Students will be able to get literacy and numeracy by internal assessment until 2027. Photo: 123RF
Secondary principals have welcomed the government's decision to extend an alternative to NCEA literacy and numeracy tests.
Until the end of 2027, teenagers will be allowed to meet new literacy and numeracy standards by completing specific achievement standards - two years later than initially planned.
The standards are an alternative to online reading, writing and maths tests that many students are struggling with.
Students must achieve the literacy and numeracy corequisites in order to attain any NCEA qualifications.
Teachers said to pass the tests, students needed to be performing at a level expected of students by the time they finish intermediate school - but many teens were arriving at secondary school below that level.
Part of the 2024 NZQA literacy test for writing. Photo: NZQA / screenshot
Secondary Principals' Association president Vaughan Couillault said the alternative pathway was important because the online tests seemed to be creating a bigger issue than the problem they were trying to solve.
The alternative standards might need further refinement, because they were large, five-credit standards and required a lot of work from students.
"It's not dumbing down. It's not a soft option. It requires students to go and find an additional 20 credits over a period of time. And remember, a credit is about a week or a week-and-a-bit worth of work in your particular subject area. And so it's probably the harder option in terms of time commitment, but it helps in dealing with the students that point-in-time, exam-type assessments freak them out or they for whatever reason don't perform," he said.
Couillault said schools were trying to ensure the new literacy and numeracy corequisites did not bring a drop in NCEA pass rates.
"All of us are working very, very hard, weighing and measuring and seeing where people are at with their literacy and numeracy before the year ends, to try and intervene as early as possible. But it's proving a little bit more challenging than we expected."
Minister of Education Erica Stanford said she decided to extend the use of the standards after hearing from schools.
"The reason that I've asked my officials to extend it for two years is because it's been very clear to me that just by putting an assessment in place doesn't mean that kids are suddenly, magically going to get it.
"It's really, really tough for secondary schools that I've spoken to, to get these kids across the line because they're starting from so far back when they hit high school," she said.
"The issue has been that we haven't put anything in at primary, intermediate to get these kids ready. And so of course they're not doing as well and so we have to continue with the two options, either going through the corequisite assessment or going through the tagged [achievement] standards."
Asked if the alternative pathway should become permanent, Stanford said she was taking advice on all options.
The standards were not an easier option than the online tests, she said.
"I don't think that the tagged standards are particularly a soft option at all. They're just a different pathway... one will suit some kids and one will suit another. We're just trying to be a bit flexible."
Stanford said ideally the corequisite would not be required, because achieving an NCEA certificate should be a guarantee in itself of literacy and numeracy.
But to get to that point, primary schools needed a knowledge-based curriculum combined with evidence-based teaching and assessment and support for pupils who were failing, she said.
"Those are all the things that we are doing at pace and primary and intermediate to make sure that kids are ready to hit the ground running at high school and pass."
