challenge and to extend oneself academically, in order to better prepare themselves for University and because of teacher encouragement.

Overall, 31% of Scholarship candidates considered the Scholarship exams to be a little too difficult or very difficult, with 47% reporting they were about right, while 58% considered the exams were a fair test of their ability.

Research and Knowledge Services Manager James Chal says NZQA is grateful for the feedback from the three stakeholder groups. This year’s response rate either increased or remained consistently high for all surveys showing the importance of continued feedback from the sector.

James says the feedback is most important as it is valuable information for NZQA to have in order to continually improve its practices.

The information is provided to the appropriate staff for incorporation into the next exam round.