It’s the putting right that counts

4 August 2005

It’s the putting right that counts

Secondary teachers will be pleased to know that the State Services Commission has validated their concerns about NZQA and the NCEA and has begun a process to get things fixed, PPTA president Debbie Te Whaiti said today.

“All the proposals to enhance relationships with the secondary teaching profession are very welcome.

“For example, we are pleased the report calls for more secondary expertise on NZQA’s board, and for NZQA to listen to and address concerns raised by the profession.

“We also support the suggested processes to reduce exam variability. This has to be addressed if the NCEA is to be a credible qualification system.”

Mrs Te Whaiti said teachers would also welcome the review team’s initiatives to strengthen the external moderation of internal assessment.

“It is good news that the concerns about moderation expressed by teachers in PPTA’s focus group research Teachers talk about NCEA are replicated here.

“The report supports the work currently being done to enhance the moderation system.

“In particular, PPTA NZQA and the Ministry are discussing proposals to free up practising teachers to moderate and provide advice and local support.

“This is consistent with the report’s advice and something teachers have been calling for.

Mrs Te Whaiti said the outstanding issue that teachers wanted to see the agencies grapple with was the excessive workload associated with NCEA, which was driving some teachers out of the profession.

“The report demonstrates the huge challenges that schools have faced in implementing the NCEA.

“The key now is that agencies get on and do the work to make the job of schools more manageable.”

Mrs Te Whaiti said that teachers were committed to doing everything they could to make NCEA work better for kids.

“Now it is time for politicians and government agencies to do the same.” Link to the Secondary Teacher Workload report - http://www.ppta.org.nz/cms/imagelibrary/101107.doc

ENDS

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