Erica Stanford: National's education spokesperson on St Cuthbert’s College concern about new NCEA Level 1, writing its own

A top Auckland private school has so little confidence in the new NCEA Level 1 curriculum it is ditching the qualification in favour of its own Year 11 diploma next year.

St Cuthbert’s College informed parents Wednesday next year’s Year 11 students would not take part in NCEA Level 1 but rather work towards the school’s own bespoke Year 11 Diploma.

Principal Justine Mahon said several of the school’s senior academic staff had been on Government advisory panels for NZQA’s proposed changes to NCEA and had become increasingly concerned by what would be taught in 2024.

“We don’t think it provides sufficient, in-depth learning for our students,” she told the Herald.

“I’m also concerned about educational standards in New Zealand. Some subjects have been merged so that means that potentially, hundreds of students throughout the country will have a less rigorous conceptual framework.”

Chemistry and biology had been merged into one subject as had accounting, business and economics. Several subjects, mostly in the arts, had also been removed.

Mahon also believed “fundamentals” like the writing requirement and mathematics had been “dumbed down”.

As an example, deputy head of the senior school and head of calculus, Julia Fuge, said the current Level 1 curriculum devoted a third of learning to each of number and algebra, geometry and measurement and statistics and probability.

The “refreshed” NZQA curriculum devoted half of the teaching time to statistics and probability and the other half to algebra, measurement, geometry and number.

“We feel Level 1 is far too young to reduce the teaching of algebra to an eighth of the course. Like a language, it is very hard to pick up later on and is crucial for our future graduates in the fields of science, engineering, medicine, economics and even statistics itself,” Fuge said.

“Currently, Level 1 mathematics has an MCAT exam which is set externally and completed in Term 3 nationally. This keeps standards high and this is being removed in the new 2024 course.”

St Cuthbert's College principal Justine Mahon does not believe the "refreshed" NCEA Level 1 provides sufficient, in-depth learning. Photo / File

Mahon said the programme would “deliver a world-class, comprehensive curriculum which is intellectually rigorous, well-rounded and more challenging than what is being implemented by NZQA next year”.

She said less time on internal assessments and exam leave would provide six more weeks of teaching time allowing subjects to be taught more in-depth.

Mahon said there would still be end-of-year exams and other “rigorous and relevant assessments” but it would be less of a focus.

“We’ve got to be careful that assessment doesn’t drive learning. That’s not to say that we don’t have assessment but you’ve got to be very considered in how you position this.”

She said they did not yet know what the new NCEA Level 2 and 3 curriculums would look like but had staff on the panels who would be agitating for a high standard and a strong conceptual framework.

“It doesn’t only matter to St Cuthbert’s girls, it matters to us as educators that throughout the country Level 2 and 3 prepare students for the next step,” she said.

“NZQA will have to ensure that they are rigorous otherwise we will be disadvantaging students in their entry into universities. They won’t be able to make similar drastic changes to Levels 2 and 3 without compromising students’ tertiary opportunities.”

St Cuthbert’s would continue offering both NCEA and International Baccalaureate qualifications to cater to all students in Year 12 and 13.

Mahon said taking part in service projects and co-curricular activities like sport, drama, debating or music were also requirements of the diploma as was a 95 per cent attendance rate.

St Cuthbert's College will offer its own Year 11 diploma from next year instead of the new NCEA Level 1. Photo / Supplied

One St Cuthbert’s parent, who has a daughter in Year 8, said she the school’s decision only confirmed her fears about the state of the education system.

The mum of three had intended to send her daughter back to public school for her secondary years but was now reconsidering.

“I had always thought my kids might go to university in Australia and it just concerns me that they might turn up and be so far behind the eight-ball that they can’t catch up,” she said.

“I believe in public education. I don’t want to be sending my kid to a private school. I want them to go to the local Government school but it just doesn’t seem that it’s good enough.”

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