Mallard Must Step In Over Exam Row, Says ACT
ACT New Zealand Education Spokesman Deborah Coddington today urged Education Minister Trevor Mallard to investigate the
New Zealand Qualifications Authority's refusal to reconsider making some high school students sit three exams in one
day.
"On National Radio today, Wellington College Principal Roger Moses said that two students at his school, and many
others around the country, are being forced to sit three exams within a matter of hours, Miss Coddington said.
"Sitting one exam in a day is hard enough. Two can be an exhausting. Three is just too much. While these students could
achieve their full potential in the first exam - and maybe the second - chances are that fatigue will prevent them from
doing their best come the third.
"Mr Moses' solution - an offer to supervise his students so that they could sit one of their exams the next day - was
refused outright by the NZQA.
"This, despite a draft exam timetable prepared by the NZQA earlier in the year, that showed no subject clashes. It was
not until early June that Mr Moses received a copy of the final timetable showing his students would face three exams in
one day.
"NZQA's only suggestion upon being notified of the problem was that the students should change subjects - half way
through the year.
"This is abhorrent. These are hard-working, gifted children who have done everything that can be expected to succeed.
Now the NZQA is making unreasonable demands which could see all their hard work over the past year go down the drain.
"These children deserve a fair go, and Mr Mallard must step in and come up with a solution as soon as possible. The
NZQA should be celebrating achievement, not punishing these students for working hard," Miss Coddington said.