High Hopes For A Smooth 2024 NCEA Exam Round

As NCEA results are released today for about 140,000 young people in Aotearoa New Zealand, secondary principals are hopeful that this year’s exam round will be completely free of disruptions.

“Today will be a very memorable one for thousands of young people as they receive the results of their qualifications, enabling them to make exciting plans for their future,” says Kate Gainsford, chairperson of the Secondary Principals’ Council.

“The last three to four years have produced different challenges for ākonga with the disruptions to their learning caused by COVID. We had really hoped that last year’s exam round would be the most ‘normal’ one in a few years. However, the issues with online exams unfortunately added another layer of stress for many students and schools to manage.”

Thousands of students who had registered for the digital exams on 10 November had to resort to doing the exams on paper at the last minute, or after the exam time started, as the technology became unable to cope with the numbers.

Kate Gainsford said principals and teachers commended the NZ Qualifications Authority for quickly deciding to commission an independent review into the running of the digital exams. “We are looking forward to the results of that review and we have high expectations that all problems will be resolved for the 2024 exam round.”

She said those students who were affected by the issues and believed they had been disadvantaged should follow the guidelines provided by NZQA for a review of their grades.

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