Staff Reporter
Wellington, June 4, 2020
Students on the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NEA) Curriculum will be able to earn additional credit qualifying them to University Entrance (UE) requirement, Education Minister Chris Hipkins has announced.
The move is to offset the disruption caused by Covid-19.
He said that students will receive one Leaning Recognition Credit for every five credits that they get through their Learning and Assessment Programme. This will be subject a maximum of 10 additional credits for NCEA Level 1 students and up to a maximum of eight additional credits for students at NCEA Levels 2 or 3.
The government has modified the Certificate and Course Endorsements in agreement with New Zealand universities, Mr Hipkins said.
Credibility maintained
“This approach also maintains the credibility and reputation of NCEA by basing additional credits on assessed learning. The government is moving to ensure that students are not penalised, while preserving the integrity of our national qualification. Students can be confident that an NCEA attained this year will continue to open doors to tertiary study, vocational education or employment,” he said.
“As further recognition of Covid-19’s impact, this year University Entrance will be awarded to students who achieve 12 credits in each of three University Entrance Approved Subjects. They will still need to attain NCEA Level 3 and meet the literacy and numeracy requirements to be awarded UE. This reduction of two credits per approved subject recognises that students may not have had the same opportunity to achieve as in other years, while continuing to ensure students are ready to undertake university study,” he added.
Course Endorsement
Students will be awarded a Certificate Endorsement if they achieve 46 credits at Merit or Excellence level, rather than the usual 50. Similarly, students achieving 12 credits at Merit or Excellence level in a course – rather than 14 – will be awarded a course endorsement.
“In addition to the changes announced, I have asked New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and the Ministry of Education to consider how schools might identify and collect evidence that could be used to credential the learning and skills gained by young people outside of their formal school programme of learning. These changes have been endorsed by my NCEA Professional Advisory Group, and I would like to thank them for their robust advice. I also recognise the work Universities New Zealand and individual universities have done alongside officials to develop the changes to UE,” Mr Hipkins said.
