No NCEA problems – yeah right
April 29th, 2007 at 10:56 am by David FarrarThe Herald on Sunday has a copy of the annual review of NCEA by the NZQA moderators. It’s a somewhat terrifying litany of problems:
* Te reo teachers were reminded they had to mark and tally student work before handing out a grade and they were also reminded that students should not be relying on cue cards in their spoken-language tests
* Physics and chemistry teachers used assessment tasks straight from the Ministry of Education’s website, which also provided model answers:
* In all levels of history some markers simply ignored the marking schedule and gave out grades that were not deserved.
* Many graphics teachers marked too generously and the review demanded “major changes” and graphics students at levels two and three were often drawing at a level one standard.
* Biology students had “a lack of basic knowledge” of DNA and genes; they were often allowed to work in groups when the test was meant to be individual.
* Students in calculus often did not know how to use their calculators and made a large number of basic errors.
* English students avoided Shakespeare and wrote best about films, some studied Shakespeare through films rather than plays, others regurgitated film guides in their answers.Some did not know what an adjective was.
* Science teachers gave too much direction to students during internal assessment, making many marks invalid.
* In virtually all subjects, many teachers gave students outdated tests for their internal work and others used marking schedules that only vaguely related to the tasks set.
And people wonder why so many students, parents and employers regard it as useless.
No tag for this post.
April 29th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Just so bad. Combine this with the carry on at the VUWAS and it doesn’t take a genius to know that NZ’s education system is under the control of a group of politically partisan incompetents. Marxist ideology is the driver.
Vote:April 29th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
I was given the answers to University level Engineering exams at the last lecture . Whats new?
Vote:April 29th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
If it were a private provider that did this, their contract would be terminated, and a new contract for supply tendered.
But its a public monopoly running this, so at best somebody deep in the organization with lose their job. Maybe. And next year we’ll be reading one of two things: a) the same thing has happened, or b) the problems have been fixed (thanks to a completely unnecessary doubling of funding).
Vote:April 29th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
What’s ‘new’ aurion is that you are expected to remember the answers at least long enough to pass an exam.
Otherwise I can’t quite see the point of an exam at all. In fact, let’s just take all testing away and just give grades out to our favourite students – at least enough of them to make me look like a good teacher.
(That, by the way, was sarcasm in case some of you don’t get it.)
Vote:April 29th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Shit, Aurion. I hope you are not in charge of building anything important near where I live.
Vote:April 29th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
“…And people wonder why so many students, parents and employers regard it as useless…”
You mean a small minority of vocal and wealthy schools (one of which happens to be Auckland Grammar) who are leading a campaign against NCEA so they can eventually get a National government to let them opt out of the system altogether? Preesuambly to create a two tier system in which they think they will be unfettered to cherry pick the second tier state system for their own little empires?
Vote:April 29th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Sounds like ‘Tommorrow’s Fools’ has come of age, hooked up in a civil union and is now breeding. The offspring look like idiots if this review is anything to go by.
Vote:April 29th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Why do the offspring look like idiots George?
Can you please explain what you mean?
When I was in high school it was all the same rhetoric about how badly our generation is taught.
Lets face it, society gets more and more sophistocated leading to better education. This new generation of students are probably more learned than we were when we finished high school.
People always seem to think that “things were better when I was young”. Newsflash – they probably weren’t.
Linda,
Vote:you’re right, exams are pointless as they are usually nothing more than a memory test.
April 30th, 2007 at 12:27 am
The advantage of tests/exams is their simplicity: provide similar questions to what were studied during the course, but with some differences to challenge students to apply the process they learned with an unseen problem.
The test is the same for everyone sitting the course.
If students study the course work, familiarise themselves with the process, key facts etc., practice essays, practice problems they will be fine. The exam becomes an incentive to study, which is kind of the whole point.
Many students dont study until its too late to cram everything in. The teachers role is not to do it for them, but to provide a rigorous course program that will equip the students best for the test, and the subject matter in general. After that its over to them.
The test should not be considered a test of the teachers skill, but a test of the students knowledge, and supposedly new skillset gained during the course.
There should be other means to test a teachers ability to present the course than simply student performance. Since students by their nature are lazy,- unless they are incentivised/ motivated to work hard. This latter part is only partly down to teacher, but also is down to parental involvement and the character of the individual.
I think financial incentives would help with the latter part. Additional compulsory fee, refundable (with interest) if the child passes the course. If not; goneburger.
Vote:Cant see it happening though, imagine all those parents now expected to care about how well their kid is doing at school? “its not fair, my kid is a lazy so and so. I wont get my money back.”
April 30th, 2007 at 10:31 am
I also had a lecturer for a Physics course go through the coming exam and answers on the last lecture before the exam.
Some people still failed.
Experience that even when you give the answers some will still fail probably has lead to removal of the fail option altogether.
Vote:April 30th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
How much longer will the students of NZ have to put up with this touchy-feely cr*p that is the NCEA?
Here’s one suggestion for improving the worth of the qualification: make the certificates at least two-ply…
Vote:April 30th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
No doubt Farrar will publish the annual audit of International Cambridge to establish a balance and so as not to appear like a toadying Grammar boy.
Vote: