NEWZWALAND: Only a third of students passed writing standard in NCEA pilot

Almost two-thirds of pupils failed the writing standard in the latest NCEA Literacy and Numeracy pilot, according to results released on Friday morning.

The highest passing rate was the reading standard, with 64% of students scoring at or above passing. It is followed by numeracy at 56%, writing at 34%, te reo matatini (Maori language literacy) at 24% and pangarau (Maori language) numeracy) at just 18%. That pass rate was lower than the 2021 results, causing "concern" among teachers.

The government quietly released the literacy and numeracy results on the NCEA education website ahead of a long weekend, with no press release.

In 2022, more than 200 schools and tertiary providers participated in the pilot program. The first evaluation was from June 27 to July 1 and the second from September 19 to 23.

The new literacy and numeracy standards are part of wider changes to NCEA that come in response to concerns that secondary school students lack basic reading and writing skills.

Secondary Principals' Association president Von Coillot says the results are not surprising. “The numbers reinforce what we already know. There is a literacy and numeracy problem in this country and we have had this problem for some time,” he said.

 He said it was important to note that the new literacy and numeracy standards could be completed at any time during high school education, but that the majority of students in the pilot program were in Year 10.

“We intentionally don't take into account high-performing students. We caught students who we thought would get meaningful feedback,” he said.

National Party education spokeswoman Erica Stanford said the results signaled 

"the social failure of the coming financial crisis". The literacy and numeracy results are incredibly alarming and show the need for urgent action to transform our education system and improve achievement and outcomes."Because students must pass all three standards, this means that a shocking two-thirds of children will fail the assessment, which is set at the minimum level needed to function in the world," she said.

Louise Ryan, national executive member of the Post Primary Teachers' Association, said the results showed an "urgent need" to pause NCEA's overhaul and give teachers time to adapt to the changes.

“After three years of covid disruption it is important that we give students a chance to overcome the new requirement and not set [students] up for failure.