The Ministry of Education says its considering options to increase support to high schools rolling out the new NCEA tests, with an announcement expected by the end of the year.
"The Ministry of Education and NZQA recognise the addition of the co-requisite requirements to NCEA has increased the amount of work for schools to administer the qualification," Ministry of Education acting general manager Claire Eden said in a statement.
Results for the NCEA co-requisite tests for reading, writing and numeracy carried out in May and June were recently released, revealing poor student achievement.
Just under half of the approximately 74,500 students who participated in the latest round of the tests were in Year 10, NZQA stated.
- Under half of students achieved the numeracy requirement at 45.6%, a drop from the last round of the test in 2023
- Reading results were slightly better than last year, with nearly 58.7% of children passing
- In writing, achievement slightly improved from last year at 55.7%.
Secondary Principals' Association vice president Louise Anaru said: "It's very concerning but, at the same time, it's not surprising — it is the first year of implementation... of course we have the new NCEA qualification, it's more challenging, robust, credible and New Zealanders called for a strengthened literacy and numeracy assessment."
In a statement, NZQA deputy chief executive Jann Marshall said the overall picture showed students were achieving better in reading and writing than in numeracy.
Anaru called for assessments to be marked quicker by NZQA and for schools to receive greater feedback on assessments, to improve learning preparation for the next round of testing if a student didn't pass.
She also called for schools to be resourced adequately to prepare and deliver the assessments.
"To resource our principals' nominees — those are the people in the school that oversee NCEA and now they're also spending a lot of time planning and also implementing the CAA (Common Assessment Activity) testing effectively."
Anaru said increased funding was also required for schools to be able to hire exam centre managers, relief teachers and supervisors for students sitting the tests.
The Education Ministry stated the New Zealand Qualifications Authority provided schools and kura kaupapa with an administration payment.
An NZQA spokesperson said the authority was investigating options for reducing the time it took for test results to be shared with students, after they sat the test.
He stated this would be in place for next year's first assessment round.
What's at stake with the co-requisite tests?
Passing the tests was required for students to achieve an NCEA qualification, although in 2024 and 2025 there are other literacy and numeracy papers students can take to achieve the co-requisite.
This is part of allowing schools time to adjust to the new assessments.
There is no limit on how many times students can sit the tests throughout high school, but there are only two rounds of testing each year, with the next round in September.
Both NZQA and the Secondary Principals' Association pointed out factors that should be considered when examining the pass rates.
"This year’s cohort is much larger than last year’s, with proportionally more Year 11s, many of whom are re-attempting the assessments," a NZQA spokesperson said.
"Students who achieved the standards last year in Year 10 are not attempting them again."'
Anaru added: "We also know that students are using this assessment differently which also needs to be taken into account.
"Some schools are using this as practice assessment for their Year 9's and 10's who may not be ready yet.
"Others are just targeting Year 11 to 13 learners... and putting those through that are ready to be assessed and likely to perform so it's not giving us an accurate picture."
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