6. Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Education
What reports has he received on the results of the 2006 NCEA examinations?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister of Education) Link to this
The New Zealand Qualifications Authority has released the 2006 National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA)# national statistics, which demonstrate that student achievement has continued to improve. The results show that more students are getting NCEA qualifications at all levels, and that proportionally more students in 2006 passed the NCEA levels 1 to 3 than in previous years, continuing the trend of the past 4 years. Achievement of the literacy requirements for NCEA level 1 in year 11 went up to 75 percent, and numeracy achievement rose 6 percentage points to 82 percent. I would like to say, therefore, that I congratulate all the students and teachers in schools who have managed to carry on lifting that performance.
Dr Ashraf Choudhary Link to this
Can he tell this House what those results tell us about how the NCEA system is working?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
These latest statistics highlight the success of the NCEA system. As Dr John Langley has stated: “we are being more accurate with what we measure and how we do it.” He said that in today’s newspaper. The NCEA provides students with an opportunity to perform to their potential. That means that the brightest can stretch themselves, and the others can achieve their potential across a much wider range of subjects and create a record of learning that they can use for future learning or for an employer. Therefore, it is a mystery as to why the National Party would want to continue to attack the system and threaten to replace it with a return to the old pass/fail way of doing things.
Hon Peter DunneIs the Minister concerned about the gap between male and female achievement that the latest results show; if he is concerned about that, can he advise the House when the initiatives to address achievement gaps that he referred to in a written answer to my colleague Judy Turner last July will start to produce a more even balance between male and female achievement?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
Yes, of course I am concerned about the performance of boys against girls. I still have a reference group working on this particular area, but it has identified at this time that the major cause seems to be the drop-off in reading, particularly as boys move into adolescence. Given that we are now enjoying increasing success in the reading programmes that we have in place in schools, I would hope that those successes will start to feed through into NCEA results from now on.