Summarised by Centrist
Education Minister Erica Stanford is preparing to overhaul New Zealand’s main secondary school qualification after an internal government briefing raised red flags about its long-term credibility.
According to the Herald, the NZQA document warns that NCEA’s built-in flexibility is being overused, allowing students to skip exams and assemble credits from easier or disconnected subjects instead of following a coherent learning path.
The result is a system increasingly focused on credit-chasing rather than meaningful education. “This pattern reflects a systemic issue,” the briefing says. Students are skipping core learning, with 250,000 missed external exams last year alone.
Stanford said she’s considering all options, including scrapping Level 1 entirely. “There really isn’t an option to do nothing,” she said. “I don’t think that tinkering around the edges is going to get us where we need to be.”
Just 22% of NCEA results now come from external exams. Many students reach qualification thresholds by stacking internal assessments or unit standards from subjects like “basic life support” or “CV writing,” rather than traditional academic disciplines. Officials also flagged concerns about authenticity in internal assessments, especially in the age of AI.
Level 1 reforms rolled out under Labour were already in motion when Stanford took office, but 60% of schools weren’t ready. Principals and officials working with Stanford have now raised deeper concerns that extend across Levels 2 and 3.
Read more over at The NZ Herald (paywalled)
