Will's Word: Time to rethink NCEA for Pacific success?

Good luck to students across the motu who begin sitting their NCEA exams from today.

It can be a tough and stressful thing to overcome, I certainly haven’t faced that same level of stress in the workforce – which perhaps begs the question should we change the way we assess students?

On a positive though -The government’s recent announcement of a $2.5 million initiative to support teens struggling with NCEA reading, writing, and maths tests is a pretty commendable move that dare I say may address a critical need in our education system.

With nearly half of the 55,000 students failing the numeracy test and only slightly better results in literacy, it’s clear that many young people are grappling with these foundational skills.

Providing targeted training for teachers at around 160 schools and facilitating small group sessions for about 10,000 students is a good step.

But surely there is a better way to assess our students without putting them through such stress? We recently had the Papatoetoe High School Principal on our show discussing this very issue, and the need to perhaps relook at how we get better exam results, particularly for our Pacific students.

It’s time to seriously look at this issue, ultimately so it’ll lead to better outcomes.