National Certificate Of Educational Achievement Research Articles

Current trends in economics enrolments at secondary and tertiary level

The number of students studying economics in New Zealand secondary schools and universities has declined sharply in recent years. The introduction of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), which resulted in a far wider choice of subjects mirrored the experience in Australian schools in the 1990s when a range of more vocational subjects were introduced. Of immediate concern for economics departments around New Zealand is the recent introduction of business studies NCEA achievement standards in secondary schools. If the New Zealand experience mirrors that of the Australian experience, the introduction of business studies into secondary schools will lead to a substantive decrease in the number of students studying economics at the tertiary level.

ニュージーランドの「教育到達度国家証書(NCEA)」レベル1日本語 : 改訂点および試験の特徴とその課題

ニュージーランドの「教育到達度国家証書(NCEA)」レベル1日本語 : 改訂点および試験の特徴とその課題

Tongan secondary students’ conceptions of schooling in New Zealand relative to their academic achievement

This study examines the relationship between Tongan students' attitudes and beliefs towards their school experiences and their academic achievement on the high- stakes National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) assessments in English and mathematics. Data were obtained from using previously published self- reported inventories on a sample of Tongan senior students in New Zealand secondary schools. Confirmatory factor analysis of students' conceptions found good fit measure- ment models for each domain (teaching, learning, and assessment). Structural equation modelling was used to identify the effect of the various beliefs upon students' total score in each subject and upon internal and externally assessed performance. It was noted that different beliefs became statistically significant predictors of performance, depending on the subject and type of assessment. None- theless, all three constructs played some role in at least one subject. A small-to-moderate proportion of variance in NCEA performance could be attributed to student beliefs, suggesting that efforts to help students adopt adaptive beliefs will have beneficial consequences for those students.

Radical Assessment and Qualification Reform in New Zealand: The Rocky Road to National Certificate of Educational Achievement

Radical Assessment and Qualification Reform in New Zealand: The Rocky Road to National Certificate of Educational Achievement

Identifying the comparative academic performance of secondary schools

PurposeOne of the features of the New Zealand secondary schools system is that achievement closely reflects the taught curriculum. The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) directly assesses student achievement on the secondary school curriculum through a combination of criterion‐based internal and external assessments. The nature of NCEA means school‐level results not only reflect student achievement but also the ability of leaders to organise, deliver, and monitor a relevant curriculum for students. This paper aims to describe how NCEA data were used to develop a simple but fair system to assess the relative performance of secondary schools.Design/methodology/approachNo standardised measures of performance prior to Year 11 are available in New Zealand. Nor are student‐level data available. In the absence of these, multiple indicators of gross performance, added value and improvement over time were analysed using a schools‐of‐similar‐type methodology.FindingsResults indicated that schools in the low and middle SES communities were more likely to be improving than others, but these improving schools were also more likely to be already high‐ or mid‐performing. Low‐performing schools were least likely to be improving.Originality/valueSome advantages of this methodology are its ability to be utilised with any publicly available standards‐based achievement data, its validity as an indicator of leadership and organisational performance, and its ability to track school performance trends over time.

Trickle-down effects: How have developments in senior secondary school social studies shaped practice in junior secondary social studies?

Since the introduction of senior social studies for the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA ) in 2002, some progress has been made towards developing a unique identity for the subject. This progress has clarified a number of unresolved tensions relating to the nature and purpose of social studies, which have recurred during its 65-year history in New Zealand. This paper will explore how recent developments in senior social studies can productively influence pedagogy in junior secondary school social studies classes, thus improving the credibility and status of the subject at both levels in the secondary school context.

Has the Academic Performance of Low Socioeconomic Students and Students from Ethnic Minorities Improved in the Subject of Economics over the First Five Years of a Standards-Based Assessment Regime?

This article aims to establish whether the first five years of full implementation of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) has seen improvement in the achievement of students from low socioeconomic status (SES) schools, and from ethnic minorities, in the subject of economics. The findings show that the academic performance of low-SES students in economics has significantly worsened from 2004 to 2008. When data are stratified by ethnicity and SES status, Asian students have seen an increase in academic performance in economics across all SES groupings. Pacific Island students have seen no significant change in their academic performance in economics for low-and medium-decile school students, but a significant improvement in academic performance for students from high-decile schools. Maori students have seen significant improvement in academic performance in economics in medium- and high-decile schools, but have experienced a significant deterioration in academic performance in low-decile schools. There has also been a large decrease in the number of students from low-SES schools taking the subject of economics. This raises questions around the relevance and suitability of the current secondary school economics curriculum to low-SES students, as well as around its suitability for the new NCEA assessment regime.

A little knowledge being a dangerous thing?: Decile-based approaches to developing NCEA league tables

In recent years it has become increasingly common for New Zealand newspapers and magazines to publish “league tables” comparing schools’ performances in National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). Since these results strongly reflect socio-economic differences between schools, some media outlets have taken up the practice of arranging school results by socio-economic deciles and/or providing decile “averages”. Although this approach is intended to indicate more clearly “value added” than approaches that do not group schools by decile, this article urges caution towards decile-based comparisons on the grounds that schools have numerous contextual differences that are not reflected in decile ratings. The problem is illustrated here by comparing findings from research in two schools with the same decile rating. We conclude that taking account of deciles does not make judgments about school NCEA performance more defensible, and suggest that the practice be discouraged.

New Zealand's standard-based assessment for secondary schools (NCEA): implications for policy makers

The objective of this study was to identify the different features of New Zealand's National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) that can affect student outcomes. Despite the huge public debate surrounding its implementation, very little research has been carried out on the features and effectiveness of the NCEA. By analysing the national dataset of the first cohort of NCEA students this study suggests that the current implementation of the NCEA is less than optimal. New models for analysing NCEA data are introduced. Models based on quality of learning were more equitable and demonstrated higher predictability of university achievement than models based on mere accumulation of credits. Recommendations for improving the way the NCEA is conducted and implications for different groups of students are discussed.

Māori and Pacific secondary student and parent perspectives on achievement, motivation and NCEA

New Zealand's previous examination-based secondary assessment system can be viewed as encompassing cultural values presenting unfair challenges for indigenous and other nonmajority students. The standards-based National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) incorporates enhanced flexibility, student choice and grading practices independent of comparisons with others. These features may be a better match for the educational aspirations of collectivist cultures, yet little is known about the views of Maori and Pacific students and their parents on NCEA. In this study, Maori and Pacific students and parents were interviewed about NCEA and its impact on motivation and achievement. Participants reported valuing the opportunities and outcomes associated with NCEA while emphasising where further work is needed. The implications of these findings are discussed for policy and practice within the NCEA framework.

Learning through moderation: Minding our language

I'm writing this commentary just after the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) has released the 2009 school statistics for overall achievement in the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). This is the stuff of which league tables are constructed, but this annual event also seems to invite critical comment on other aspects of NCEA. Like league tables, these other interpretations of what the data are saying can also make headline news. This year moderation is in one reporter's sights as the 'latest controversy to dog NCEA' (Sutton, 2010). Leaving aside the fact that moderation has been contentious right since the inception of NCEA - so is hardly a 'latest' issue - I want to look at the impression of moderation as an activity that is cued by the language used in this and other such articles, and I suspect in many school conversations, both between teachers and with students and parents.

What's on top for geography teachers? National Certificate of Educational Achievement and the prioritization of professional development

AbstractGeography teachers' work is influenced by multiple education policy initiatives. Professional development opportunities emerge to support these policy changes and associated compliance issues. This paper reports the results of a survey in which geography teachers self‐reported their knowledge and prioritized professional development needs. The data indicate that some compliance issues associated with assessment policy reform have largely been resolved, while more substantive assessment and course design issues continue to be prioritized for professional development. However, professional development that continues to focus on assessment reform may marginalize geography teachers' engagement with concurrent curriculum and pedagogical policy initiatives.

Managing NCEA assessment practice more effectively

AbstractThe National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), introduced early this decade, is the national qualification for New Zealand senior secondary school students. Commencing with Level 1 in 2002, the implementation of NCEA represented a marked change from previous norm‐referenced‐based qualifications and required a considerable paradigm shift in teacher assessment practice. During the transition period, learner needs often took second place to assessment in geography classrooms. This paper identifies the practices that Year 11 geography teachers used post NCEA implementation to manage assessment practice more effectively and to address the perceived over‐emphasis on assessment.

How high ability students perceived the practice of influential teachers

In 2005, acting on advice received from the Scholarship Reference Group, the New Zealand government introduced re-designed New Zealand Qualifications Authority Scholarship Awards. One goal of these awards was to help motivate students to strive to develop and display excellence. Distribution was aimed at approximately 3 percent of students studying at Level 3 National Certificate of Educational Achievement with this proportion consistent with the level many consider to be ‘gifted and talented’ learners. This article identifies secondary school students’ perceptions of those factors they perceive to have facilitated their success in New Zealand Qualifications Authority Scholarship. Results show that effective teachers of gifted students demonstrate personal and professional characteristics that facilitate high academic success.

Secondary student motivation orientations and standards‐based achievement outcomes

Individual student characteristics such as competence motivation, achievement values, and goal orientations have been related in meaningful ways to task attainment. The standards-based National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) was developed in New Zealand with the intention of strengthening connections between student learning behaviours and achievement outcomes. This study investigates interrelationships between self-reported motivation orientations and achievement outcomes on the NCEA, a standards-based, criterion-referenced assessment system for senior secondary students. Participants were 3,569 Year 11-Year 13 students at 20 nationally representative secondary schools in New Zealand. Survey data were factor analysed followed by regression analyses to examine relationships across demographic factors, self-report survey results, and NCEA achievement outcomes. Several theoretically meaningful self-reported motivation orientations were strongly related to actual achievement including doing my best (high achievement) and doing just enough (low achievement). These dimensions varied by gender, ethnicity, and school zone decile. These findings illustrate how particular design features of a standards-based assessment system relate to student attitudes and achievement. They also highlight the need for longitudinal research to investigate patterns over time as well as the possible impact of interventions to alter motivation and/or academic task performance.

The predictability of enrolment and first‐year university results from secondary school performance: the New Zealand National Certificate of Educational Achievement

This study investigates the predictive correlations between results from the New Zealand National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), a standards‐based qualification, and university grade point averages achieved by first‐year students in one large New Zealand University (and, for comparison purposes, also presents correlations from the Cambridge International Examinations [CIE], an international norm‐referenced system delivered in New Zealand, and university grade point averages achieved by first‐year students who entered with that qualification). The study then evaluates alternative models for university entrance, using different attributes of the qualifications for possible entry criteria, and ascertains the implications of the best of these models for different groups of students. The best alternative model gives greater weight to excellence and merit in NCEA results, and less weight to credit accumulation at minimum pass rates. A combination of this alternative model and the current model provides a merit‐based admissions system which would potentially increase the number of students from groups under‐represented in university education in New Zealand (students from Maori and Pacific ethnicities and from schools in lower socio‐economic communities), who are admitted with no necessary decline in the success rate during first‐year university study.

Caught in between: How the scientific management of education in New Zealand made history history

Abstract Scientific management theory (SMT) is based on state legislation to control education. It usually involves an outcomes-based curriculum, standards-based assessment, audit mechanisms, and an unquestioned commitment to evidence-based practice. This approach has been detrimental to the study of history, where a student's progress depends on the depth and breadth of their knowledge about the past rather than isolated, measurable, and transferable skills. History's predicament has been compounded by the way in which the SMT model has been implemented in New Zealand. Particular difficulties have arisen from the organisation of the curriculum around learning areas rather than subjects, as well as the development of standards-based assessment for history without an outcomes-based curriculum to work from. The revised New Zealand curriculum provides a small window of opportunity for history teachers to undermine the scientific management of their subject and to reintegrate curriculum, assessment, and evaluation. Introduction In 2002, the Labour-led government implemented the final aspect of the scientific management model of educational control in New Zealand. After several false starts, the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) was finally rolled out over three years. It was heralded as a seamless qualification through which students would be recognised for their performance against predetermined standards. Scaled percentages and bell curves were a thing of the past. Despite the three levels of achievement (Achieved, Achieved with Merit, and Achieved with Excellence) that could be awarded in order to distinguish levels of achievement against each standard, the NCEA was a relatively pure form of standards-based assessment. Philosophically, it appeared to sit comfortably with the outcomes-based New Zealand curriculum that had been introduced for seven essential learning areas from 1992. The curriculum, which specified outcomes for student attainment at each curriculum level, could now be summatively assessed, with national qualifications awarded accordingly. The Tomorrow's Schools reforms, energetically championed by the Prime Minister and Minister of Education, David Lange, between 1987 and 1989, had led to a vastly reduced educational bureaucracy. The Picot Report argued that many educational decisions should be made at the level that was most affected by them--the school (Wood, 1993). The state would maintain control of the curriculum and set National Educational Guidelines and National Administrative Guidelines (NEGs and NAGs) to point schools in the right direction. School inspectors were replaced with reviewers from the Education Review Office (ERO), who were to perform audits, ensuring that the boards of trustees were doing their job and that the government was getting for its money. An era of evidence-based research about teaching and learning began and has escalated ever since. Boards of trustees and teachers were required to explain how they knew they were adding value to the education of each student. To this day there is an unquestioned commitment throughout the education sector to the idea that we need evidence to justify what we do. Since the second term of the Fourth Labour Government (1987-1990) until the launch of the revised New Zealand curriculum, there has effectively been a bipartisan commitment to the scientific management of education by New Zealand's political parties. The political debate around NCEA has focused largely on problems with student motivation and the quality of examination papers, marking, and moderation rather than the legitimacy of standards-based assessment for high-stakes qualifications. Public debate about the revised New Zealand curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007), and the draft curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2006) which preceded it, largely centred on its content and omissions rather than the philosophical underpinnings of an outcomes-based document. …

Implementing Level 1 NCEA geography: Perceived challenges, obstacles and support systems

Abstract: The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is the recently introduced national qualification for New Zealand senior secondary school students. Based on a mix of internal and external assessment against achievement standards, it represents a marked change from the previous norm‐reference based qualifications. Introduced in 2002, commencing with Level 1, NCEA involved a considerable paradigm shift in assessment practice for teachers. This paper focuses on teachers’ perceptions regarding the process of implementing the Level 1 geography NCEA achievement standards. It highlights the initial challenges faced, factors considered to assist and hinder the implementation change process and the lessons learnt.

Leadership in technology education

Abstract The implementation of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) has posed a challenge for curriculum leaders and teachers in all learning areas. These challenges have been particularly acute for technology departments because of the need for teachers from a range of subject areas to develop coherent, school-wide technology programmes that ensure a range of opportunities for student achievement in technology education. This paper is based on research carried out in 2002 and 2003, when NCEA Level 1 was being implemented. It details the importance and impact of curriculum leadership using case studies of three technology departments, as described by teachers and the leaders themselves. The findings indicate that curriculum leadership affects teacher confidence and the way technology is taught and assessed within a school. A framework that has the potential to support student achievement in technology education is suggested for leaders to consider. Introduction Leadership within a school is a key influence on teacher response to educational change (Fullan, 2002). Leadership is about providing both the direction and the means to accomplish change, and often involves taking people outside their comfort zone (McGee, 1997). Leadership for change can be provided by the principal and others in senior management, by heads of department, and by classroom teachers (McGee,1997), although principal support for change is an important contributor to teacher commitment to implementation (Fullan, 1991). In secondary schools, heads of departments, as curriculum leaders, play a key role in leading change relating to teaching and learning (McLaughlin & Talbert, 2001). Research suggests that there is some variation between schools in teaching and assessing the curriculum, particularly between different subject areas, with some of these variations involving the differential leadership of department leaders (Busher & Harris, 2000). Subject teachers tend to recognise the department rather than the school as the central and immediate unit of organisation (Busher & Harris, 1999). Heads of department are responsible for the operational work of the teachers in their curriculum area. They have discretion over decisions regarding curriculum delivery affecting teaching and learning in the classroom, including what teaching materials are used and how students are assessed (Brundrett & Turrell, 2004). These heads of department are often the most accessible and immediate source of professional development for teachers within a curriculum area. As leaders they need to be able to: * work with department members, both as individuals and as a group, to develop a shared vision * foster knowledge creation as well as knowledge sharing * monitor and manage ongoing change (Fullan, 2002). Leadership for this purpose becomes more crucial at times of change. Teachers need knowledge, support, and time to make sense of and grapple with the practical implications of curriculum change (Fernandez & Ritchie, 2003; Spillane, 1999). Curriculum leadership within a department also involves tasks such as communicating between senior management and staff in the department (Busher & Harris, 1999). The time and resource support teachers need in times of change often have financial and organisational implications that can only be addressed through the support of senior management. Edwards (2002) sums up the diversity of leadership roles within a department in four tasks: managing the business; working with people; guiding the curriculum; and leading towards the future. Each of these is salient when considering the role of a head of department at a time of curriculum or assessment change. Leadership for student achievement in NCEA technology The NCEA, introduced from 2001, aims to focus on raising the achievement of all students by providing wider opportunities for students to accumulate credits from both achievement standards and unit standards, where both academic and vocational learning are acknowledged (Black, 2003). …

The Contribution of Research to the Review of National Qualifications Policy: The Case of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA)

New Zealand has implemented a major reform of secondary qualifications since 2002. This has attracted interest in the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and elsewhere. It is a standards-based system, whereby learners meet explicit “standards” (statements of knowledge and behaviour and assessment criteria) to gain national qualifications. Secondary students now gain credits towards the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). The introduction of the NCEA by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) has been contested, but following government reviews of the conduct of the 2004 national secondary examinations, changes were introduced for the 2005 examinations, and further system review, research and technical monitoring are underway. The purpose of this article is to analyse how research on the NCEA using multiple sources of enquiry has contributed towards understanding its impact on learners, teachers and parents. It concludes with a consideration of some ways in which its implementation might be improved, and raises possible issues for any future review.