The Education Minister agrees NCEA level one doesn't work in its current form.
The Education Review Office has called for a rethink of the qualification- after a review revealed it's not a fair or reliable measure of knowledge and skills.
Minister Erica Stanford says she's going to take the findings of this review on board to re-evaluate the standards.
"At the moment, it's trying to be a level up into level two and it's also trying to be a school leavers' - and in the end, it's neither of those things. So it's not working as it is."
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The er.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
The Education Review Office has called for a rethink of
NCAA Level one now. Its report says that the qualification
is not fair, not reliable, and more than a quarter
of schools are going to stop offering it next year now.
It also found seventy percent of employers have little faith
that level one actually equipped students with the right skills
and knowledge for employment. And the person in charge of
fixing up this particular shambles is obviously the Education Minister,
(00:22):
Erica Stanford, who's with us now.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Erica Halo, Good afternoon, Erica.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I'm well, thank you. Before we get into it, how
are you, because obviously you knew Nikki Kay quite well.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I did. She was my mentor when I came into Parliament.
She looked after me, She took me under her wing,
She shared all her knowledge, She got me through my
first Member's bill. She used to bring me kombcher and
her weird healthy food, you know, when we had issues
and problems. She was just such a lovely, kind, caring person.
And I'm just so heartbroken. It's it's just awful.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
It sounds like, I mean, obviously, all the way back
in twenty sixteen, when we knew that Nikki had been diagnosed.
We knew, I think most of us that it was
incurable and that eventually we'll catch her out right, but
she seemed reasonably healthy in the intervening years. So did
this just happened really fast?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I don't know about all the details of what happened,
but I think there's a lot of things that she
kept very close to herself and didn't share with other people.
That's just nicky.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, fair enough. Hey, listen on NCAA Level one, are
you open to scrapping it?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I need to make sure that we've got a rigorous,
internationally comparable national qualification that sets our kids up for success.
And this report clearly was the wake up call that
the system needed to make decisive and enduring change, and
that may well be taking a look at level one
and what is the purpose of it, because at the
moment it's trying to be a level up into level two,
(01:51):
and it's also trying to be as school leavers, and
in the end it's neither of those things. So it's
not working as it is. So we will take their
recommendations and consider them very seriously.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
If we scraped level one, do we scrap level two?
And three.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I asked for this report because I knew that the
implementation of Level one was horrendous. When I asked for it,
I said to error, I need you to go far
and wide and get as much feedback as you can.
And they came back to me and said, Minister, yes,
there was terrible implementation, but we got bigger problems. Basically,
this report says there are structural issues and while Level
(02:29):
one is particularly bad, those are also evident in two
and three. Now, I'm not saying that those young people
have gone out and got you know, the level two
and three, I haven't got an excellent qualification because many
of those young people have gone on to extraordinary success.
And I'm not saying that, but we certainly do need
to take a look at the structure, because, as you know,
(02:50):
kids can get halfway through the year and have either
realized they're failing and stopped or realized they've passed. Right.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Hold on, are you saying you keep level two and three,
you maybe get rid of the internal examinations or something
like that, you change it fundamentally.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I think that's right, and I think what we're looking
at I've already set up halfway through this year, a
policy advisory group of the best principles from around the
country from a range of different schools to provide me
advice on what I knew was going wrong. This report
will now focus their attention. They've already had a briefing
and they will report back to me next year on
how to solve these fundamental problems so that parents understand it,
(03:30):
so that teachers can have confidence, and that young people
can have something that they can strive for that they
know is a good qualification.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Erica, why don't we just go back to IB or
Cambridge internationally recognized.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
We need a national qualification that is ours that we
can stand in mind and feel proud of well, because
IB doesn't serit every kid, neither does Cambridge. Cambridge as
exam focused, IB is very prescriptive on all of the
things you must do. You have to do a language
and it can't be today. Oh by the way, because
it's international, don't necessarily suit us. And if you want
to choose to do those at the school you're going
(04:03):
to that offer it, that's fine. But we need to
have our own qualification that is internationally comparable that we
can stand behind. But we need to make sure that
it's rigorous.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Okay, Hey, jeez, Erica, I don't know if I should
tell you this. We've come up with a nickname for you.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Oh no, I don't.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Shall I not tell you?
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Do you know what my kids call me? No, no,
I'm not going to tell you. I'm not going to
you go first swear at a Stanford they call me Skerka.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Which one's worse. Well, I'm glad you're so worried you're
going to give me a telling off for that, you know,
and and I've heard your telling offs are quite potty,
so I was worried about it. So I'm pleased that
please that you took that in the spirit it was intended.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
My telegraphs aren't potty. That's terrible. No will mate mistakes.
And you know that the house, the order of the
House needs to be upheld in eric.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Please, in the scale of what happened in the last
few weeks, I think you're really on the mild end.
I think you're okay there, listen, thank you very much,
really appreciate your time. That's Eric A Stanford, the education minister.
Look at that, good sort. I took it in the
spirit it was intended. Now you know you're allowed to
call her that. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive,
listen live to news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,
(05:14):
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
The er.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
The Education Review Office has called for a rethink of
NCAA Level one now. Its report says that the qualification
is not fair, not reliable, and more than a quarter
of schools are going to stop offering it next year now.
It also found seventy percent of employers have little faith
that level one actually equipped students with the right skills
and knowledge for employment. And the person in charge of
fixing up this particular shambles is obviously the Education Minister,
(00:22):
Erica Stanford, who's with us now.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Erica Halo, Good afternoon, Erica.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I'm well, thank you. Before we get into it, how
are you, because obviously you knew Nikki Kay quite well.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I did. She was my mentor when I came into Parliament.
She looked after me, She took me under her wing,
She shared all her knowledge, She got me through my
first Member's bill. She used to bring me kombcher and
her weird healthy food, you know, when we had issues
and problems. She was just such a lovely, kind, caring person.
And I'm just so heartbroken. It's it's just awful.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
It sounds like, I mean, obviously, all the way back
in twenty sixteen, when we knew that Nikki had been diagnosed.
We knew, I think most of us that it was
incurable and that eventually we'll catch her out right, but
she seemed reasonably healthy in the intervening years. So did
this just happened really fast?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I don't know about all the details of what happened,
but I think there's a lot of things that she
kept very close to herself and didn't share with other people.
That's just nicky.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, fair enough. Hey, listen on NCAA Level one, are
you open to scrapping it?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I need to make sure that we've got a rigorous,
internationally comparable national qualification that sets our kids up for success.
And this report clearly was the wake up call that
the system needed to make decisive and enduring change, and
that may well be taking a look at level one
and what is the purpose of it, because at the
moment it's trying to be a level up into level two,
(01:51):
and it's also trying to be as school leavers, and
in the end it's neither of those things. So it's
not working as it is. So we will take their
recommendations and consider them very seriously.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
If we scraped level one, do we scrap level two?
And three.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I asked for this report because I knew that the
implementation of Level one was horrendous. When I asked for it,
I said to error, I need you to go far
and wide and get as much feedback as you can.
And they came back to me and said, Minister, yes,
there was terrible implementation, but we got bigger problems. Basically,
this report says there are structural issues and while Level
(02:29):
one is particularly bad, those are also evident in two
and three. Now, I'm not saying that those young people
have gone out and got you know, the level two
and three, I haven't got an excellent qualification because many
of those young people have gone on to extraordinary success.
And I'm not saying that, but we certainly do need
to take a look at the structure, because, as you know,
(02:50):
kids can get halfway through the year and have either
realized they're failing and stopped or realized they've passed. Right.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Hold on, are you saying you keep level two and three,
you maybe get rid of the internal examinations or something
like that, you change it fundamentally.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I think that's right, and I think what we're looking
at I've already set up halfway through this year, a
policy advisory group of the best principles from around the
country from a range of different schools to provide me
advice on what I knew was going wrong. This report
will now focus their attention. They've already had a briefing
and they will report back to me next year on
how to solve these fundamental problems so that parents understand it,
(03:30):
so that teachers can have confidence, and that young people
can have something that they can strive for that they
know is a good qualification.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Erica, why don't we just go back to IB or
Cambridge internationally recognized.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
We need a national qualification that is ours that we
can stand in mind and feel proud of well, because
IB doesn't serit every kid, neither does Cambridge. Cambridge as
exam focused, IB is very prescriptive on all of the
things you must do. You have to do a language
and it can't be today. Oh by the way, because
it's international, don't necessarily suit us. And if you want
to choose to do those at the school you're going
(04:03):
to that offer it, that's fine. But we need to
have our own qualification that is internationally comparable that we
can stand behind. But we need to make sure that
it's rigorous.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Okay, Hey, jeez, Erica, I don't know if I should
tell you this. We've come up with a nickname for you.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Oh no, I don't.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Shall I not tell you?
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Do you know what my kids call me? No, no,
I'm not going to tell you. I'm not going to
you go first swear at a Stanford they call me Skerka.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Which one's worse. Well, I'm glad you're so worried you're
going to give me a telling off for that, you know,
and and I've heard your telling offs are quite potty,
so I was worried about it. So I'm pleased that
please that you took that in the spirit it was intended.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
My telegraphs aren't potty. That's terrible. No will mate mistakes.
And you know that the house, the order of the
House needs to be upheld in eric.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Please, in the scale of what happened in the last
few weeks, I think you're really on the mild end.
I think you're okay there, listen, thank you very much,
really appreciate your time. That's Eric A Stanford, the education minister.
Look at that, good sort. I took it in the
spirit it was intended. Now you know you're allowed to
call her that. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive,
listen live to news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,
(05:14):
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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