John MacDonald: I like the NCEA changes, but...

Yesterday, when the Government announced that it was getting rid of NCEA, my immediate reaction was that it was a mistake.   That we would have been much better sticking with the system we’ve got and improving it.   Twenty-four hours later, I still feel the same.    There are some aspects of the changes that I think are brilliant. But the more I’ve found out about it, the more convinced I am that this could all be done without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.   But here’s what I like.   Quite rightly, people seem to be very excited that the Government wants more young people leaving school with a better understanding of reading, writing, and maths. And it’s not going to get any argument from me.   Because I think we do need to up our game on that front. Which is why it’s going to have this assessment in Year 11 —which is the old 5th form— which will test students on their literacy and numeracy. That’s going to be called the Foundational Skills Award.   The other week, I was at the supermarket and there was a young guy running the check-out. I wanted to split the bill and, without punching numbers into the till trying to work out what half of the overall amount was, he did the numbers in his head. Correctly, by the way.   Which probably shows how low expectations have got when I’m impressed by a young guy at the checkout being able to divide something by two in his head.   So that part of what the government wants to do gets a big tick from me. Because being able to read, write, and do maths are essential for life – whatever you might end up doing after you leave school.   But that could all be done within the current system, we don’t need this major overhaul to achieve that.   I’m also loving the fact that kids wanting to do trades will be able to leave school with a qualification that sets them up for it.   I see one education expert is poo-pooing that, saying that it will create a two-tier system where some students will end up with a vocational qualification and others with an academic qualification.    But so what? That’s not two-tier. That’s not one qualification for the bright kids and one qualification for the thickies. James McDowell from the Motor Trade Association thinks it’s brilliant too that school kids are going to be able to do more at school to ready themselves for taking on a trade.    Other concerns coming through are that going back to the old-school system of more exams and pass or fail marks will mean more students finishing school without any qualifications.   And I agree that that is a real concern, because the way NCEA is structured at the moment means that someone can get credits for things that aren’t all that academic but still mean they leave high school with something to show for their time there.   And they don’t necessarily have to sit exams to get those credits.   So here’s what I’d do. I would keep NCEA, but I would incorporate the brilliant bits of what the Government's wanting to do.   I’d do the testing of reading, writing, and maths. And I would bring-in the trades training part of it too. And I would make sure there are more compulsory exams.   Then, when the kids leave school, I would give them a transcript, like they do at universities. Which would, basically, be a piece of paper showing what subjects they took at high school, what exam marks they got, and what marks they got for other assignments.   Overall, it would be a qualification. But then employers, for example, would be able to read it and see more detail of what a student actually did and actually achieved.   I think that would be way better than throwing everything in the air and starting again. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.