Hon Bill English
National Party Education Spokesman

7 July 2006

NCEA: Maharey’s tinkering won’t motivate students

A new format for NCEA results won’t change serious problems with student motivation, says National Party Education spokesman Bill English.

He is responding to reports that NZQA is looking to simplify NCEA reports.

Mr English says one of the best ways to increase student motivation and performance would be to add more grades and reward different levels of performance.

Currently, about 50 per cent of students get the ‘achieved’ grade, which could cover grades of 35 to 70 per cent.

“A further 30% fail, so eight out of ten students get average or nothing,” says Mr English.

“It’s no wonder some students don't make an effort, when they see other students doing much less and getting the same reward.

“Students will respond to a challenge if they see a challenge. Because the Government makes it easy, students take it easy.

“This system drives students to mediocrity but our students are so much better than that.

“Unfortunately, Labour believes the best way to help the students at the bottom of the pack is to hold everyone else back. That’s wrong, but it seems increasingly unlikely there will be any change under Mr Maharey’s stewardship.”

Mr English says Labour doesn’t want to concede any ground and is moving far too slowly to fix the problems with the NCEA, leaving students to suffer as a result.

ENDS

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