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The high school pathway to university is too relaxed and is leading to a drop in literacy among those taking up higher education, according to a Victoria University education academic.
Dr Bronwyn Wood says while there is a drop in literacy across the board due to our increasingly digital lives, the New Zealand NCEA university entrance pathway needs to be firmer.
Last week Canterbury University associate professor Mike Grimshaw said schools were not preparing students adequately for university and many were starting uni "functionally illiterate".
A 2020 UNICEF report found nearly 65 per cent of 15-year-olds in New Zealand had a basic level of proficiency in maths and reading.
Dr Wood says it would not take much to firm up the NCEA system's pathway to university entrance to fix the literacy issue.
