5. Hon BILL ENGLISH (National—Clutha-Southland) Link to this
to the Minister of Education
Have NCEA check markers been given expected profiles of performance for NCEA standards, containing bands of expected numbers of Achieved, Merit, and Excellence in each standard; if so, why?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister of Education) Link to this
Only those check markers who are also panel leaders receive profiles. Profiles of expected performance are a monitoring tool that provides a forecast based on previous years’ results. They are guidelines that provide a trigger to investigate the marking, when initial results indicate that students are not achieving consistently with what was expected when the exam was set. The development of these profiles is one of the key improvements, to avoid a repeat of the variability experienced in last year’s exams. As Karen Sewell has noted, markers do not work to the profile. They are not set in stone. Markers still need to apply their experience and professional judgment to the student’s work.
Is the Minister aware that, in addition to the issues raised in the House, a school principal was asked on National Radio this morning whether he believed that markers were being asked to mark to predetermined pass rates, and he said: “Markers tell me that.”, and is the Minister going to continue to say that the talk of informal and unofficial re-marking is simply a conspiracy cooked up by one critic?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
I did not hear the interview but I do understand that the three principals interviewed agreed at the end of the interview that as long as the exams were fair and consistent they would support them—and that is what they will be. Do I believe there is a lone critic? Yes, I do; I think he is called Bill English.
Dianne YatesHas he been advised of any marking schedules that have been revised as a result of the monitoring process?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
Yes, I have. I am advised that the marking schedules for 14—or around 4 percent—out of the 335 standards have been revised as a result of the monitoring process. For example, in level 1 Japanese and economics standards, students wrote answers that the marking schedules did not anticipate, but that demonstrated that the students had met the standards. The scope of the marking schedules for both those standards was extended to recognise that achievement. These provisions of the marking schedule, as Graham Young from the Secondary Principals Association said today, “are actually addressing concerns of the public around variability through this process, and Bill English is simply mischief-making”.
Given that the Minister is aware that the principal of Christchurch Boys High School said this morning on National Radio that markers had told him that they were marking to predetermined pass rates, is he now telling the House that that principal was lying, or does he accept that people other than myself hold the view that there is widespread unofficial re-marking?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
NCEA has received endorsement from the Post Primary Teachers Association, the Secondary Principals Association, Business New Zealand, and many principals, teachers, markers, and students around the country. The acting chief executive of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority has said repeatedly that we have “an open and transparent process to ensure the results are consistent and fair.” Those who set, sit, mark and administer the exams are confident the process is working. The only people who disagree are Bill English and the two people who wrote the anonymous emails to him. He has effectively called a respected senior public servant a liar, and would prefer to take the advice of anonymous people who send him emails.
What does the Minister say to a person, who is another marker of another exam that is not on his list, and says: “I am currently marking one of the achievement standards for the second year in a row. We have been asked by the facilitator to adjust things so that there are more Achieved and Merit passes. What is annoying is that we are forced to push through students who have not achieved into the Achieved category who clearly have no knowledge of the subject at this level.”, or does he think this person is making it up, as well?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
I would say to that person that he now has taken Bill English’s emails to three, and I would recommend that those three people do what the acting chief executive has asked them to do: ring her directly and she will fix any problems they may have.
What does the Minister say to a person, who is another marker of another exam that is not on his official schedule, who says: “In response to Karen Sewell’s letter yesterday, I think what she is trying to say is that it’s not scaling, even though we, as markers, smile and know the truth.”, and who also says: “There are some terrible questions, and some too easy, that have gone through that have made it difficult to get the required distribution of grades.”, or is that another marker who, alongside the principal of Christchurch Boys High School, is making it up?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
I do not know what the member has got to say, because I do not know the person who has written to him, but let me just go to the heart of the principle of what is being outlined here, and that is whether we are scaling. Can I say yet again that—[ Interruption]
Madam SPEAKERHon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
—it is impossible to scale until all marks are in. We are in the process of marking now. Scaling takes place after all the marks are in. That is not part of this system.
Does the Minister recall that earlier this year, in the House, the Minister of Education, and, outside the House, the Qualifications Authority, denied that there was any problem with variability, at all, and can he confirm that he and the authority are now using the same tactic as they did earlier in the year—deny the problem, attack the critics, hope it goes away, and when the subsequent inquiry confirms the truth, change tack and say that they knew all along that was what was happening?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
The acting chief executive of the Qualifications Authority has announced every problem herself. Yes, we are determined to attack Bill English, and we do invite any of the people around the place who are having issues with NCEA to ring the acting chief executive.
Can the Minister confirm that in fact the New Zealand Qualifications Authority did not volunteer to announce re-marking, but was forced to do so after a report in a Sunday newspaper a week ago outlining the problems with the biology exam—that it was in response to those revelations that the authority explained that it was re-marking—and why does he not just be honest about it?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
The Qualifications Authority has had a revision, under the aegis of the State Services Commission, all year. It always planned to be open and transparent, and that is what it is doing.