NCEA - are schools ready for it?

The answer is a resounding yes for 96 per cent of school teaching departments contacted so far, says NZQA project manager Chris Winstanley.

Chris is part of the NCEA project team co-ordinating NCEA implementation. From term four last year the NCEA team began a series of MNA (Managing National Assessment) visits to schools. By November this year the NCEA project team will have visited 90 per cent of all schools. Workshops for principals and senior managers have been held and the NCEA team has connected with thousands of departments and teachers.

The good news is that only four per cent of the teaching departments seen by the NCEA team in the latest round of visits are likely to require early follow-up after the qualification is underway.

"This equates to just three schools and the number has been similarly low in each group of visits we have made" Chris says. "Each term we have visited around 4000 departments. Most of them already have excellent internal assessment practices in place."

"There has been no need to reinvent the wheel," she says.

Schools have gained confidence in the system as they have realised there are many ways of providing valid, accurate and fair assessments and that many of them already provide such assessments.

While some schools have identified areas for fine-tuning very few have needed substantial changes.

Early concerns that there was going to be a "one size fits all" regime have been put to rest as schools receive visits from members of the NCEA team and reassurance that their assessment systems are consistent with the requirements for NCEA.

"Our schools vary widely in their make-up, in their populations and their communities - there could never be one right way of doing things for all of them," Chris says.

Resources have also been made available including printed updates which have been regularly sent to schools, the NCEA website which has examples of assessments as a resource for teachers, and a telephone help-line set up in July last year.

Many schools have taken up the offer to have the NCEA team come and run a one-day workshop for principals and senior managers. These workshops have covered issues that managers might be having in the run-up to the new qualification.

NZQA is managing an ongoing information and assistance programme to help schools and the community prepare for NCEA.

As part of the implementation process for NCEA, the Qualifications Authority has sought out the advice and expertise of a group of people with great experience and knowledge when it comes to education.

The Learning and Assessment in Secondary Education Advisory Committee meets once a month to advise NZQA on secondary awards and qualifications and the strategic implications of introducing NCEA to schools.

The advisory committee consists of people from a range of educational backgrounds including secondary schools, polytechnics, business, universities and the PPTA. They were invited to join the committee for both their expertise and their strong opinions.

It counts amongst its members:

Group manager, secondary education, Kate Colbert, says the advice and the consultation that the committee provides is invaluable to the Authority.

	Richard Bentley

"This group of people represents a huge collective amount of knowledge and experience that we can use in all sorts of ways."

"Not only does the committee explore and debate ways in which standards-based assessment can work for students, it also acts as a conduit and forum for concerns that schools might have about NCEA," she said.

"We need to explore the positive possibilities with schools and also have a means through which we can hear about issues that schools are having and discuss and respond to them," she said.

Principal of Rangiora High School, Peter Allen said the committee was a good responsive forum for issues to be raised and talked about.

Peter Allen

Allen has been contracted recently to work with the teachers advisory support service and has spent a lot of time with teachers talking about standards based assessment.

"Schools like to know there is a conduit through which they can channel concerns or issues and a place where solutions are found to those concerns."

Andrew Kear of the PPTA says that the committee represents a range of opinions reflecting the reality of views on NCEA and standards based assessment.

"It is important that responses and debates take place in an environment that takes in all spectrums of opinions," he said.

	Marilyn Davies

Independent education advisor Marilyn Davies who has significant experience in both the secondary education and training sector said the committee had a good understanding of the education sector from local, regional, national and international perspectives.

"I would hope that we can continue to be involved and contribute in strategic ways to the work of NZQA," she said.