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Please see the talk page to discuss this --> The National Certificate of Educational Achievement ('''NCEA''') is New Zealand's main secondary school Qualification offered to senior high school students—Year 11 through to Year 13. NCEA is a criterion or standard-based Assessment . NCEA assessment is administered both at the school level (internal assessment), and at a national level (external assessment, usually exams). It has three levels, each generally studied in each of the three final school years; each is registered on the National Qualifications Framework at levels 1 through 3 respectively. HISTORY NCEA replaced the previous Secondary School Qualification s in a phased change from 2002 to 2004. The key difference between NCEA and the previous qualification framework is that NCEA is standard- or criterion-based system of Assessment , whereas the previous qualifications were norm based. That is, to pass in NCEA, the student must demonstrate a certain level of knowledge (the criterion or standard), whereas, for example, to pass a School Certificate course, the student had to gain a higher grade than at least half of those sitting that course. The qualifications at the time were the School Certificate , Sixth Form Certificate and the University Bursaries . The Universities Entrance Board ran Bursary and Sixth Form Certificate, and the Ministry of Education ran School Certificate, until 1991 when they were managed by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority . Controversy and media NCEA's phase-in met controversy in the public and media. For some schools, this controversy delayed the introduction of the second level by one year. In these schools the Transitional Sixth Form Certificate was offered for one year in its place. The second and third levels of NCEA were then introduced simultaneously in 2004 . Some schools, most notably Auckland Grammar School which is headed by one of the most prominent critics of NCEA, decided to offer the International General Certificate Of Secondary Education and the A-level General Certificate Of Education instead of or alongside NCEA, for some or all of their students. Some schools did this in fear the new qualification would not be recognized overseas, some did this as critics of NCEA. The IGCSE and IGCE A-level are colloquially known as the "Cambridge exams" in New Zealand since the most prominent examination board is the University Of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate . Some schools opted for the International Baccalaureate . This stepped the controversy up further. On the other hand, some schools, including Pakuranga College which is headed a prominent proponent of NCEA, were fully behind NCEA and supported it. There was, therefore, a significant media battle about the introduction of this qualification. A number of schools including Wellington College have expressed that they would initially implement NCEA but might change to the IGCSE and GCE A-levels. Other people in the education sector, including education experts and universities, were also involved in this debate. Like schools, university professors and education experts were split over NCEA's credibility. As time passed the debate involved opposition politicians as well. It became clear that there were faults in the system, it being a new system that had not been used in any other country before, though it had been tested in some schools. The Ministry of Education defended NCEA from the harsh criticisms that were made of it. Many changes to the system were made in its first years, including the introduction of the New Zealand Scholarship and the awarding of "holistic" grades (see below). In 2004 , after large criticisms of inter-subject and inter-year variability in results, a government inquiry into both NCEA and NZ Scholarship was initiated which resulted in further refinements. The report on NCEA by the State Services Commission was critical of NZQA's performance, and recommended "safety nets" to avoid excessive variation without a suitable explanation. It also recommended that examination papers be returned later to allow more time for marking. During this time, the chief executive and chairman of NZQA both resigned. After some weeding, the number of faults that remain in the system is a matter of wide-ranging opinion. The NCEA remains a point of debate and its first outgoing students are to be watched with great interest. The 31 December 2005 edition of the Dominion Post newspaper reported Victoria University of Wellington assistant academic vice-chancellor Jenny Harper as stating that students who entered Victoria University with NCEA this year were succeeding at the same level as those who had entered with Bursary marks. New Zealand University Entrance Historically this was not a qualification but the University Of New Zealand 's equivalent of Matriculation at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge . The lack of any other standard measure of education caused the status of "Entrant" to become a ''de-facto'' educational qualification. This was until 1961 when the University of New Zealand was dissolved and its admission certification functions were transferred to the Universities Entrance Board which had the effect of making the qualification ''de-jure''. From the late 1880s to 1986 University Entrance was awarded by examination or by "accreditation" (continuous assessment). The right to internally assess University Entrance was initially granted (in the 19th century) only to Nelson College and Wellington College . By the late 1980s most schools had the privilege to accredit University Entrance. From 1986 to 2003 University Entrance was awarded to those who marginally failed to gain a University Bursary . From 2004, under NCEA, University Entrance is based on the results achieved at NCEA Level 3 (see below for details). The NZ University Entrance will still be awarded. The NZ University Entrance Scholarship has been replaced by the New Zealand Scholarship , a different but closely related award. SPECIFICATIONS A student gains the NCEA when he achieves a specified number of credits from standards on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), as follows:
Level 1 is generally studied by students in their eleventh year of schooling, and Levels 2 and 3 at years 12 and 13 respectively. NCEA Level 3 is the national school leavers' qualification. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) administers these qualifications. A standard is a module of work in which competence is demonstrated for the standard (and associated credits) are awarded. Standards in conventional school subjects, which are assessed against three passing grades (achievement, achievement with merit and achievement with excellence), are known as ''achievement standards''. ''Unit standards'' were designed for vocational fields and are either achieved or not achieved. Each credit is intended to represent ten hours of learning; a 120-credit course in one year is considered to be full-time equivalent. Standards at Levels 1 to 3 are generally worth between two and eight credits. Subjects While the taking of prescribed subject courses is neither mandatory nor recognised by the certificate, academic subjects generally have matrices of recommended achievement standards for that subject. A subject matrix generally consists of 24 credits. Schools are not required to use or teach to these achievement standard combinations; school often design courses of achievement standards, unit standards, or a mixture of both, for vocational courses or courses for the less able. NZQA also uses a list of approved subjects to award university entrance. An approved subject is a group of achievement and unit standards that are considered to belong to the same academic subject. Grade average The grade average is a score between 50 and 100, normally assigned a group of achievement standards from the same subject, that can be used for ranking students or to see a rough aggregate measure of performance. Points are awarded for each achievement standard achieved: two points are awarded if it was achieved, three if it was achieved with merit or four if it was achieved with excellence. The grade average is the number of points awarded as a percentage of the maximum possible, that is, if all credits were achieved with excellence. For example, a student who achieves eight credits with excellence and 16 as achievement would have 64 points, so his grade average would be 67. Students are not required to sit a full 24-credit course and the grade average is calculated based only on the standards that were entered and achieved; that is, failed standards are not considered. The grade average is not intended to be a percentage mark, even though its presentation might imply it, it is rather a rough aggregate measure of performance in a subject. This method was put forward by NZQA, but universities have chosen to use the raw points count rather than the grade average to rank entrants. This ensures students who did not take a full course (or fail some standards) do not gain an unfair advantage. University entrance Students who gain 42 credits at Level 3 in no more than four subjects, of which 14 must come from each of two approved subjects, as well as 8 literacy credits at Level 2 and 14 numeracy credits at Level 1, are awarded university entrance. For some tertiary courses which have a limited entry quota, students are ranked by their merit and excellence grades over their best 80 credits. For each credit gained, points are awarded as in the grade average above. Note that points are given per credit, not by standard, so a five-credit standard achieved with merit would get fifteen points. The students above the cut-off point for the course in question are admitted. This method is used over the grade average to ensure that students who did not take a full subject course (or fail some standards) do not gain an unfair advantage. ASSESSMENT Achievement levels Each standard can be achieved at one of three levels:
A failure to gain an achievement grade is reported as ''not achieved'' (NA or N). In externally assessed standards, a blank paper is reported as ''standard not attempted'' (SNA). Marking mechanism NCEA uses a strict Criterion-referenced marking system. In essay or task-based examinations, the criteria for each grade are made so that the marker looks at the work holistically and decides which level of performance has been achieved. For example, in a level 3 English paper, the depth of the candidate's critical analysis of the studied works and the level of fluency shown are considered. In question-based examinations, item-testing is used: questions are set so that answers can demonstrate the levels required for achievement, merit or excellence. Questions which demonstrate basic understanding are known as "achievement questions". Generally, to get an achievement grade, the majority of achievement questions must be correct. To get merit, a student must answer a certain proportion of merit questions correctly, and to get excellence, they must do so for the excellence questions. The proportion varies between subjects, and in most cases, an incomplete answer to an excellence question can be credited as achievement or merit depending on the answer's quality. Typically there are more achievement opportunities than merit ones, and more merit questions than those of excellence. Holistic grades and replacement evidence The fault uncovered in this system was that a student could get the merit and excellence questions right but may stumble on the achievement questions – demonstrating a good understanding of the subject – but would be awarded with a not achieved grade, as he had failed to meet the criteria for achievement. Holistic grades were introduced — so that in such an event where technicalities had prevented the student from succeeding, the marker can use his professional judgement to judge if the student had reached a merit level. Replacement evidence is when a correct answer at a higher level used as evidence for a lower level at the expense of the correct higher-level answer, for example an excellence question being turned into a merit question when the student would not have enough merit questions to get merit otherwise. Supplementing by merit and excellence marks can only occur if these marks that come from a marking opportunity which has not already contributed an achievement mark, otherwise this would be 'double dipping' and in practice counting the mark twice. The exact specifications of holistic grades and replacement evidence vary from subject to subject. PRAISES AND CRITICISMS NCEA has generally met a mixed reception, both from the public and high-profile individuals. Some claim that it is far better than the old system, others claim that it is far worse; some claim that it just needs attention to be fixed. Listed below are some of the main points that have been expressed for and against NCEA. Please note that there may be duplicate and contradicting points between the two arguments, and none of the following points are endorsed in their factual accuracy or advantage. This list includes arguments for each side only. Praises Some say that NCEA is a great step upwards from the old system, meeting the needs of students best. Some of their points are outlined below:
Criticisms NCEA has had its critics on different levels. Some say that NCEA will never achieve acceptance from the public, because it is meaningless. Others say that NCEA needs to be fixed, as NCEA is not heading down the road it was meant to be. The criticism from both views (some of which overlap) are outlined below:
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