A vital element in the knowledge society

NCEA is the crucial first step on the ladder of lifelong learning says NZQA Chief Executive Dr Andrew West. He explains why a whole issue of QA News is devoted to the NCEA.

The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is a significant change to the way we assess the learning of people aged 16 to 19 years old and it is timely to remind ourselves why New Zealand is making that change. The principal causes are the fast developing "knowledge economy" and much slower developing "knowledge society".

What does a knowledge economy mean in the context of New Zealand? In its broadest term it means successfully applying the revolution in information technology to everything we do now.

If that sounds overly dramatic it isn't. To quote the Minister of Tertiary Education: "new information technologies in computing, communications and biotechnology are changing absolutely everything - forever! New Zealand can and must develop its own versions of these technologies" - and in our modest way we kiwis are doing so.

But the biggest gains will come from applying these revolutionary new technologies to what we already do exceedingly well, which is produce world-class food and textiles, and provide world-class leisure experiences.

Again, to quote the Minister: "The new information technologies allow us, once and for all, to escape the commodity trap by producing individualised goods and services.

"This calls for very high levels of creativity as we apply these new technologies in unique ways. This also calls for constant and high levels of innovation as we turn creative ideas into robust, practical commercial reality."

This then is New Zealand's version of a knowledge economy - food, textiles and leisure activities, allied to entirely novel information-based goods and services, targeted at the health and well being of individuals. Consequently, the vision for New Zealand is simple:

To be the first economy in the world to genuinely merge the agricultural, industrial and information revolutions! And deliver serious prosperity and quality of life from so doing!

What then is New Zealand's knowledge society? In its broadest term it means a society where every individual and every community can make their greatest possible contribution to our knowledge economy.

As readers of QA News you will appreciate that our country is "skills limited" because we don't realise the best from each and every individual and community.

Yet a knowledge society is a society, as defined by the Minister, where "each individual and each community contributes to the highest level of their innate ability, thereby minimising or even removing the 'skills gap'". This calls for breaking down "barriers of entry or participation" that face many individuals and communities in our present society.

This, in turn, will require substantial investments in education and training, and greater facilities to allow all to access the most modern communications technologies.

This then is New Zealand's knowledge society - every individual and every community contributing to their highest level of ability.

The NCEA is one of the vital elements in a suite of policies being put in place to create a knowledge society, which in turn will create New Zealand's unique version of a knowledge economy. As an example, another vital element is the drive to implement broad bandwidth communications the length and breadth of our landscape.

The NCEA is vital for two key reasons. First, it focuses our people on achievement to global standards of knowledge and skills. The benchmark is the suite of standards the world largely sets for us.

Our response will be to meet and then exceed those standards. The standards keep rising and if our nation is to ever get back into the OECD "top ten" then our achievement rates must grow faster than the rate at which standards are rising themselves.

Second, the NCEA integrates fully with "higher" levels of education in the National Qualifications Framework and the broader Register of Quality Assured Qualifications. It is the crucial first step on the ladder of lifelong learning, and we simply can't be a prosperous, confident and assertive knowledge society and knowledge economy without lifelong learning.

In a nutshell this is why the NCEA is so important to the future of all New Zealanders and it is why the NZQA is so professionally committed to a successful transition to the NCEA.

Andy West,
Chief Executive